Contending with the Forces of Nature: Wind

Each year, truckers cope with the very worst of nature: high winds, heavy snows, lightning, floods, rock slides, and even tornadoes. Although avoiding these scenarios would be the best option, often it is an impossible one. In this series of articles, we will analyze the best methods of driving through nature's fury without risking life and limb. Today's topic is high wind.

Image Link

How does one avoid flipping when the wind is strong enough to hurl over a 40 ton truck? In reality, there are three answers to this question, and we will analyze each briefly in this article.

Slow Down

Speed is the cause of the majority of truck crashes, and in high winds, high speed can be the ingredient necessary to send a truck on its side. Think of it this way. If you are traveling at 25 miles per hour and a sudden gust of wind slaps the rear of your trailer, your trailer will likely move over a few inches or maybe a foot. But double the speed, and suddenly, that slight adjustment in the path of your vehicle becomes a white-knuckle driving experience that could cause you to sweep other vehicles off the road and/or tip your own over. If you encounter high winds, drop your speed a few miles an hour. The reduced distance you will cover during each wind gust can allow you to correct the path of your vehicle and keep it on all its wheels.

Pull Over

In some cases, the wind is simply too strong to be safe to drive in. Depending on the weight of your load and the design of your truck and trailer, that speed could be anywhere from 40 miles and hour to 100. For example, a flattop truck hauling a 25 ton bulldozer on a stepdeck could likely drive in 70 plus mile an hour winds without a problem. But an empty van trailer towed by an truck with a condo sleeper could flip over in moderately strong wind. 

If you have to pull over because of the wind, try to park in a place where you can face into or away from the gusts. Even if you are stopped, in incredibly strong wind, your vehicle could still be pushed over.

Retrofit Your Ride

Trailer skirts have been recently popularized by many fleets for their effects on fuel economy. But they also are beneficial in high winds. When wind strikes the side of a trailer without skirts, the majority of the just is blocked by the trailer while part of the draft continues underneath the trailer. This causes the upper portion of the trailer to away from the gust while the wheels remain in their previous position. 

Image Link

Unless the driver allows the wind to move the trailer somewhat before returning to its original path, it can tip over. By installing trailer skirts on your van or curtain-side trailer, you will block the full flow of wind against your trailer and prevent the dangerous underdraft that can upset the balance of the vehicle. And at the same time, you will increase your fuel economy for the long haul.

Use these tips as you travel through the windswept plains of America and Canada's heartland, and safe travels to you as you contend with the forces of nature.

In our next post, we will discuss driving through flooding, so stay tuned for more.

Poll: How Much Do You Make Per Hour? Is it $19.83?

In a recent article on trucking from the Star Tribune, truckers were said to make $19.83 per hour according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When multiplied by 2080 hours, that amounts to just over $41,200 per year. However, truckers do not work an 8 to 5 job.

If you drive an average of 10 hours per day and work two more hours in that same day, you will work a sixty hour work week. Multiply that by fifty work weeks, and 3000 hours worked in a year is not beyond reasonable. With this average pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you would average almost $59,500 per year in gross income and benefits.

Even at ten hours a day of work, you would still make $49,500 per year. So my question to you is: how much do you think you make per hour realistically. To make simple numbers, round your wages to the nearest thousand and divide by 2500 hours (10 hours per day for 5 days a week). Then round again up or down and select an answer in the poll on the right.

Safe travels to you.

CARB and What It Means for You as a Truck Driver

For some, the start of 2013 was spent peacefully with family and friends. For others, in celebration of the end of another year. And for still others, in head scratching at the thought of a new year. Unfortunately, some of the head scratchers were fleet operators and truck drivers. The reason for their frustration? CARB.

What is CARB?

By now, you probably have heard of CARB, but may not know what it is. CARB stands for the California environmental protection agency Air Resources Board. The purpose of this organization is to protect California's environment: however, this does not always work out as it might seem. As with most regulations, the damage done to business is often greater than the prevented damage done to the environment. Not to say that improvements in technology should not be pursued, but in the current economic state, many fleets, especially those who only occasionally run into California, may not have the capital to retrofit their equipment to satisfy CARB. For example, new regulations affecting the trucking industry may cost fleets millions of dollars in upgrades or thousands in fines if they fail to comply while.

CARB 2013

Starting on the first of January of 2013, new CARB regulations aimed at reducing the emissions output of heavy trucks went into effect. The regulations concern nearly every area of truck design from aerodynamic efficiency to engine operation and tires. Simply put, as of January 1st, heavy trucks operating within or entering California and pulling 53 foot trailers are now required to be registered with the CARB board and use Smartway products such as trailer skirts, chassis fairings, low rolling resistance tires, and engine emissions filters. Furthermore, reefer operators are required to make necessary adjustments to their units in order to reduce emissions.

Although all this may sound like regulatory gobbledygook, it will have a direct impact on you as a truck driver and/or fleet operator. It will also have an impact on the price of consumer goods. 

Coping with CARB

So what is the best method to deal with CARB? In reality, there are three choices: avoid California, lease equipment, or retrofit your existing trucks and trailers.

If you can avoid trucking in California, you probably should until the regulations become more reasonable. Given the cost of new tires, chassis skirts, boattails, and engine/reefer upgrades, unless you run often into California, the cost of these improvements is not worth it. Even with their perceived benefits, many of these enhancements to the truck's performance may be detrimental if you also haul anywhere in the Rocky Mountain states or Canada.

If you only run into California on an infrequent basis, it might be wise to lease equipment from a large truck or trailer leasing outfit such as XTRA Lease, Pac Lease, or even Ryder or Penske. These companies have already converted their equipment to Smartway standards and have a wide range of tractors and trailers ready to haul your load.

For those of you who run often into California, compliance may be your only option. But one thing is certain: if continued regulations threaten to eat further into the profit margins of truckers and trucking companies, the highways leading into California will be very empty. And as far as I'm concerned, an empty highway has almost no rolling resistance.

For Your Information

If you want more information on CARB, feel free to visit http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/truckstop/truckstop.htm and try to decipher the regulations for yourself. It might take you a while.

For a more succinct description of these new laws, read the following article.

http://times247.com/articles/23calif-regulations-forcing-trucks-off-the-road9

Safe travels to you on America's highways.