…The semi was headed west when its raised bed slammed into the overhead sign near mile marker 200 as it approached the I-64/I-295 split.
Virginia State Police said the crash happened shortly after 9:30 a.m.
“The cab continued on and then stopped, obviously, because it had separated from the bed of the tractor-trailer,” Matt Demlein, a spokesperson for Virginia State Police, said. “We’re still investigating as to what led up to it actually hitting the sign. It was empty at the time.”
Troopers do not know why the bed was raised or how long it was up before the crash. But officials said the truck had stopped at a weigh station about a mile earlier, which is equipped with cameras…
My ten year old basic model sedan will jerk to a halt and put the transmission in Park if I try to move with the driver door not fully closed. I’d think a semi would be able to detect and alert that the damn dumper (?) is extended. Wow.
You need to be able to move when dumping stuff. Above a certain speed an alarm would make sense, but disabling the truck once it’s up to speed is dangerous.
Well sure I’ve never tested it going highway speed but if I don’t fully close the door and try to pull out of a parking spot it moves like an inch then says “nope”. But my post was to at least alert the driver that the thing was not locked down - that seems pretty simple.
Actual footage before the crash:
Can’t park there
Aren’t most trucks equipped with interlocks that prevent travelling at speed when the bed isn’t fully lowered?
No. Every couple years we get inquiries for it, but they don’t want to pay to have it installed.
Probably one complication is that the trucks need to be able to drive while the bed is up in normal operation. They have to move forward while dumping to spread the load.
Not just to spread it, they have to scooch a bit to let the material fall. The tightest end dump pile is still a fat line.
Not just that, but you need a standard to communicate it truck to trailer and retrofit it so it all plays nice.
Could be done on a dump truck though if there is a way to set a separate governor in the computer that gets enabled by the bed up light somehow.
He might not have been fully up to speed yet. This sign is just past a weigh station (I’ve driven this stretch many, many times), and VDOT said he had just gone through the station. Though that doesn’t answer why the bed was up. Could have bumped the switch?
:::Edit to strike through this nonsense:::I am leaning toward the other explanation of drive shaft breaking and pole vaulting the trailer into the sign.
All those years of GTA6 finally paid off.
