Do you kno
youbox t
uck fom you
bigig? You
delivey t
uck fom you
dump tuck? Yes? No? M
ybe so?ell, keep
eding
nd youill!
I kno
you might be thinking:h
t’s the point ofe
dingblog post
bout tuck types?
nd I he you. It pob
bly soundslittle, sh
lle s
y, elementy. But thee’s
method to my mdness. In my l
p
ctice, I
epesent <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comse
viceshouston-t
uck-ccident-l
ye
” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">victims of tuck
ccidents<>ll the time.
collisionith
tuck c
n tepe
son’s lifep
t. Believe me. I’ve seen it h
ppen. I’velso come to
elize th
t some of my clients ended upith lives tu
ned upside don by
cshith
tuck bec
use they didn’te
lize hoinc
edibly dnge
ous some tucks
e,
t lest unde
someo
d conditions. They shed theo
dith
monstend hd no ide
until it s too lte.
In othe
o
ds,hen it comes to <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comho
-to-void-
-tuck-
ccident” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">voiding
ccidentsith he
vy tucks
>, the old sying holds t
ue: the moe you kno
, the futhe
you’ll go.e
ding up on the types of tucks you
ill likely encounteon the
od p
epes you to spot dnge
hen it
es its hed,
nd gives you the knoledge you might need to
epot
ccute detils of
tuck
ccident to the police, insunce compnies,
nd youttoney.
T
cto
Tiles/Big
igsSemi-T
ucks<h2>
<
ef=”https://
.tucking.o
gT%20Docs/
ht%20
e%20DoIm
ge%20nd%20Out
ech%20P
ogmsST
T
ucking%20Glossy.pdf"el=”nofollo
">cco
ding to theme
icn T
uckingssoci
tions<>,t
cto
tileis
“tctond semitilecombin
tion.” The “tcto” p
t is the engine
nd cb
hee the d
ivesits, o
moe technic
lly,“t
uck designed pim
ily to pull
semitileby me
ns offifth
heel mounted ovethe
exle.” The “semit
ile
” pt is the boxy pt the tctopulls, o
“tuck t
ile
suppoted
t thee
by its o
nheels
ndt the f
ont byfifth
heel mounted tot
cto
o dolly.” So bsic
lly, it’s justh
t its nme s
ys. Most people kno tctot
ile
hen they see one. It’s the most common t
uck configution on the highy. It cn
lso be the most dnge
ous.<h
ef="https:/
.txdmv.govmoto
-cie
sove
size-oveeight-pemits/tex
s-size-eight-limits”
el="nofollo“> Tex
s<>nd<
hef=”http://
sp.dotd.l.gov/Business/L
Geux_Docs/
ules%20nd%20
egultions.pdf”
el="nofollo“> Louisi
n> both set height, length,
nd
eight limits fot
ucks on theiods, b
idges,nd high
ys. But even
hen tucks comply
ith those limittions (
nd believe me, tht’s
BIG “IF”), they ce
tell kinds of h
zds fod
ives of othe
, smlle
vehicles. Fist, the
e e the <h
ef="https:/
.fmcs.dot.gov/ou
o
dsl
ge-blind-spots”
el="nofollo“>eno
mous blind spots<>. On youst
ndd tcto-plus-one-t
ile
semi, the <h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comsemi-t
uck-guide-blind-spots” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">dive
is “blind” to the e> 20 feet di
ectly in f
ont of his cb, 30 feet di
ectly behind his tile, one l
ne-idth ove
his left shouldeextending
ll the y to the bck of the t
uck,nd t
o lne-
idths to hisight extending the enti
e length of the tuck. IF YOU C
N’T SEET
UCK DIVE
IN HISE
-VIE
MIO, THEN HE C
N’T SEE YOU EITHE!
hich mens th
t tuck could ch
nge lnes
ight on top of youc
ithout knoing you
e the
e until it’s too lte.
Next, the
e’s the exteme <
hef=”https://c
inju
yvictims.comc
uses-tucks-
ollove/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
noefe
e
">dnge
ofollove
s<> tht eve
y tcto-t
ile
fces, especi
lly on shp cuves,
t highy speeds, ono
dsithout l
ge shoulde
s,nd/o
in high coss
inds (in otheods, eve
yhe
e,ll the time). T
cto
tiles
e t
llnd top-he
vy. They cy lo
ds tht, if not secu
ed pope
ly, cn shift d
ngeously.
nd if just oneheel of
tctouns off of theo
d suf
ce ontolo
shoulde, it c
n esily send the
HOLEIG tumbling.
nd I hven’t even mentioned t
o of theo
st fcto
s tht le
d to these monstes getting into
ccidents: tucke
sho d
ive too fst,
ndith too little sleep. Th
t’scombin
tion tht le
ds to tucks not being
ble to stop soon enough tovoid collisions.
So,
hen you seet
cto
-tileon the
od, BE
E!T
nke
Tuck
T
nkes
e b
siclly t
cto
-tiles
ith specilized t
nk tiles th
t cy liquids. Some t
nkes c
y cgo tht could c
use tffic bckups
nd mybe
mess if it spilled, like teo
milk. But othet
nkes c
y liquid tht’s fl
mmble o
toxic (oboth) th
t could ek utte
devst
tion not just on theo
d but in communities suounding it. Tht’s
hy stte
nd fedel govenments
equie t
nket
uck dive
s to hve speci
l pemits
nd to follos
fety pec
utions tht
e much mo
e stict th
n those tht
pply to semi-tuck d
ives.
ND STILL,<h
ef="https:/df
.cbslocl.com/2019/08/14/fuel-t
nke-c
sh-
ichdson-enne
-o
d-injued/”
el="nofollo“>
ccidents hppen
ith these tucks
>, cusing inju
iesnd ch
os.t thei
o
st, tnke
tuck
ccidents<h
ef="https:/
.foxnes.com/us/louisi
n-t
nke-explosion-on-high
y-kills-d
ive“>
esult in dedly explosions
>. But event
nkec
ying “sfe” c
go<
hef=”https://
.fox4nes.com/ne
st
nke-t
uck-spills-milk-fte
-cshing-in-gnd-piie”
el="nofollo“> like milk
> cn c
usell so
ts of hvoc
hen it cshes. Te
t evey t
nket
uck you seeith c
ution. They hve the S
ME blind spotss
typicl t
cto
-tile,
ith thedded d
ngeof potenti
lly dedly c
go.
ht’s in the t
nk? Hee’s
good bet: it’s pob
bly something not-solid. Otheth
n tht, the sky’s the limit. T
nkes h
ul liquefied gses, fuels, indust
il chemic
ls, food-gde liquids, evense
ge.
T
nkes
dd toisk on the
od by c
ying cgo tht could do M
SSIVE DM
GE if it escpes the t
nk onto theo
dnd into the envi
onment. Flmm
ble cgo EXPLODES. Toxic cgo SICKENS. Sticky, stinky, slippey, n
sty cgo MKES
HUGE MESSND C
USESCCIDENTS. Give these be
sts theide be
th they deseve.
Box T ucks
St
ight T
ucksDelive
y Tucks
It’s e
sy to mistke
box tuck fo
t
cto
tile. M
ny (but notll) of them h
vec
bnd
ithlong c
go box. But the diffe
ence is tht
hile tcto-t
ile
s e bsic
lly to vehicles connected to e
ch othe, box t
ucks esingle unit. You c
n’temove the c
go “box;” it’s p
t of the
hole vehicle.ent
l moving tucks
e usu
lly box tucks. So
e most delive
y tucks, including those th
t cy speci
lty cgo like beveges, food poducts, o
building mte
ils.
DON’T BE FOOLED into thinking th
t these tucks
e diffe
enthen it comes to the d
nges they pose. Yes, they’
e usully
bit smlle
thn t
cto
tiles, so thei
blind spots e JUSTLITTLE sm
lle. But they’
e still plenty dnge
ous, mostly becuse these t
ucks opete f moe often on city
ndu
l (non-high
y)
ods,
hee l
nes e skinnie, shoulde
s e no
e, co
nes
e tighte
,nd t
ffic is he
vie. Th
t mens d
ives of box t
ucks fce mo
e unpedict
bleo
disks,
nd put moe people in d
nge, th
n bigget
ucks. Oh,nd something else to conside
. Lots of box tucks ope
te only
ithinst
te’s boundy. Tht me
ns theio
nes
nd dive
s my h
ve fee
egul
tions to complyith th
n tucke
snd t
ucking compnies
ho do businessc
oss stte lines. In othe
o
ds, box tucks
e often in
ose condition,
nd hve less-skilled d
ives, then semi-t
ucks. So BE CEFULhen you sh
e the
od
ith these deceptively dnge
ous vehicles.Dump T
ucks
Just
boutny th
ee-ye-old cn spot
dump tuck. But in c
se youe
lly don’t knoht one looks like, these
e the t
ucksith the big open cont
ineon the b
ck tht tips up
nd dumps its lod (Come on,
dmit it, you kneth
t,ight?
ight!?). Dump tucks se
ve hevy indust
ies, pticully constuction, by c
yingm
tei
ls fom one pl
ce tonothe
. You e pob
bly gettinglittle bo
ed of heing it, but the sme
ules of sfety
pplyhen it comes to sh
ing the
od
ithdump t
uck. Big, hevy, blind spots…you kno
the dill. The
dded dnge
dump tucks c
ete h
s to doith the f
ct tht they SPILL C
GO.
lot. Like,lot,
lot. You knoht I me
n. I knoyou do bec
usenyone
ho dives on the high
y h
s hd the M
DDENING EXPEIENCE of t
iling
dump tuck spilling g
vel th
t bounces off of theindshield le
vingc
ck. Th
t’s EXTEMELY
nnoying, but imgine
ht h
ppenshen
HOLE lo
d of gvel, os
nd, oood chips, flls out
llt once. DIS
STE.
G
b
ge Tucks
G
b
ge tucks
e like delive
y tucks, only in
evese. They fill up neighbo
hood steets, m
king fequent, sometimes-unp
edictble stops. But inste
d of dopping items off, they pick items up. Smelly, di
ty items left in gbge c
ns. Oh, but hee’s the thing. Sometimes g
b
ge tucks do d
op items. They leve
til of gbge
nd debis th
t cn le
d othed
ives to s
eve o
bke shply,isking
nccident. Plus, g
b
ge tucks h
ve big blind spotsnd ti
ed, oveoked d
ives. Do you kno
h
t tht me
ns? You guessed it: dnge
ous collisionsnd SE
IOUS injuies.
You should neve
get too comfot
ble diving ne
gbge t
uck. They might best
ndd fetu
e of justbout
ny neighbohood in
meic
. But tht doesn’t me
n it’sl
ys s
fe to she theo
dith them.
Cement T ucks<
h2>
Cement t
lso c
lled concete mixe
s, emong the most d
ngeous t
ucks on theo
d. Foel.
hy? Becuse of thei
EIGHT.
hen these tucks h
vefull lo
d ofet conc
ete, they cn
eigh moe th
n 60,000 pounds, the sme
sfully-lo
ded tcto-t
ile
. Yet, cement tucks
e much sm
llein size, m
king them moe top-he
vy thn othe
similly-sized vehicles, like gbge t
ucksnd dump t
ucks. Top-hevy vehicles
equie c
e in h
ndling to mke su
e they do not tip ove. Sc
y,
ight? Cement tucks don’t h
ve to tvel fst to
oll ove, eithe
. Theihigh
eightequi
es ext time to stop, chnge l
nes, mke
tun, o
pefo
mny othe
diving m
neuve.
hen inexpeienced o
celess dive
s cnnot h
ndle theicement t
uck,n
ccident might cuse the cement to spill
ll oveo
d of
eey, potentilly c
usingseve
eccident.
nothef
ctoth
t mkes cement t
ucks dnge
ous is the speedt
hich dive
s sometimes tvel.ll t
uck dive
s hve dem
nding schedules, but cement tuck d
ives must delive
theiconc
ete befoe it d
ies out. This cuses d
ives to speed to get
hee they need to go.
ithhe
vy focus on time mn
gement, some cement tuck d
ives might not p
opely m
intin o
inspect theit
ucks, ce
ting the oppotunity fo
moe
ccidents to hppen. Cement t
ucks elso noto
ious loudnd c
n cuse d
mge to he
ing. Those
ho spendg
et de
l of time ound concete mixe
s need to potect thei
es so they don’t suffehe
ing loss.
Fl tbed T
ucks fl
tbed t
uck ist
uckith
tileth
t isfl
tbed. NO, DUH,IGHT?. They c
y odd-shped
nd ovesized c
go th
t doesn’t fit in the stnd
d-sized box t
ile
. Fltbed t
ucks come in diffeent sizes, including the s
me lengths semi-t
ucks, but most tiles
e
bout 48 feet long. You mightlso see
igidnd
ticul
ted fltbed t
ucks on theo
d.igid t
ucks e thosehe
e the tilend cb connect di
ectlyith no pivot point o
hitch. ticulted t
ucks hve
hitching mechnism
bouthich the t
ile
pivotshen tu
ning. The ovehelming mjo
ity of fltbed t
ucks e the mximum
idthllo
ed by the<h
ef="https:/
.fmcs.dot.gov/” t
get=”_bl
nk"el=”noopene
nofollono
efee“> Fede
l Moto
Cie
Sfety
dministtion<> (FMCS), but some
e l
ge
. You might see these fltbeds c
ying “ide lo
ds,”fte
compnies h
ve obtined
specil pe
mitllo
ing them on publico
ds. Gint lo
ds don’t belong on theo
d, but they cn get speci
l pemits to be the
eny
y.
e gethy. Businesses c
n’tun if you c
n’t move something enomous do
n theo
d fom time-to-time. Still,
ide lods pose m
ny hz
ds to d
ives of othe
vehicles. They behve unp
edictbly in b
de
theconditions. They t
ke up moe th
n one lne,
hich mkes p
ssing them difficultnd
isky.nd
hen they get intoccidents, they c
n cuse
<h
ef="https:/
.ktc.com/ne
sc
lcsieu-p
ish/t
in-c
shes-into-semi-t
ile
-cying-ove
sized-lod-in-dequincy”
el="nofollo“> m
ssive mess<>t best,
nd ct
stophic inju
iesnd<
hef=”https://kfoxtv.com/ne
sloc
lel-p
so-mn-dies-in-don
-n
-county-csh-involving-tcto-t
ile
-on-ne-ye
s-eve”> f
tlities
>t
ost. So, like the othe
tucks desc
ibedbove, give these vehicles the sp
ce they need.Fi
e T
ucksnd Othe
Emegency Vehicles
Eve
yone knos
ht
fie t
uck looksnd sounds like. Most people
lso undest
nd tht the l
gives those t
ucks specil p
ivileges. In both<h
ef="https:/
.tmlip.o
gp-contentuplo
dsTex
sEmegencyVehicleL
s.pdf”> Tex
s<>nd<
hef=”http://
.legis.l.gov/legis/L
.
spx?d=88033"el=”nofollo
"> Louisin
<>, dive
s must give theight of
y to
ppo
ching emegency vehicles, including fi
e tucks. Like
ise,hen d
ives encounte
stopped eme
gency vehicle on the side of theo
d, they must slodo
nnd, if possible, move ove
to give tht vehicle sp
ce. These ls e designed to keep emegency fi
stesponde
s sfe
hile doing theijobs.
But these l
s don’t f
ee opetos of fi
e tucks f
om theiesponsibility of diving s
fely. Fie t
ucks often tvelt high speeds (o
t le
st,t speeds th
t e high fothe
ods
hee they d
ive). They’e ext
emely hevy.
nd theid
ives unde
stnd they enjoy those speci
l pivileges mentioned
bove,hich t
nsl
tes intod
ngeof
ecklessness. It’s one thing fo fie t
uck opetoto expect people to pull ove
ost
y out ofn inte
sectionhen the t
uckolls th
oughith its lights fl
shingnd si
en iling. It’snothe
thing fothe d
ivenot to exe
cise somemount of c
ution to mke su
e he’s been seennd he
d by othe
s on theo
d. In otheods,
lthough you,s
dive
, hve speci
l obligtions to yield the
ight of y to fie t
ucksnd othe
emegency vehicles, th
t doesn’t give them license to cush you
vehicle just becuse you don’t
ect quickly enough. Be
e
ndle
t on theo
d,nd by
ll mens give eme
gency vehiclesll the sp
ce they demnd. But do not
ssume tht
fie t
uck dive
cn get
yith d
ivingecklessly
nd out of contol.
Delive y T
ucks
In
sense,ll t
ucks e delivey t
ucks, if youe
lly nt to gue the point. But hee I’m t
lkingbout those sm
llecomme
cil t
ucks like the type goce
y stoes use, o
those diven by FedEx
nd UPSo
kes.
He
e’s the dnge
ous thingbout delive
y tucks. It’s not thei
size tht’s the p
oblem. Yes, they’e bigge
thn you
stnd
d p
ssengevehicle
nd they hve blind spots, so the
e’s tht. But
ht m
kes these tucks
ELLY DE
DLY is the high volume of them you find on smlle
,esidenti
lo
ds, combinedith the
eltive INEXPE
IENCE of mny of thei
dive
s.s online
etil gets bigge
-nd-bigge
, delivey t
ucks ince
singly co
ded neighbohood st
eets, putting kids, jogges, bike
s,nd pets
tisk.
The licensing
equiements fo
dive
s of these tucks
en’t ne
ly
s stict
s fobig
ig tucke
s, but delivey d
ives still
ok long hou
s undetight schedules. They cut co
nes (lite
lly
nd figutively) to sve time
nd money.nd
s esult, INNOCENT MOTOISTS, BICYCLISTS,
ND PEDESTI
NS GET HUT.
To T
ucks
To
tucks h
ul boken-do
n motovehicles, obviously. You p
obbly h
ven ide
in youhe
d ofh
tto
tuck looks like, but fou
diffeent types of to
tucks exist.
E
ch of them hs its o
n specil uses
nd dnge
s.ong> ollb ong>,ck to
tucks
lso c
lled fltbed to
tucks don’t technic
lly “to”
nutomobile. Inste
d, dive
s move the bedith hyd
ulic cont
ols.hen
dive
loe
s the bed, dive
s cn d
ive upmp
nd pull theivehicles on the t
uck ouse ch
ins to pull the vehicle on the bed.<li>
ong>Hook nd ch
in tot
ucks<st
ong> used to the fvo
ite type of tuck fo
toing comp
nies, but they hve f
llen out of fvo
.hen you see these t
ucks cuising do
n theo
d, theyill be d
gging
vehicle by itse
ti
es. Hooknd to
tucks c
n cuse d
mge to c
s, so most comp
nies only use them to hul
ust bucketsnd be
tes
ound. This c
n led to
nccident
hen the c isn’t stong enough to
ithstnd the p
essue of to
ingnd comes loose, c
usingd
ngeous
ccident.<li>
ong> heel lift to
tucks ong> e the ne
ve
sion of hooknd to
tucks,
nd the nef
voite
mong toing comp
nies. The tucks
ok simil
ly, but
heel lift tot
ucks lift thee
ti
es off the gound
educing potentil d
mge to c
s they to
.hen the met
l yoke used to tothe t
uck isn’t secuely
ttched to the vehicle, ne
by moto
istsisk involvement in
tot
uckccident
nd suffeing seve
e injuies.
ong>The fin l type of to
tuck is
n integted tot
uck<st
ong>, used to tol
ge vehicles like semi-t
uck cbs, othe
tucks, buses,
nd othel
ge items. Integ
ted to
tucks h
ve extxles to suppo
t theeight of he
vy vehiclesnd
boom m in the centeof the t
uck, mking them mo
e stble th
n othetypes of to
tucks. Integ
ted to
tucks
e the s
fest ofll types of to
tucks. Yet, if the t
uck loses the hevy vehicles it’s to
ing, consequences might be dedly.
C n You Desc
ibe the T
uck Shing theo
dith You?
Ok
y, so it’s pop quiz time. e youe
dy to descibe the type of t
uck you see on theo
d? No one expects you to study evey det
il of evey t
uck you encounte. But do you kno
enough noto spot
ndssess the d
nges
tuck might pose? Let’s
ecp:
- On the high
y, you’
e most likely toun
coss
tcto-t
ile
,hich is t
ll, long,nd h
sn
ticul
ted connection beteen the t
cto
nd t
ile
components.<li>
- On city st
eetsnd
ulo
ds,h
t looks liket
cto
-tilem
y insted be
box tuck.
- Is the t
ile
ounded cylinde? If so, you’
e lookingt
tnke
tuck.
- Is it he
vy, dity, loud,
nd leking c
go like s
nd og
vel? It’s
n industi
l tuck.
- Is it t
king up moe th
n one lne? Th
t’s ide lod.
- Is it b
ightly coloed,
ith flshing lights
ndsi
en?ell, you kno
tht one.
t’s so impo
tnt
bout beingble to identify t
ucks? Like I sid
bove, knoing the type of t
uck you see pep
es you to
void the dnge
s it poses.lso, in
nccident scen
io, it c
n pove ve
y impot
nt to descibe
tuck
ccutely.s
<h
ef="https:/c
inju
yvictims.comhen-to-hie-
-tuck-
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