|  Author | Topic: Mixer accidents (Read 239 times) |
Jason
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Karma: 0 |  | Mixer accidents
« Thread Started on Oct 27, 2009, 12:04am » | |
Where I learned to drive a mixer, in the Salt Lake Valley, accidents just come with the area. Since I've moved to Northern Utah, I'm pretty much a flat lander now. I don't miss the hills.
(Utah is a front discharge market)
1) Mixer rolled driving empty down a grade on the freeway. He claims that his tag span axle switch was accidently set to 'down loaded' instead of 'down empty' on his Osh Kosh. 'Down loaded' raised his drive tries off the road and he lost control.
His company fired him for that and he ended up being hired by my company.
Know what your truck is doing! If all the sudden my truck feels squirlly, keep it straight and slow down until you can figure out what is going on.
Perhaps his load span tag axle was set too high even at 'down loaded.' Double check your stuff ie. tag switch settings. And watch your speed.
Yea I know. Somtimes "it all happened just so fast."
2) Fully loaded (10 yards) mixer lost his brakes comming off a 3 mile 9%? grade (can't remeber the actual grade, but it is steep) after he drove to the top because he mis-read his ticket.
The ticket said Eagle Mountain but he went to Eagle Crest. When he realized what he had done he called dispatch and he was told to un-screw himslef and get to Eagle Mountain (at least another 30 minute drive).
Being a new driver, I guess he didn't realize that you ARE actually screwed if you have to come off Eagle Crest with a fully loaded mixer. On top of that, he forgot to drop his twin belly pusher axles after he turned around to drive back down the hill (probably would not have helped anyway).
He ended up running the light at the bottom of the grade and blew the guard rail and dropped about 50 feet with 40,000 pounds of mudd behind him.
This guy is dead.
Keep your head no matter who tells you to do whatever. You are the captain of your truck. Slow down and take your time.
If you start to feel rushed that is your que to slow the heck down and evaluate.
Remeber your training. There is a reason you had to take a test so you know how your air brakes work and so on.
a) Another mixer incedent at Eagle Crest: A driver needed
to come down Eagle Crest with 8 yards. Not thinking that was a good idea, he dumped his load off the side of the road so he could come down empty. I guess he was the last truck on a pour up there and the contractor had over guessed.
Since crap rolls down hill, it ended up taking out someones fence The cops called all the mixer companies in the valley. My buddy had been up there the same day same time and was told it was down to him or another companies driver. He told the boss that it wasn't him. And after the mudd was tested it ended up that it wasn't.
Once that mudd is on the ground that is it. At 4000 pounds a yard you are not going to put it back in your barrel.
Call the company and ask what they want you to do if you are on top of a mountain with 8 yards of concrete.
I'm not going to lie. Mixers have come off that hill loaded. Gear the heck down and go slow. But, if you are going to come off that hill loaded know how to do it!
8 yards is alot of mudd to leave anywhere that it is not suppose to be. If you are going to try to hide it you better do it knowing that it won't be found. Let me know how that works out.
I probably heard what the clean-up costs for that was, but don't remember. Whatever it was it had to be alot not to mention a lost job and negetaive rep for the company.
3) Empty mixer rolled comming around a left curve on a flat road. He lost control (speed) bounced off the left curb and rolled his truck across the whole road to the right. He crushed his leg against his steering wheel and spent more than a month in the hospital.
He was talking to his recently Xed wife on the phone.
Even though he had been on his phone and company policy was a warning then termination if you were even seen on your phone while driving. He came back as dispatch. So much for policy I guess.
The last time I talked to him he was facing more surgery on his leg.
I have driven that road hundreds of times. It just shows how fast everything can go pear shaped! Know what you are doing. After driving for years you may think your mixer handles like a Jaguar. But it is not a Jagaur and never will be.
I talk on my cell while driving my mixer. I've even texted. This is my reminder that it is stupid to talk or text while driving.
I am comfortable driving a mixer. Although, there is a point of being too comfortable, and then your mixer is on its side and you are pinned between the seat and your stearing wheel because the bolts on your seat sheared off.
4) Fully loaded mixer killed a 23 year old mother as she hesitated and then decided to turn left on a yellow light.
The mixer driver had the right-away as he drove through the yellow light.
The road he was driving down is probably about a 4% grade. Not real steep but steep enough that a sudden stop with 10 yards and you just dumped 3 on the ground.
He was not charged. But that accident stopped him personally from getting back in a mixer, can't blame him.
No judgement here. I had been through that light fully loaded hundreds of times. Perhaps unavoidable, unless he had kept his speed down to 25 mph which is not reasonable.
You can't control other drivers.
Osha billboard: "Safety takes a minute. An accident takes a life."
Stay safe. Jason
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Mort
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Karma: 10 | | Re: Mixer accidents
« Reply #1 on Oct 30, 2009, 12:01pm » | |
Helluva post, man. We've got some serious hills around here too, but 9% for three miles is a brake killer. I drove up a 19% hill in Seattle in a pickup truck, and I thought I was going to tip it over backwards. There's even a 30% hill around here somewhere, but its too steep to even put a house on, let alone drive a mixer on.
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Jason
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« Reply #2 on Oct 30, 2009, 1:14pm » | |
You are not kidding about it being a brake killer. Sounds like you see your share of 'grades' in Washington. Do you guys see many wrecks out there?
Jason
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gant
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« Reply #3 on Oct 30, 2009, 6:30pm » | |
I like living in Missouri.. no hills here.. IL is even better
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Crazy Mudder Trucker
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Karma: 5 | | Re: Mixer accidents
« Reply #4 on Nov 1, 2009, 1:01pm » | |
Oct 27, 2009, 12:04am, Jason wrote:Where I learned to drive a mixer, in the Salt Lake Valley, accidents just come with the area. Since I've moved to Northern Utah, I'm pretty much a flat lander now. I don't miss the hills.
(Utah is a front discharge market)
1) Mixer rolled driving empty down a grade on the freeway. He claims that his tag span axle switch was accidently set to 'down loaded' instead of 'down empty' on his Osh Kosh. 'Down loaded' raised his drive tries off the road and he lost control.
His company fired him for that and he ended up being hired by my company.
Know what your truck is doing! If all the sudden my truck feels squirlly, keep it straight and slow down until you can figure out what is going on.
Perhaps his load span tag axle was set too high even at 'down loaded.' Double check your stuff ie. tag switch settings. And watch your speed.
Yea I know. Somtimes "it all happened just so fast."
2) Fully loaded (10 yards) mixer lost his brakes comming off a 3 mile 9%? grade (can't remeber the actual grade, but it is steep) after he drove to the top because he mis-read his ticket.
The ticket said Eagle Mountain but he went to Eagle Crest. When he realized what he had done he called dispatch and he was told to un-screw himslef and get to Eagle Mountain (at least another 30 minute drive).
Being a new driver, I guess he didn't realize that you ARE actually screwed if you have to come off Eagle Crest with a fully loaded mixer. On top of that, he forgot to drop his twin belly pusher axles after he turned around to drive back down the hill (probably would not have helped anyway).
He ended up running the light at the bottom of the grade and blew the guard rail and dropped about 50 feet with 40,000 pounds of mudd behind him.
This guy is dead.
Keep your head no matter who tells you to do whatever. You are the captain of your truck. Slow down and take your time.
If you start to feel rushed that is your que to slow the heck down and evaluate.
Remeber your training. There is a reason you had to take a test so you know how your air brakes work and so on.
a) Another mixer incedent at Eagle Crest: A driver needed
to come down Eagle Crest with 8 yards. Not thinking that was a good idea, he dumped his load off the side of the road so he could come down empty. I guess he was the last truck on a pour up there and the contractor had over guessed.
Since crap rolls down hill, it ended up taking out someones fence The cops called all the mixer companies in the valley. My buddy had been up there the same day same time and was told it was down to him or another companies driver. He told the boss that it wasn't him. And after the mudd was tested it ended up that it wasn't.
Once that mudd is on the ground that is it. At 4000 pounds a yard you are not going to put it back in your barrel.
Call the company and ask what they want you to do if you are on top of a mountain with 8 yards of concrete.
I'm not going to lie. Mixers have come off that hill loaded. Gear the heck down and go slow. But, if you are going to come off that hill loaded know how to do it!
8 yards is alot of mudd to leave anywhere that it is not suppose to be. If you are going to try to hide it you better do it knowing that it won't be found. Let me know how that works out.
I probably heard what the clean-up costs for that was, but don't remember. Whatever it was it had to be alot not to mention a lost job and negetaive rep for the company.
3) Empty mixer rolled comming around a left curve on a flat road. He lost control (speed) bounced off the left curb and rolled his truck across the whole road to the right. He crushed his leg against his steering wheel and spent more than a month in the hospital.
He was talking to his recently Xed wife on the phone.
Even though he had been on his phone and company policy was a warning then termination if you were even seen on your phone while driving. He came back as dispatch. So much for policy I guess.
The last time I talked to him he was facing more surgery on his leg.
I have driven that road hundreds of times. It just shows how fast everything can go pear shaped! Know what you are doing. After driving for years you may think your mixer handles like a Jaguar. But it is not a Jagaur and never will be.
I talk on my cell while driving my mixer. I've even texted. This is my reminder that it is stupid to talk or text while driving.
I am comfortable driving a mixer. Although, there is a point of being too comfortable, and then your mixer is on its side and you are pinned between the seat and your stearing wheel because the bolts on your seat sheared off.
4) Fully loaded mixer killed a 23 year old mother as she hesitated and then decided to turn left on a yellow light.
The mixer driver had the right-away as he drove through the yellow light.
The road he was driving down is probably about a 4% grade. Not real steep but steep enough that a sudden stop with 10 yards and you just dumped 3 on the ground.
He was not charged. But that accident stopped him personally from getting back in a mixer, can't blame him.
No judgement here. I had been through that light fully loaded hundreds of times. Perhaps unavoidable, unless he had kept his speed down to 25 mph which is not reasonable.
You can't control other drivers.
Osha billboard: "Safety takes a minute. An accident takes a life."
Stay safe. Jason |
|
utah doesnt have runaway ramps?
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Concrete Mafia |
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Jason
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Karma: 0 | | Re: Mixer accidents
« Reply #5 on Nov 1, 2009, 3:50pm » | |
The few that there are, are on interstate freeways, not on the city roads mentioned in the original post.
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Mort
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I Added The Allowable And That's It
Joined: Oct 2007
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Posts: 540
Location: Mortville, WA
Karma: 10 | | Re: Mixer accidents
« Reply #6 on Nov 2, 2009, 4:22pm » | |
Oct 30, 2009, 1:14pm, Jason wrote:You are not kidding about it being a brake killer. Sounds like you see your share of 'grades' in Washington. Do you guys see many wrecks out there?
Jason |
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Yeah, we do. In my time, we've rolled two trucks, both hill-related. One guy got lost, wandered up a hill, then came down without his belly axle down. His story gets a little fuzzy, but it sounds like he lost air pressure and his brakes came on right before a corner at the bottom of the hill.
The other one was backing up a loose fill hill at a jobsite.
One before I started was the downhill/overloaded axle situation (gotten lost and had to turn around), and he died as a result.
Just be careful. No job is worth your life.
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Sure, sign a waiver and I'll drive over anything. |
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