So much fail... so little common sense. That damn trailer is going to be blocking that road a long while too

Found on https://www.facebook.com/Truckdriverwtfmoments?fref=nf

I love the Aussies, they do everything with a sense of humor and cool accent, and style

It was April 1917 and Goodyear set out to create trucking as we know it. From coast to coast on pnuematic tires, in days not weeks.

The first truckers? Harry Smeltzer and Harry Apple, the pioneers of interstate trucking, and their rig? A 5 ton Packard. 

Above photo and below video courtesy of Mike and Goodyear! Thanks!

image from http://www.lincoln-highway-museum.org/NPS/03-NPS-Index.html

Image found on The Old Motor http://theoldmotor.com/?p=56024 which is most likely one of the two escort vehicles, which carried supplies. This photo didn't come with info... so it's anyone's guess as to what it was used for

above two images from http://www.camionactualidad.es/noticias-marcas-fabricantes-camiones/vehiculos-historicos-y-clasicos/item/912-goodyear-wingfoot-express.html

The truck made the 740-mile trip from Akron to New England in 28 days, 21 days late and having went through 28 tires. The two-man team and their film crew made it to Goodyear's fabric mill in Killingly, CT, where much to their surprise they were greeted by Mission of Burma a brass band and hundreds of cheerful mill workers.

It's not a reflection on tire quality to mention how many went flat, you have to keep in mind that the amount of horses who'd lost horseshoe nails for the previous hundred years and the terrible conditions of 700 miles of unpaved, non improved roads.

The truck was a five-ton Packard, but the 10-foot-high, specially built body had been designed by Goodyear. Behind the novel traveling bunk, the cargo bed was loaded with a dozen spare tires, a compressor to inflate them, 500 feet of manila line, shovels and a heavy block and tackle.

What was most novel about Goodyear's truck, named the Wingfoot Express, was the big pneumatic tires it rolled on. Hard, solid rubber tires were standard equipment for short hauls in those days.

two escort vehicles were along, sent for safety's sake, carrying in addition to the usual tools...  60 liters of oil, 40 liters of petrol and 60 liters of water. Also, carrying what the convoy needed most, an air compressor to pump up all the replacement tires.

The three-vehicle caravan that set out to do just that was barely to the Akron outskirts when it became mired in the mud. So began an agonizing odyssey of muddy ditches, broken bridges, blown out tires and engine failures.

It came as no surprise that a heavy truck would have much more difficulty on the poorly graded dirt roads than the farmers' lightweight buggy. Bridges that safely carried farm wagons collapsed under the Packard truck. Twice the engine failed and had to be rebuilt.

The support cars were worn out by the time the caravan reached Pittsburgh and were traded for new ones. Blowouts occurred about every 75 miles as the truck plodded ahead at 15 mph.

As Smeltzer described the trip, "It took 28 days and 28 tires." The trip back with fabric from the mill was less eventful and took just five days.

 Walter Shively, the tire engineer, promptly applied the lessons learned in the grueling truck tire test and improved tires were almost immediately available. A stronger bead and heavier sidewalls produced a tire more resistant to blowout.

Future trips employed seven Wingfoot Express trucks, ranging from three- to five-ton models of White, Mack and Packard. The 740-mile run one way was pared down to 80 hours running time within a year.

They carried tires to Goodyear dealers in the Boston area, or shoe soles for New England footwear makers, bringing back tire fabrics from the Connecticut mill.

The success of the Wingfoot Express was reflected by a spurt in highway construction, as state governments strived to improve roads within their jurisdiction. The Lincoln Highway movement, conceived in 1913 to create a modern coast-to-coast highway, was strongly supported by Goodyear's President Frank Seiberling.

by 1919 they were coast to coast

Info from http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_wingfootexpress.html

In 1918, the same trucks that had conquered the ten-foot snow drifts of Pennsylvania's worst winter in decades, left Boston for San Francisco. This time, the caravan faced a round trip of 7,763 miles, some of it across trackless desert. In Wyoming alone, 36 of 56 wooden bridges gave way beneath the highway giants.

This time the commercial cargo was aviation tires needed by the Army on the West Coast. Again, the persistent Goodyear teams overcame all obstacles of road conditions and weather. After completing four round trips totaling 30,000 miles, the Express trucks had established a new world transcontinental record, coast-to-coast in just 14 days.

Found on http://forums.justoldtrucks.com/25451/cooperation-sleeper-cab?PageIndex=16  and http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_wingfootexpress.html

image from http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78687-gmc-art/

By the 1920's it was decided that another pair of tires would be an engineering necessity to lessen the load and increase the life expectancy of any tire, through the lower load on each, and they added a 2nd axle in the rear

Photo from http://www.camionactualidad.es/noticias-marcas-fabricantes-camiones/vehiculos-historicos-y-clasicos/item/912-goodyear-wingfoot-express.html

photo from http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78687-gmc-art/

Not until 1926 was the production of pneumatic tires higher than that of solid tires; four years later the ratio was 10-1 and ten years later by 10,000 to one.

some info from http://www.urlaubsspass.de/auto/160507-wingfoot/160507-wingfoot.htm

the above 8 wheel bus was used to pick up and return Goodyear employees from the company housing development in Goodyear Heights to the Akron tire factories for 2 cents a trip. Firestone did the same thing.

The 8 wheel vehicles in the below photo are in front of a Goodyear business

found on https://www.facebook.com/rolande.anglade?fref=ufi and the info about Goodyear inventing dual axles and selling that company could be its own post.

above 3 images from http://www.cheersandgears.com/topic/78687-gmc-art/ and are 1921

the left most tandem axle truck is described in Electric Traction Vol 16

So these ads seem to indicate that Goodyear was selling prefab homes in the 40's during WW2 (notice the "Buy War Bonds") , and using the name Wingfoot Homes and the material that insulated the homes was the "Pliofoam" used to seal war aircraft gas tanks from bullet holes.

and in the 1980s they did an homage to the 1917 Ohio to Connecticut run on the sides of their trucking trailers.

Images from Ebay listings

found on http://www.oldcaradvertising.com/Packard%20Ads/1922/1922%20Packard%20Truck%20Ad-01.html

1918 Federal with solid rubber tires, chains, and an enormous log getting transported down a plank road

Looks like a railroad without the rails, and it might be. Who knows, perhaps the logging train had been relocated in preference to trucking or maybe the lumber had mostly run out.

Found on https://www.facebook.com/FMCSA

trucker vs little car who knows one thing the trucker doesn't

Though the little car shouldn't have forced this... the trucker is at fault for not preventing a collision that was avoidable.

The National Safety Council, defines a preventable collision as one in which the driver failed to do everything that they reasonably could have done to avoid it.

 The American Trucking Association, uses the following rule to determine the preventability of a collision: “Was the vehicle driven in such a way to make due allowance for the conditions of the road, weather, and traffic and to also assure that the mistakes of other drivers did not involve the driver in a collision?”

Here on this video you can see that the trucker didn't back off, allow the car in, and prevent the collision.

I bet everyone knows that the most important rule in every US state is that you are guilty if you could have reasonably done something to prevent a collision, and didn't.

That's the law. You are at fault anytime you could have prevented a collsion and didn't. Found on http://truckviewtv.com/redneck-trucker-says-no-to-this-blonde-trying-to-merge/

in the news, trucker uses rig to block traffic from hitting accident victim

http://www.livetrucking.com/truck-driver-parks-highway-blocks-traffic-order-protect-accident-victim/

About $1 million cash was found in the back of a deceased truck driver’s semi trailer in Marshall, Texas.

In the 3 a.m dark of east Texas, Eric Royster rolled an 18-wheeler down the interstate, bound for California on a cross-country run, when suddenly his rig caught fire.

 He jumped from the cab and watched the trailer burn, blazing orange in the night, but a passing pickup struck and killed him in the road.

 This would mark the sad end of the story for Royster, 36, a veteran furniture mover from Angier, a graduate of Harnett Central High School. But there’s more. When police and fire crews opened up the side door at the rear of the truck, they found roughly $1 million in small bills inside, wrapped in plastic and then again in aluminum foil – some of it burned black. What remains, beyond a grieving family, is a long list of questions, chiefly how and why those stacks of cash ended up in the back of an Atlas moving truck, driven by a small-town man.

Freddie Royster, father of the deceased and a moving man himself, supported this story. “My son had no idea what’s in that container,” he said. “We move people. We don’t know what they’re hauling. If you decide you wanted to move your money, we haul it. If you decide you want to move your toilet, we haul it.”

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/12/14/4403878/shaffer-angier-man-dies-with-mysterious.html

After a week of counting, Harrison County authorities have finally tallied up the large sum of money found in an 18-wheeler last week after the diesel caught fire and a pickup fatally struck the driver.

“We can only estimate that there was approximately one million dollars within that vehicle,” Sheriff Tom McCool reported to the Harrison County Commissioners Court Monday. “We have been able to salvage approximately three quarters of a million dollars out of that.” He said they deposited $250,000 of the money Monday morning at a local bank.

 “We’re going to count, for the third time, some of the damage to funds,” McCool said. “If, in fact, those monies are seized, I will be transporting somewhere near a half a million dollars to Washington to the department of engraving and printing for reimbursement and that could take some months for them to go through those damaged funds and so forth.

The truck driver, 36-year-old Eric Royster of North Carolina, was fatally struck by a vehicle as he stood across the highway, watching his 18-wheeler burn due to a mechanical failure. State Highway Trooper Jason Goldberg, who investigated the scene, said the accident occurred in the wee hours of the morning after 3 a.m., and Royster was wearing dark clothing, therefore, the driver couldn’t see him.

 Officials said Royster’s co-driver said he didn’t know who the money found in the 18-wheeler belonged to.

http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/police/sheriff-about-million-discovered-in-truck/article_064b83b6-4534-5a85-83f2-f9732cbcebe4.html 

And then there's this: Trucker escapes burning rig as it bursts into flames, through the windshield

Found on http://www.livetrucking.com/truck-driver-escapes-fire-climbing-window/

A major accident happened on Route 78, Dec. 06, in union involving a tanker, an Audi, and tractor-trailer hauling mulch.

 The Audi, was leaving the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey ramp into Route 78 where he got in the way of the fuel tanker, driven by 35-year-old Balwinder Singh, and resulted in the two colliding. Both vehicles crashed into the tractor trailer, driven by 53-year-old Mario Quiroz, shortly after.

Truckers don't yet have a right to carry a handgun for self defense across all state lines... (Why NOT?) truck and trailer registration is good across state lines, why not gun ownership (2nd ammendment)

Mike was murdered, and his truck set on fire. Cops have no clues, and it's possible he could have defended himself, as obviously, the cops can't, not can they find the killer.

“Jason’s Law” was a bill that was passed in 2009 after truck driver Jason Rivenburb was robbed and murdered for $7 dollars, just thirteen days before his wife gave birth to twins. The bill allowed for funding of safe truck parking. However, the senseless murders continue to happen such as the driver in Detroit who was robbed, shot, and then set on fire earlier in 2014.  http://www.livetrucking.com/wife-of-slain-truck-driver-whos-death-sparked-mikes-law-gives-birth-to-baby-girl/

A petition has been launched by the SBTC (Small Business in Transportation Coalition) that calls for the ATF to create a special firearm carry permit for transportation professionals that would be valid in every state.

You can sign the petition here to help get one step closer to making this a reality.

With a permit valid in all states, it will end the cross-state confusion and help protect the truckers who are transporting our goods.

This brings to mind a 'special rules for special people' situation. Why not all citizens? Truck driver or not? Go to www.handgunlaw.us, click on your home state and find out what states honor your home states carry permit and get additional NON-Resident permits from those states you travel to.

 Example, with a MN Permit to Carry and Florida non-resident and a Utah non-resident permits, you can legally carry in something like 39-40 states.

I understood the 2nd amendment to have the words "not be infringed" and if you can't be allowed to be ready and available to make use of your constitutional rights regardless of where you are or what you are driving... then I'd say that's proof they've been infringed

Of course, even if you get a gun permit, it's still a matter of if your company allows you to carry a weapon as well.

For all the talk about guns, and drivers, I'd like to point out that a shotgun is a perfect choice for self protection. Few people are stupid enough to tangle with ANYONE that racks a round into a shotgun,. the sound alone is universally understood. Shotgun pellets won't travel for thousands of feet and hit innocent people and objects, they are stopped by most anything after a couple hundred feet, hundgun bullets? Go through most anything in hundreds of feet. And best of all, you don't need to be a good aim with a shotgun, just point in the general direction and tell the asshole goodbye. 

in the news.. trucker faces 6 months in jail for hauling 20,000 pounds overweight

A truck driver, Guadalupe Martinez along with his company, Martinez Trucking and Logistics, have been found guilty of hauling an overweight load in Long Beach, California without the required permits. According to the police report, the load was 10 tons more than the legal limit.

He faces up to six months in jail on the misdemeanor charge as well as roughly $20,000 in total fines. His employer, can also face similar fines. Martinez was stopped last year while hauling an 88,600 pound load, 20,000 lbs. more than the 67,500 lbs. his vehicle was certified for.

http://www.livetrucking.com/truck-driver-faces-six-months-jail-hauling-overweight-load-california/

when you are downtown, driving a 53 foot trailer, and make a right turn... too short. It's going to be a bad day

Found on http://www.livetrucking.com/truck-driver-makes-right-turn/

Here is a dashcam view of the massive pileup in last weeks Michigan blizzard on the I 94

Get better windshield wipers for pete's sake

From truckers experience, what shippers/receivers never allow parking on their properties?

• A & P Supermarket Chain
• 3M Corporation
• A.K. Steele
• Aarons
• ABC Building Supplies
• ACME Markets
• Adidas
• ADM – Archer Daniels Midland
• AGCO Manufacturing
• Air Products & Chemicals Inc.
• Albertsons Food Stores/Distribution Centers
• Alcoa Company
• ALDI Grocery Stores
• Allegany Ludlum
• Alliance Tubular Products
• Alton Chemical
• Amarr Garage Doors
• Amazon
• America Cold Storage
• American Can
• American Foods Group – Dakota Premium Foods
• American Gypsum
• American Honda Motors
• American Snuff
• Americold
• Anheuser Busch – Budweiser
• APL Logistics
• Appleton
• ArcelorMittal
• Armstrong World Industries
• Artic Cold Storage
• Ashley Furniture
• Associated Wholesale Grocers Distribution Centers
• Auto Zone
• B & B Plastics
• Barilla
• BASF
• Bass Pro Shops
• Bay Valley Foods
• Bayer Material Science
• Behr
• Ben E. Keith Food Products
• Benjamin Moore Paints
• Best Buy
• Big Lots
• Bi-Lo
• Bitumar
• BJ’s Warehouse
• Blue Bunny
• BMW
• Bolthouse Farms
• Bozzuto’s
• Bridgestone
• Brookshire’s Food & Pharmacy
• Burlington Coat Factory
• Burris Logistics
• C & S Wholesale Grocers
• C E Mulcoa
• Cambridge Pavingstones
• Cameron International
• Campbell Soup
• Canada Dry
• Cargill
• Carhartt
• Caterpillar
• Cerro Flow Products
• CertainTeed
• Certified Grocers
• Champion
• Charter Steel
• Cheney Brothers
• CHEP
• Chesapeake
• Chrysler Plant
• Church & Dwight Co. Inc.
• CISCO
• CLOROX
• Coca Cola
• ConAgra Foods
• Con-Way
• Cooper Tire & Rubber Company
• Coors
• Costco Distribution Centers
• CSX Railroad
• Cummins Engine Plant
• CVS Food & Drug Distribution Centers
• Dana Holding Corp
• D’Arrigo Bros
• Del Monte
• Delta Faucet
• Dial Soap
• Dillons
• Disney
• Dole
• Dolese
• Dollar General Distribution Centers
• Domino Sugar
• Domtar Paper
• DOT Foods
• Dow Chemical
• DSI Pharmaceutical
• Dunkin Donuts
• Dunlop
• Dupont
• Earle M. Jorgensen Company – EMJ Metals
• EDC Warehouse
• Electrolux
• ESSROC: Italcementi Group
• Estes
• Exel: Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions
• Exide Technologies
• Expedited Freight Systems
• ExxonMobil
• Family Dollar
• Farmland Foods
• Faurecia Automotive Parts Manufacturers
• Fed Ex
• Feed Energy
• Feralloy Corporation
• Firestone
• First Quality
• Fleming Foods
• Food Lion
• Ford
• Forward Air
• Foster Farms
• Fred Meyer
• Freightliner
• Fresh Express
• Frito-Lay (PepsiCo)
• Fry’s
• Fuji Oil
• GAF – Roofing Shingles & Materials
• Gallatin Steel
• Gatorade (PepsiCo)
• GENCO Product Lifestyle Logistics
• General Electric GE
• General Mills
• General Motors GM
• Genie Industries
• Georgia Pacific
• Gerdau Steel
• Giant Eagle Supermarkets
• Giant Food
• Glad
• Glatfelter Paper
• GlaxcoSmithKline
• Golden State Foods GSF
• Goodman HVAC
• Goodyear
• Gordon Food Service
• Graham Packaging
• Green Bay Dressed Beef
• Green Giant
• Grimmway farms
• H. E. B.
• h.h.gregg warehouses
• Halliburton
• Haniford Brothers
• Harbor freight
• Heinz Foods
• Hercules Chemical
• Hershey
• Hewlett Packard
• Home Depot
• Hormel Foods
• Horsehead Corporation
• Hunter Panels
• Hunts Point Produce Market
• Hydrite Chemical Company
• Hy-Vee Grocery
• IFCO Systems
• IKEA
• IMTT Product Movement & Storage
• Ingles Markets
• International Paper
• Interstate Cold Storage
• Inteva Products
• Iowa Beef Producers (IBP)
• Jacobson Companies
• JBS Packerland Beef
• JBS USA
• JC Penney
• Jewel-Osco
• John Deere
• John Morrell & Company
• Johns Manville
• Johnson & Johnson
• Johnson Controls, Inc.
• Kal Tire
• Keebler
• Keen Logistics Services
• Kellogg’s
• KIK Custom Products Packaging
• Kimberly-Clark Corporation
• Kinder Morgan
• King Soopers
• Kingsford Manufacturing, A Division of Clorox
• Kmart
• Koch Foods
• Kohler
• KOHLS
• Komatsu
• Kraft Foods
• Kroger
• Lear Corporation
• Loblaw Supply Chain and Distribution Centers
• Lofthouse Cookies
• Long Prairie Packing Co.
• Lowes Distribution Center
• Macy’s Distribution Centers
• Manheim Auto Auctions
• Manitowoc-Grove
• Mars Petcare
• MartinBrower
• Martinrea International Inc.
• Maxwell House
• Mayfair Sales
• MBM Food Service Distribution
• McCormick & Company
• McDonald’s
• McLane Company Inc.
• Medline Industries
• Meijer
• Mercury Paper
• Meric
• Meritor
• Michaels Craft Stores Distribution Centers
• MillerCoors Brewing LLC
• Minyard Food Stores
• Momentive
• Morton Salt
• Nabisco
• National Beef
• NESTLE’
• Nestle’ Waters
• Nexeo Solutions
• Niagara Bottling Company
• Nissan
• Nitto Denko
• Nunes Cooling
• Oak Harbor
• Office Depot
• Office Max
• Okonite
• Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Distribution Center
• Omya
• O’Reilly Auto Parts
• Orgill, Inc.
• OSI Solutions
• Owens Corning
• Ozarka Water
• Pacific Coast Container, Inc.
• Parkdale Cotton Mills
• Penske
• Pep Boys
• Pepperidge Farm
• PepsiCo
• Performance Food Group
• Petco
• PetSmart
• PGW Glass Plants
• Phillip Morris
• Piggly Wiggly Warehouses
• Pittsburgh Paints
• Poland Springs Water
• Polaris Industries
• PolyOne
• Polyquest
• Porky Products
• PPG Industries
• Pratt Industries
• Precision Strip
• Precoat Metals
• Preferred Freezer Services
• Premium Waters
• Presto Products Company
• Price Chopper
• Printpack
• Proctor & Gamble
• Proctor & Gamble
• Publix
• PURINA
• Quad Graphics
• Quaker Oats (PepsiCo)
• QVC DISTURBUTION CENTER
• R R Donnelley Logistics
• Ralphs Supermarkets
• ReadyPac
• Reckitt-Benckiser
• Reebok
• Reinhart Foodservice LLC
• Republic Conduit
• Republic Plastics
• Rite Aid Distribution Centers
• Rockline Industries
• Rockport
• RockTenn
• Ross Dress for Less Distribution Centers
• Roundy’s Supermarkets
• Ryerson
• Safety-Kleen
• Safeway
• Sam Adams Plant
• Sam’s Club Distribution Centers
• Sara Lee
• Sav-A-Lot
• SCAFCO
• Scott’s
• Sears Distribution Centers
• Seashore Fruit & Produce
• Shamrock Dairy
• Shaw Carpet
• Shell Oil Company
• Sherwin-Williams
• Shopko
• ShopRite
• ShurFine Markets
• Siemens
• Skechers Shoes
• Smithfield Foods
• Solaris Paper
• Solo Brands
• Solvay Chemicals
• Sony
• Southern Agriculture
• Southern Auto Auction
• Southwire
• SSAB Products & Services
• Stanley Tools
• Staples Distribution Centers
• Stater Brothers Distribution Centers
• Stop & Shop Distribution Centers
• Sun Products Corporation
• Sunny Fresh Cargill
• SuperValu Foods
• Sygma
• Sysco Foods
• Target Distribution Centers
• Temple Steel Company
• Temple-Inland Paper
• The Golub Corporation
• ThyssenKrupp
• TJ Maxx Distribution Centers
• Tobacco Warehouse
• Toshiba
• Toyota
• Toy’s R’ Us Distribution Centers
• TPI Composites
• Tractor Supply
• Trader Joe’s
• Tropicana
• Tubular Services
• Tyson Foods
• UNFI – Unified Grocers
• Unilever
• United States Cold Storage
• United Steel
• UPS
• US Foods

http://truckerdesiree.com/2014/06/15/walmart-crash-hours-of-service-and-truck-parking/