David A Kolman
David Kolman has shaped the trucking industry through his extensive hands-on experience as a truck owner and operator and communications professional throughout the past 25 years. His...more
I was startled awake the other night around 3 am by a low-flying helicopter. My guess is it was a medevac chopper.
Unable to fall back to asleep, I fired up the TV and began flipping channels. I was pleasantly surprised find that black-and-white movie classic, They Drive By Night.
George Raft and Humphrey Bogart play two play brothers - Joe and Paul Fabrini, respectively - who own a small trucking company and share the duties of driving their one truck, all the while encountering conflicts from rivals and loan collectors.
There are some dramatic scenes of falling asleep at the wheel, murder, and a screaming courtroom breakdown.
After watching this classic melodrama from 1940, I got to thinking about other memorable trucking movies I had seen. What came to mind was one that was as schlocky as They Drive By Night was great: Truck Stop Women.
I recall the posters promoting this B movie that was released in 1974. They proclaimed: “No rig was too big for them to handle. Double clucthin’ . . . gear jammin’ mammas who like a lot of hi-jackin’ by day . . . a lot of heavy truckin’ by night.”
It was a different time 35 years ago.
The movie told the story of a mother and daughter who operate a brothel and theft ring out of a highway truckstop, and battle the organized crime members who are trying to take over their operation.
The movie featured a Playboy Playmate of the Year, Claudia Jennings, and was filled with tons of nudity, violence, and country and trucking songs
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say this was an exploitation movie that treated sex, violence, and sensationalism with love and affection.
You know what’s even more staggering? I can remember all this in the wee hours of the morning but can’t recall what I had for dinner a week ago.
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
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It’s not what you might be thinking. The Death Van isn’t some comic book or movie character that goes around killing bad guys by running them over or blowing them up.
Well, that’s not entirely true.
This truck does go around killing people. But it kills them legally.
The Death Van is the nickname for China’s fleet of mobile execution chambers. The inconspicuous vehicles, which resemble a tour bus crossed with a police squad car, measure 20 to 26 feet long.
The manufacturer is the Jinguan Group in China The company also makes bulletproof limousines and armored trucks for banks. Talk about technology transfer.
The Death Vans travel to areas where executions by lethal injection might not otherwise be possible.
With the vehicles, small town and cities don’t have to have their own execution faculties or have to be bothered with disposing of the dead bodies. The Death Vans handle both.
Executions in the Death Vans are viewed on closed circuit television so that local law enforcement authorities can view the lethal injections to make sure they are carried out legally. Thoughtful, don’t you think?
Another “nice” thing about the vans is that prisoners sentenced to death can be executed locally, closer to communities where they broke the law. The idea being: to better deter others from committing crime in the area.
China, the world leader in executing convicted criminals, you may interested to know, is slowly phasing out public executions by firing squad in favor of lethal injections.
Another interesting item: Jinguan Group’s glossy brochure on its mobile execution chambers are in Chinese and in English.
I imagine it takes a certain type of individual to want to become a Death Van driver.
How’d you like to have to write the driver recruitment ad for that position?
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
To leave yours, click on the “No Comments” link below.
A couple of blogs ago I talked about how fleets are using visuals to drive home safety messages.
That prompted a truck driver to contact me and let me know about something his fleet tried for the first time. During a January safety meeting, it discussed the accidents the fleet incurred last year, including one fatality.
Photos of each wreck were shown and the reasons for each accident talked about. Then came a discussion of measures that could have been taken to prevent the accidents.
“But what was really interesting,” the trucker told me, “was that the company shared the costs of each accident. “Even the ones that didn’t look that bad were more costly then we (other drivers at the meeting) imagined.”
The fleet went a step further. It translated those costs into the number of loads that would have to be delivered for free in order to make up just for those costs.
“That really put safety into perspective,” the trucker said.
It started out innocently enough. An over-tired long-haul trucker got into a squabble over some change at a maintenance shop.
But things soon went horribly bad. The quarrel escalated into a fight that ended in the trucker’s death.
The trucker, who has yet to be identified pending notification of next of kin, died at the scene due to a fractured skull, multiple broken bones, and extensive blood loss.
“The fight went on for a good while, a witness said of the altercation. “It was horrible to watch.”
Surprisingly, the other combatant has not been charged.
“The incident apparently began when an automatic retailer (vending machine) allegedly confiscated the trucker’s money after said trucker inserted the correct amount of change into the suspect with the intent of getting - and we find this difficult to believe - a healthy snack,” said New Jersey Detective David Farbish.
“Witnesses told us that when the machine didn’t dispense the snack, the trucker reached his hand up the machine’s orifice to try and grab it, but was unable to. Said trucker then punched this machine in its robotic belly. This was followed by several more solid blows, none of which had any effect, as the snack remained in its place.”
The trucker then began kicking the vending machine, witnesses told police. When this brought no results, he began rocking the machine back and forth, harder and harder, until it fell on him.
“At first, we thought we had a notorious killer on our hands,” Detective Farbish said. “We know of at least 44 documented cases in which people trying to get a drink or snack out of an automatic retailer were crushed to death. Some 114 people have been injured.”
“But upon further investigation, we discovered that this particular automatic retailer was not the wanted killer,” added Detective U L Ulman. “We determined it was merely trying to defend itself from the trucker’s attacks.
“Like all automatic retailers, this one is also very transparent,” he continued. “It even cautioned the trucker about fighting with it. In plain view is a ‘Warning: Tipping may cause injury or death’ sticker.”
The first vending machines were introduced to the US in 1888. They were installed on the elevated subway platforms in New York City and sold Tutti-Fruiti gum.
Instances of vending machines attacking people did not start being reported in the late 1970s.
Until the notorious automatic retailer killer is captured, Detective Ulman advised people not to fight or wrestle with vending machines.
“They’re big, have bulky frames, and have substantial weight,” he said. “They can take a lot of punishment, but can also dish out a lot of pain, retribution, and even death when they’ve had enough of someone messing with them.”
With everything going on in the world these days, you may have missed a most interesting read: the National Highway & Traffic Safety Administration’s report entitled, Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study.
The agency contracted researchers to adopt a scientific approach to determine the causes, extent, and impacts of tire debris.
You’re probably shaking your head thinking: Kolman needs a checkup from the neck up. Right?
Not so fast.
I’ll have you know this 214-page report is chock full of educational, useful, and thought-provoking material. In addition to discussing the whole matter of tire debris, subjects addressed range far and wide - from the processes of tire manufacturing, retreading, and regrooving to fleets and their tire programs to truck tire failures to tire safety and durability issues to wide base tires and more.
One of the many things that caught my attention was that overall, researchers collected more than 86,000 tons of tire/rubber casings and debris, of which 1,496 items were assessed to determine their probable cause of failure. Talk about labor-intensive.
The researchers found that the top three reasons casings were removed from service were:
- Road hazards - 32 %.
- Maintenance/operational factors - 30%.
- Overdeflected operation (underinflation) -14%.
“Slightly less than 10% of all casings identified showed any manufacturing or process-related conditions that could be expected to contribute to the tire being removed from service,” the report stated. “Of this slightly less than 10%, the vast majority appeared to be retreading process issues, such as casing selection and repair, or tread rubber application issues.”
An underlying message throughout the report, published in December, is that proper tire care and maintenance is essential to keeping tires operating safely and at peak performance.
What do you get when you combine the green movement, with renewable energy researches, and outside-the-box thinking?
You get the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp - basically a “green” speed bump that generates electrical energy when vehicles drive over it.
The device operates by virtue of a series of articulated plates set in a pad that is practically flush to the road. When a vehicle’s weight is exerted on these plates, they are moved up and down by means of a special mechanism which drives a generator capable of producing AC or DC current.
The generator’s output will vary according to the frequency and weight of traffic, but in general terms, it is capable of producing between 5 and 10kW of energy.
Each ramp is covered with a hardwearing elastromeric membrane to avoid any problems with vehicles gripping or skidding when crossing the ramp, and to seal the mechanism from the ingress of dirt, water, and anything else which may harm the mechanism.
Unlike a conventional speed bump, the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp is not hard, and has a damping effect to avoid causing discomfort to vehicle occupants.
This “sleeping policeman” - what the English have nicknamed speed bumps - can be used for generating electricity to power street lighting, traffic lights, or road signs. Electricity can also be stored in a battery for later use.
Highway Energy Systems, a research company in the United Kingdom that developed the Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp, says the device not only produces green energy, it is free energy, once the capital cost of the equipment has been paid.
A pilot program using the ramps is set to begin soon in London.
Depending on the outcome of the testing, it might not be that long before green speed bumps start showing up across the US.
Every now and again we learn about some jokester who thinks it’s funny to change the messages on those electronic road signs used to warn road users of hazards down the road. They apparently get a kick out of displaying ridiculous messages.
Most recently, jokesters in a handful of states have “tinkered” with such signs, getting them to present warnings about zombies. Among the messages: “Daily Lane Closures Due To Zombies,” “Caution Zombies Ahead,” and “Zombies In Area! Run.”
A sample of tampered safety messages can be found by clicking here.
While such pranks may seem amusing, they cause create dangerous situations. “Joke” messages distract road users from heeding legitimate safety information.
Electronic road signs play an important role in highway safety and traffic operations. They are intended to attract motorists’ attention and provide important information to protect motorists, highway crews, and emergency response personnel.
Jokes and pranks have their place, but not in road traffic safety.
There is nothing humorous about deaths, injuries, and property damage resulting from vehicle crashes.
Much of the revolutionary technology we enjoy today evolved from America’s space program. Over the years, the program has transferred a wide variety of space technologies to other applications, as diverse as noninvasive tests that detect cardiovascular disease, lithium batteries for electric vehicles, and space age swimsuits that significantly reduce skin friction drag.
You may be interested to know that 94% of gold medals in swimming at the 2008 Olympics were won in such swimsuits.
Yet, we tend to take technology for granted. Consider truck design.
It was in the 1970s when researchers at the Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, began conducting numerous tests to refine the shape of trucks to reduce aerodynamic drag and improve efficiency.
Already working on the effects of drag and wind resistance on different kinds of aircraft and the early space shuttle designs, the researcher transferred their considerable knowledge to the design of large trucks.
Aerospace Engineer Edwin J Saltzman and his team found that rounding a tractor’s edges, placing a smooth fairing on its roof, and extending the sides back to the trailer could cut drag by more than 50%, increase highway fuel economy by more than 20%, and help with vehicle handling.
Assuming a typical truck drives 100,000 miles annually, these modifications translated to fuel savings of more than 6,000 gallons per year per vehicle.
The research revolutionized truck design. The modifications the engineers tested have now been widely adopted around the world.
Now, this technology is being recognized by the Space Foundation - one of the world’s premier non-profit organizations supporting space activities, professionals, and education.
Next month, a more efficient truck cab design will be inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame during the 25th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I wondered why Saltzman decided to investigate truck design in the first place.
I discovered he was motivated while bicycling through the California desert. He noticed the push and pull of large trucks at highway speeds while riding to work.
As a tractor trailer overtook him, he first felt the bow wave of air pushing him slightly away from the road and toward the sagebrush. Then, as the truck swept past, its wake had the opposite effect, drawing him toward the road and even causing him and his bike to lean toward the lane.
This got him exploring the flow of air around a moving truck.
Learning Saltzman’s story brings to mind the quote: “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why.
It’s very apparent that traffic congestion is not just a problem of recurring “rush hour” delays (road use exceeds existing capacity) that exist virtually every day. Congestion occurs during longer portions of the day, and delays more travelers and goods than ever before.
Did you know that know that more than half of all congestion is non-recurring, meaning it is caused by crashes, disabled vehicles, adverse weather, work zones, special events and other temporary disruptions?
Here’s another shocker. While it may not seem so, traffic congestion has actually eased.
Last year, traffic congestion decreased about declined 30% during the peak periods on major roads in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. So finds the latest Inrix National Traffic Scorecard. Inrix is a leading provider of traffic information.
The chief reasons for this, Inrix found, was turbulent fuel prices, which led to less driving and more carpooling, and a struggling economy, which has caused a decrease in jobs.
What has stayed the same, however, is that Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Washington, DC; Houston, TX; and San Francisco, CA, have maintained their distinction of being the US’ most traffic-congested cities.
And what’s a consequence of traffic congestion? Road rage.
So head’s up if you’re going to be traveling through these “highly ranked” cities.
Comments, observations and thoughts on the world of trucking from editor-in-chief David A. Kolman. These entries are based upon his diverse experience in many facets of transportation, including truck driving; truck owning and operating; fleet and driver management; safety; warehousing; commercial truck sales; industry trade associations; and trucking radio and TV.
