…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…

  • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
    24·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • walden@sub.wetshaving.social
      16·
      2 months ago

      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.

      • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        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.

  • psvrh@lemmy.ca
    10·
    2 months ago

    Aren’t most trucks equipped with interlocks that prevent travelling at speed when the bed isn’t fully lowered?

    • ShadowRam@fedia.io
      13·
      2 months ago

      No. Every couple years we get inquiries for it, but they don’t want to pay to have it installed.

      • Peppycito@sh.itjust.works
        7·
        2 months ago

        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.

      • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
        4·
        2 months ago

        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.

            • ShadowRam@fedia.io
              0·
              2 months ago

              Usually you can access it through the obd2 port.

              But realistically, there’s no reason why you can’t design the hydraulics in a way that the cylinder is always leaking through an orifice and the dump trailer is constantly slowly lowering itself unless you are actively holding the Up button. There’s never a case where a truck needs to hold it’s dump up in the air for long periods of time.

              • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
                2·
                2 months ago

                That is a hilarious and practical suggestion. It would confuse and irritate so many people, even though it’s no issue like you say.

    • KittenBiscuits@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      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.

  • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
    169·
    2 months ago

    The driveshaft popped off, rammed in the road and flipped up the entire trailer, it’s rare but it happens and it’s cool every time.

    • KittenBiscuits@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      If that’s the case, why did they arrest the driver on reckless driving? Sounds like pure accident. Even if it was negligent maintenance, that’s not the driver’s fault, that’s on the trailer owner. Right? (IANACDL 😄)

      • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        Maintenance would be on the driver since it’s his responsibility to shut down the truck. U-Joint failures happen (on the tractor), but should be inspected daily (finger quotes).

        Doesn’t matter though, cause he left his bed up. There’s no driveshaft on the trailer. If there were, it would take forever to hook a trailer lol.

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
        1·
        2 months ago

        That doesn’t mean the driver was actually driving recklessly just that police think he was. It says he was just at a weigh station prior to the accident so maybe it was some fluke that caused it to raise up after he left.

    • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      Tell me you’ve never looked under a tractor-trailer unit without telling me you’ve never…

    • seang96A
      5·
      2 months ago

      I have a bridge near me that gotten taken out similarly. I wonder if it was this I was assuming the driver forgot to put it back down. Driver in my case got injured and I have a couple extra miles commute for a year. Good news is the bridge is almost fixed!

  • superkret@feddit.org
    2·
    2 months ago

    It’s there a reason why these trucks don’t have a safety that keeps you from shifting out of neutral when the bed is raised?
    Or at least angrily beeps at the driver?

    • walden@sub.wetshaving.social
      10·
      2 months ago

      You need to be able to move while dumping stuff. A beeping noise during normal operations would be so annoying, people would just figure out how to disable it.

      An alarm above a certain speed would make sense, though.

    • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      You need to pull forward as you dump, but it wouldn’t be hard to put in a really annoying beeper if you use anything except the first couple gears.

    • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 months ago

      It would actually be easier to have a float in the wet kit hydraulic tank on the truck side that alarms when the hydraulic fluid is low.