Keeping on Trucking

Without trucks the world would come to a grinding halt. This is also true of various other segments of the transportation community, but for the moment I want to focus on the trucking industry.

I was idly watching some YouTube videos about trucking around the world which made me happy and relieved that I live in Spain. The worst complaint I have about trucking traffic in Spain is that when they are travelling in convoy they stick much too close together, sometimes nose -to-tail. This creates a wall of trucks that makes it impossible for other traffic to get off the motorway, as well as to get on.

It is also illegal for good reason. When vehicles travel too close there is not enough time for the following driver to react to whatever the driver ahead is doing. That is why there are minimum prescribed distances that must be adhered to in order to contribute to safe driving.

When this is observed there should be a coordinated police action to stop the entire convoy and to issue fines and a loss of points to all drivers as what they are doing has huge potential negative consequences. Also, the drivers know better.

I have to say that I have the utmost respect for the driving abilities of the drivers who pull considerable loads along Spain's roads. To drive along the motorways is one thing but they often turn onto roads that barely accommodate two cars travelling in opposite directions. There are many times when things get held up for considerable periods of time as two giants try and pass one another along these narrow slips of roadway, but there are only rare disastrous crashes. The record in third world countries is just the opposite.

To give people trucks and a driving permit is an exercise in suicide encouragement in those countries. The things they do with their trucks, or try to do is enough to make my skin crawl. The standard recipe seems to be that first overload the trucks in an insecure manner, then add as many people on top of the payload, and then you head off down the road at far too fast a speed. It does help to restrict the population growth in certain countries.

In India a person dies every four minutes from road crashes. Also, in India there are liquor shops spaced every one minute along highways. In 201,5 147,000 people died from highway incidents.

On our own roads we would all do well to give truck traffic the respect it deserves. By that I mean we should do ourselves a favour by driving defensively. It would help to be aware that these machines take longer to get up to speed, but they are also more difficult to stop. It would not be wise to position your own car so as to cause a truck to come to an emergency stop. He may not be successful and should you stand in the way you will pay the price.

It would also be wise to give them turning space, including a wide berth for the trailer. Some awful video footage I watched showed the trailer as it fishtailed and swung around the cab and smashed into the camera platform which was a car or other truck. In one very sad case a car that was full with people had stopped at a red light. A truck had stopped alongside but it had braked sharply which caused its trailer that was full with bricks to roll over on to the car. It's hard to see how anyone in that car would have survived.

Truck traffic is with us everyday and it is essential to our way of life. Truckers have the responsibility to drive with care and caution, and absolutely sober and drug-free, which goes without saying. We have to do our part as well and long may we exist together.

Copyright (c) 2017
Eugene Carmichael