Perhaps the authorities in some states should have looked at the speed ratings of tires for 18-wheelers before they raised speed limits for those trucks.
Perhaps the authorities in some states should have looked at the speed ratings of tires for 18-wheelers before they raised speed limits for those trucks.
The average trucker speed in MA on 128/95 and 495 when there’s no traffic is at least 20 mph over the speed limit. So you really think they care much about the limit.
“So you really think they care much about the limit.” (?)
No, and that was my point.
Perhaps they should.
I agree they should…too bad they don’t
Just an opinion with no date to back it up but I would think that the worst offenders would be the independent truckers who are beholden to no one above them and in a hurry to generate as many loads as possible.
I’ve known a number of drivers who work for large trucking companies and the company monitors (and has for decades) their schedules down to the minute. If a driver is getting out of line with the speed the company will know and I believe some of them have penalties in place to tamp any excessive speeding practices down.
A large company also has a large number of assets and millions in insurance coverage so they do not want to jeopardize their operation because some driver chose to do 85 in a 65 and caused a massive pileup.
Saw a semi the other day toolin’ along at 55 with one of the outer tractor tires blown. It was flopping around on the rim like crazy, you know the driver had to know what was up, and he didn’t even bother slowing down. Unreal.
Highway officials in three states that allow trucks to go 80 mph or more either disregarded tire safety ratings, wouldn’t answer questions about them or said they were unaware of them.
Yeah, because what could possibly go wrong with a 50,000 pound truck doing 80 mph??
Damn. I found this hard to believe, so I looked up some 24.5" semi tires… yup, their almost all L speed rated… max 75mph. And you know what? I doubt if it’ll change. Too many lobbyist dollars involved.
ve known a number of drivers who work for large trucking companies and the company monitors (and has for decades) their schedules down to the minute.
The company that designs and builds that monitoring is here in Manchester NH. They are a small company owned by Cummings. I know a couple of people who worked there. Interesting software evolution. Use to monitor and store on a floppy drive in the truck. Now it’s real time with GPS. Monitors many things like speed, engine performance, how long driver has been in his seat, inside temp of trailer…etc…etc
On a related topic, many new trucks and trailers have a new single wide tire instead of the older dual tires. I’ve wondered if that decreases safety as a blowout would not have the other tire as a backup.
And are these new wide tires rated at a higher speed than 75? Be strange if they were not…
b
Pull quote:
Forty people died in truck tire-related crashes in 2009, and that rose to 52 in 2013, the latest year for which statistics are available.
Yawn…
Theres a good many truck tires rated for only 65 mph,top speed.
Looks bad for light truck and off road tires, worse than a temporary spare… hard to believe. I had a cdl, nowhere was it ever recommended to check speed rating on tires in the testing process. Find your tires speed rating here
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=35
L 75 mph 120 km/h Off-Road & Light Truck Tires
M 81 mph 130 km/h Temporary Spare Tires
Some of the "wide floater " tires we used had max speed 65mph cast on the sidewalls,the one size in particular was 385R 22.5
One of these ($@;/"?@) just threw a rock on my windshield and broke it five hours ago…second windshield break in 5 months, both from semi truck tires throwing rocks my way. He was doing 75 plus mph down hill while I was trying to pass with another truck on my tail.
Maybe we need two speed limits: one for large trucks and one for the rest of us. It works in Germany on the Autobahn.
One of my former Bosses son,lost a front tire running about 85 mph(it came off the rim-I guess God was with Him) it was one of the “Wide Floaters” I guess speed rating does mean something.
@jtsanders–
While I can’t recall where I have seen this in The US, I do recall seeing a different speed limit for trucks and cars in some places in The US.
However, in my own state–which has prohibited 18-wheelers from being in the left lane for at least 30 years–
I see violations of that statute on a regular basis, so…
What is the likelihood that rogue truckers would actually adhere to a lower speed limit for their rigs?
It’s very good in Germany because they come down hard on the ones that go too fast and ride the left lane. You pretty much have to ride the left lane to go over the speed limit there. Since the truckers are in business, they could spend all their profits on tickets. They could also lose their CDL if they get busted too often or for gross violations of the law. All the police have to do is enforce the law.
Maybe we need two speed limits: one for large trucks and one for the rest of us. It works in Germany on the Autobahn.
Except that speed differential is bad for safety, not absolute speed, per se. Legislating speed differential INTO existence is bad policy.