The truck in the rear did not hit a trailer. It hit a shipping container. Although most people would not be able to tell the two apart, there is a big difference. Semi trailers are made out of popsicle sticks and beer cans. (Made as light as possible to maximize payload while staying within GVW restrictions.) You could easily punch a hole right through the side of one with an ordinary claw hammer, and their roofs can barely support the weight of a man walking on them.
Shipping containers are ridged, heavy gauge steel, self supporting structures capable of being stacked up to six high or more. (see pictures of container ships)
Needless to say, you cannot haul near as much net weight on a highway in shipping container, but the whole thing, contents and all, can be directly loaded from the highway running gear, onto a railroad flat car or container ship. (Loading and unloading conventional trailers is time consuming and expensive.)
The damage to the truck in the picture would have been much less severe if it had hit an empty regular trailer, but if it was loaded with dense cargo, the truck in the rear would probably been damaged almost as bad.
Making semi tractors safer by making them out of heavier materials would cut down on max payload for a given GVW, and no company or owner/operator would be willing to make that sacrifice.
I should have thought of that... I know this stuff! I must need a lot more sleep, so these ordinary things will occur to me. 6 hours of sleep clearly isn't cutting it
awww shucks! Thanks! I encourage everyone to encourage someone to hire me to do this, so I can get paid, and put more time into this! And so I can finally afford to go to car shows like Goodwood, Retromobile, Bonneville Speed Week, etc etc
Neil. Right on the money with the container. Also notice it is a single axle day cab probably with a small motor and slope nose. Had it been a full size tractor with a 15 or 16 liter engine it probably would not have gotten so far back, still would have been major damage and driver would not have survived unfortunately.
The truck in the rear did not hit a trailer. It hit a shipping container. Although most people would not be able to tell the two apart, there is a big difference. Semi trailers are made out of popsicle sticks and beer cans. (Made as light as possible to maximize payload while staying within GVW restrictions.) You could easily punch a hole right through the side of one with an ordinary claw hammer, and their roofs can barely support the weight of a man walking on them.
ReplyDeleteShipping containers are ridged, heavy gauge steel, self supporting structures capable of being stacked up to six high or more. (see pictures of container ships)
Needless to say, you cannot haul near as much net weight on a highway in shipping container, but the whole thing, contents and all, can be directly loaded from the highway running gear, onto a railroad flat car or container ship. (Loading and unloading conventional trailers is time consuming and expensive.)
The damage to the truck in the picture would have been much less severe if it had hit an empty regular trailer, but if it was loaded with dense cargo, the truck in the rear would probably been damaged almost as bad.
Making semi tractors safer by making them out of heavier materials would cut down on max payload for a given GVW, and no company or owner/operator would be willing to make that sacrifice.
I should have thought of that... I know this stuff! I must need a lot more sleep, so these ordinary things will occur to me. 6 hours of sleep clearly isn't cutting it
Deletethanks for the well said reply!
DeleteThank you. I enjoy your blog immensely. In my opinion, it is the best one out there and I encourage everyone to view it.
Deleteawww shucks! Thanks! I encourage everyone to encourage someone to hire me to do this, so I can get paid, and put more time into this! And so I can finally afford to go to car shows like Goodwood, Retromobile, Bonneville Speed Week, etc etc
DeleteNeil. Right on the money with the container. Also notice it is a single axle day cab probably with a small motor and slope nose. Had it been a full size tractor with a 15 or 16 liter engine it probably would not have gotten so far back, still would have been major damage and driver would not have survived unfortunately.
Delete