Load Security Essential
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El ROM time to time The Commercial Motor has emphasized the vital importance of adequately securing the loads on vehicles. This need was strongly emphasized recently by a tragic accident in which the driver of an articulated vehicle was instantaneously killed by the load on it sliding forward and forcing off the cab.
The circumstances were that the driver had to brake heavily in an emergency, and many of the heavy steel bars which were being carried slid forward. With material of this nature there is little friction to restrain the upper bars, although the sheer weight of those above may help to hold others below, but here there was definite need for strong restraint.
Most modern vehicles are powerfully braked, some indeed have servo mechanisms, and if fully applied on a dry road, even at a moderate speed, the rapid deceleration will tend to throw the load forward with great force, and it may fracture any but the strongest "moorings," frontboard or cab back, and possibly both. In the instance quoted, however, it seems that the cab was pushed completely clear of its attachments to the chassis, so that however strong its back may have been it did not affect the unfortunate result.
• The Commercial Motor is in a position to know full well the danger, because of the many braking tests which are undertaken by its technical staff. On several occasions heavy test blocks or other loads have not been sufficiently secured and have shifted while the vehicles have been braked. In one case the tester was sitting in the back of the vehicle and raised his legs only just in time to avoid their being crushed, whilst in another vehicle the test driver was forced against the steering wheel, but luckily escaped serious injury.
The matter is so important that it deserves the close attention of such organizations as the Road Haulage Association and the Traders Road Transport Association. They could perhaps act jointly and produce recommendations on ways and means by which this danger could be obviated.