All rollovers can be prevented!
Rollover risks have existed for as long as vehicles have travelled on roads. Statistics show that rollover accidents occur every day despite major improvements in vehicle performance and the computerisation of safety systems. If you operate any type of truck with a high center of gravity, you need to address the potential of a rollover accident. While operator training helps mitigate the chances of a rollover, even the best drivers are subject to unavoidable emergency maneuvers and momentary lapses in attention that can lead to major incidents. But new technology in the form of electronic stability systems is emerging that will minimize these risks.
The duty of the mixer trucks is to transport the concrete prepared in the batch plant to the construction sites. While doing this work, mixer trucks are in motion both on the highways and on the sites and the rollover event is experienced in both areas. When the rollover accidents are analysed, it will be clear that there are common causes in both areas and also in the special cases specific to each area.
Rollovers occur due to a particular set of circumstances. Distractions, mechanical condition, driver fatigue, road conditions (soft verges, camber), weather etc. If these circumstances are corrected or prevented, then any rollover can be eliminated. A rollover is one of the most serious types of mixer truck accidents, resulting in many cases in serious injury and/or death to drivers or the general public at large. When rollovers occur, it puts the driver into a position that no amount of training or anticipation can assure the prevention of very serious consequences.
How to prevent the mixer truck rollovers:
In order to prevent rollover incidents, first of all, it is necessary to know that mixer trucks are technically very different from other truck-mounted vehicles in traffic and this should be learned and accepted by mixer truck drivers in particular.
Mixer trucks are more prone to overturning than other truck mounted equipment due to the forces acting on the vehicle, that is, due to the high center of gravity due to the drum in a high position on the chassis and the centrifugal forces caused by the rotation of the drum. These two features also affect other movements of the vehicle and increase the possibility of overturning.
Driver training:
Rollovers typically occur during cornering, rapid lane or road position changes and low or adverse road surface grip conditions. This is where centrifugal force acting through a vehicle’s centre of gravity causes it to lean. The magnitude of the centrifugal force will increase as speed and turning angle increase, resulting in a rollover.
The training and experience of the drivers using the mixer vehicle is very important in order to reduce the rollover incidents in mixer trucks at least as much as possible.
Awareness of mixer truck rollovers:
Mixer truck rollovers will only be prevented if drivers remain focused. In order to accomplish this, repeated training must be conducted of ‘recognizing conditions’ that are common to most rollovers. Statistics show the most common cause for many trucks rolling over is the driver’s inability to assess the combination of speed, heavy loads, and cornering. The dangers these combined factors pose may seem obvious, but the problem is that the driver must learn to assess them from behind the wheel. Doing so requires good judgement, knowledge of the vehicle and, if possible, practical training.
Lastly, rollovers create unnecessary human suffering, substantial costs and business disruption. It is everyone’s responsibility in the company to do whatever can be done to prevent the occurrences of rollovers.
This nine-chapter E-Book covers rollover incidents in mixer trucks in detail. Rollover risks, rollover awareness, rollover incidents, analysis of rollovers, rollover prevention, prevention systems, rollover training, rollovers at turns, results of rollover.
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