How not to get killed by what’s on your back

[Peter Hommes]

I have often seen people transporting cars on a trailer or on the back of a lorry and noticed how they have secured the load.

Till about 15 years ago I never thought about it until a friend who was transporting his Jeep on a pickup had an accident on his way back from an event. Breaking very suddenly had caused the Jeep to move forward ending half way inside the pickup’s the cabin.

My friend had made the mistake that a lot of people make. For fear of losing the load they strap it to the front of the lorry not realizing that it takes a huge acceleration to make something fall of the back of a lorry. Just won’t happen…

Better is to focus on avoiding sudden forward movement (relative to the lorry).

The formula for the amount of kinetic energy in a mass on the move is ½ mv^2. m is the mass, v is velocity in metre per sec to the power of 2.

Take a simple Jeep at the speed of 30 miles. The amount of kinetic energy is about 0,5 * 1000(kilo) * (30000*1,604 /3600) equals 500 * 13,5^2 equals 500* 180= 91000 kilo (91 tons) . This amount of energy will be release when there is a sudden stop. Don’t even think about the amount of energy released at an emergy stop with a dingo or a tank at the back of your lorry.

What to do?

- Strap you vehicle with proper chain’s or transport straps. It is very important to have it tidy without a slack – at a slack a chain can snap easily.
- Forget those straps that go over the tyre, they will not last when it really goes wrong.
- Focus on the chains and transport snaps that are tight to the back of the lorry, rather than on the ones leading to the front.


Peter
http://www.milmarket.org