Policing Unsecured Loads Is A Public Safety Benefit
Unsecured loads are a danger to the occupants of a vehicle and this is an issue that is often misunderstood.
Constable Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) posted several photos on the OPP West twitter account showing a van loaded with various supplies and equipment, including a law tractor. These photos are re-produced below.
The danger of insecure loads does not lie just with the possibility that they may spill onto the roadway. But there are grave dangers that exist for the vehicle occupants if such a loaded vehicle is involved in a significant impact.
In the last of the three photos shown above the pile of lumber clearly blocks the driver’s view of anything to the right of the vehicle. In such an instance a collision is more likely to occur. The type of collision that might occur is not guaranteed and could involve a significant impact to the side, front or even to the rear of the vehicle. The results of such impacts can be complicated but previous investigations show how they can be deadly.
As an example, say that you have a 100 kg load in the back of your van. In a significant impact your vehicle may be slowed down by 40 km/h. Converted, this is equivalent to a change-in-velocity of about 11.11 metres per second. But such major collisions are often completed in about 1/10th of a second. So, in fact, the change-in-velocity is actually 10 times higher or equivalent to 400 km/h, or 111 metres per second. A “g” is the acceleration attained due the earth’s gravitational pull which is equal to 9.81 metres per second squared. As an example, if you jump off a cliff your body will be accelerated toward the ground at a rate of 9.81 metres every second. Thus in terms of ‘gs’ the rate at which you slow down in a 40 km/h impact is about 111 divided by 9.81 or about 11.3 gs.
Another way to look at it is to have a 200 pound man sit on your chest and you can appreciate the difficulty you might experience. Now multiply that weight by 11, or 2200 pounds, and this is the type of force we are dealing with. Is this healthy? Could you survive a 2200 pound weight being applied to your chest? That is the weight of a small car. Clearly not.
Returning to the example of our improperly loaded van, there is a lawn tractor positioned in the rear and there is no indication that it is tied down in any way to the structure of the vehicle. How much does a lawn tractor like this weight? Using the example above, it could surely weight 200 pounds. Now, what could happen if our van driver is involved in the 40 km/h change-in-velocity we discussed above? This lawn tractor is now an unsecured “cannon ball” that continues to travel forward within the vehicle interior even though the vehicle itself is being stopped by the force of the impact.
So let us say the van driver is wearing his seat-belt and the air bag deploys thus providing excellent protection. But what about that unsecured “cannon ball” that has not been slowed down by a seat belt or air bag. This 2200 pound object now drivers into the rear of the driver’s seat back after the driver and van have lost most of their forward motion.
Stop and think for a moment. Do you really think that automotive engineers are so cleaver that they can devise the creation of a seat back that can stop a 2200 pound object in a fractional distance that could be needed to protect the driver? Wonderful things have been accomplished but this miracle is still awaiting discovery. Essentially nothing will stop this extreme weight from striking the driver. What can be beneficial is if the object can be re-directed so that it travels to another part of the interior that does not contain a passenger.
So my recommendations are as follows. Number one, never allow such a situation to occur as shown in the photos above. The cost of using a small trailer or other vehicle which can transport your equipment and heavy supplies is worth the additional cost in comparison to losing your life.
Secondly, if you absolutely need to carry some relatively heavy cargo in your vehicle’s interior there are procedures that can be used to minimize your danger. For a frontal impact recognize that most severe frontal impacts will involve the left portion of the front end and this will induce counter-clockwise rotation. Thus, if you are not carrying passengers on the right side of vehicle, place the heavy object on the right side of your vehicle. When the typical, severe, frontal impact occurs the heavy cargo is more likely to travel into the right portion of the interior and you could be saved.
Next, place your have cargo as low as possible, like on the floor for example. Consider also whether you have created the undesirable conditions that could cause the cargo to be ramped upward during a severe impact and make proper adjustments where possible.
Thirdly, place your cargo in contact with a solid portion of the vehicle interior. By doing so you may be able cause the cargo to begin slowing down as early as possible, or close to the timing of the slowing of the vehicle structure.
And fourthly, and most importantly, secure the cargo to the structure of your vehicle so that it has an opportunity to ride down the collision along with the vehicle structure. If you like, view this as a “seat-belt” for your cargo.
None of the above procedures can prevent you from sustaining major or fatal injuries when carrying heavy cargo but they can minimize the chances. Otherwise, understand the dangers and use the proper vehicle for such transportation.
City of Hamilton Still Does Not Recognize Barrier Problems Along Red Hill Valley Parkway
It is as if the City of Hamilton has been living in a cave. Throughout North America various news agencies have reported on the questionable performance of guardrail terminals. Gorski Consulting has posted examples of several incidents along Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway where guardrail terminals do not appear to be performing as they should. Local news media have reported that there is a higher number of fatal collisions along the Red Hill Valley Parkway. Yet when a questionable incident occurs there is silence.
A photo was taken by John Rennison of the Hamilton Spectator Newspaper showing a vehicle struck in the driver’s door by a deformed guardrail. Text accompanying the photo indicated that the incident occurred on Hamilton’s Red Hill Valley Parkway near Barton Street, but there was no information about injuries. Yet clearly someone has missed the boat. Regardless of whether injuries occurred one only needs to look at the deformation of the guardrail and the damage to the car and, with very little research, learn that there could be a problem here.
As best can be determined from a single photo it appears that the vehicle slid sideways into the end of the guardrail .There is an ET-Plus terminal at the end of the guardrail. Although the image shows few details it appears that initial contact of the terminal was made at the driver’s door and then the system buckled. A small amount of the rail was squeezed through the terminal thus indicating that some degree of longitudinal force was applied to the terminal. The system is designed so that the pre-impact kinetic energy possessed by the vehicle is dissipated by squeezing and deforming the rail as it passes through the throat of the terminal. But clearly very little of that action occurred. Yet we see that the rail has buckled and its “spear” is ready to penetrate the vehicle’s interior via the driver’s door. This appears to be the classic malfunction that was reported by Mr. Jesse Harmon in his law suite against the terminal manufacturer Trinity Highway Products of Dallas Texas. But no one seems to recognize it. What if the vehicle had been travelling slightly faster and the spear harpooned the driver? Is that what would need to take place for someone to wake up and recognize the potential problem?
Incidents like this should be documented thoroughly and the reason for the apparent malfunction should be explained. They certainly should not be left as a passing thought on the back pages of any journalist’s report.
Kavanaugh and Ford Reveal Difficulty in Determining Truth
What is witness reliability?
Yesterday’s hearing in the U.S. regarding Brett Kavanough’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court is an opportunity to high-light the difficulty that exists when attempting to draw conclusions about the truth of an incident based solely on the word of one person versus another. While the information provided by the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, relating an unwanted, inappropriate, sexual encounter of 36 years ago with Kavanough has caught worldwide attention, the general scenario is played out thousands of times over in many courtrooms yearly across North America.
One need not look very hard or long to quickly see the judgments that have already been made, whether on social media, on major television broadcasts or among informal gatherings at the coffee machine. In all these discussions it is rare that persons stop to consider how much they can depend on the accuracy/truth of what they have heard.
While correct judgment requires it, regardless of the individual, personal bias is a difficult factor to remove. For the most part, those who have made their judgments have a strong-felt belief that they are capable of distinguishing truth and lies from signals such as whether someone is nervous, angry, emotional or by the success with which they are able to explain their position. It is an unfortunate reality that we fail to understand how important it is to support our judgments with reliable, objective evidence.
If nothing else, this hearing should demonstrate to all how important it is that a proper, impartial investigation be carried out as early as possible by experienced investigators who are given the proper time and resources to complete their work. Without the documentation of objective evidence and analysis based on standardized, accepted, scientific methods, there is a high likelihood that the justice that must be attained, will not be reached.
Fires After Impacts Should Not Be Inevitable
We do marvelous things to protect occupants from the forces of an impact, then we allow them to be burned to death in the aftermath. Than outcome should not be inevitable. Yet, fires appear to be occurring with greater regularity and little is done or said why this is happening.
Just yesterday a tanker truck became engulfed in flames on Highway 401 near Leslie Street in Toronto after it was involved in a reported collision. Bystanders took photos and video while fire fighters arrived to contain the fire to the cab area. The driver of the truck reportedly escaped without injury.
But obviously the situation could have been much worse. What if the fire was not contained? What if there was a rupture or explosion of the tanker contents? As to how and why the fire erupted there was no explanation. We should be asking questions now before the next incident involves a much greater catastrophe.
Collisions Involving Two-Wheeled Vehicles for September 2018
September may be approaching the end of a deadly season of two-wheeled fatalities.
A summary of collisions in September of 2018 that have been reported by official news agencies in Southern Ontario has provided some expected revelations. This summary is from news stories focused in areas of Southwestern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) including the Niagara Region through to Windsor. Stories from the Ottawa area and into more northern regions such as North Bay, Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie have been excluded. While our summary has not documented every news story ever written it contains the majority of the fatalities and major injury collisions that have been reported in news media websites in the noted areas.
For September 2018, 63 news stories of such collisions were noted. Of those incidents 10 involved motorcyclists, 4 involved bicyclists and 6 involved e-bikes and scooters. Thus of the total of 63 news stories, 20 of these major collisions involved two-wheeled vehicles, or about 30 percent. Injury levels of those two-wheeled riders included 7 fatalities, 5 critically injured, 6 seriously injured and 2 with minor injuries.
While not an epidemic these data express the commonly understood fact that a significant problem exists with the numbers of fatalities and injuries in this category of two-wheeled vehicles. The results of any investigations of how and why these collisions occur are basically non-existent. While news media provide some basic information about the location and severity of these incidents, none of this information is useful for the public’s essential understanding of the problem.
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