Originally printed in the Batesville Daily Guard
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| The nemesis of many a driver. |
Over my 22 years of driving, there’s been one thing that consistently gets my blood boiling when I see it — dump trucks driving down the road with uncovered loads.
I relived that all-too-frequent sense of anger on Interstate 30 last weekend. My family and I were on the way to Arkadelphia, driving the speed limit, which is 70 miles per hour for cars and 65 mph for trucks. As we drove along, a dump truck with an uncovered load blasted past us, flinging gravel out of its top, a piece of which hit my car.
We were unable to get a tag, because there was none (
but there was a “Stay at least 200 feet back” sticker) and we couldn’t see if there were any identifying stencils on the side because he was traveling so fast — fast enough as it would be dangerous to try to catch up.
So, I could only watch as this madman weaved between vehicles and eventually disappeared, flinging gravel the entire way.
If the dump truck had caused actual damage with its flinging of gravel, I’d just be out of luck. I was not about to risk my own life or that of my family just to get the name of the company that owns the truck, if it’s even on there, nor was I going to try to keep up with a guy driving more than 80 miles an hour.
Now, I know I’m not the only driver in Arkansas who has had to dodge gravel or to have been hit by it flying out of the top of one of these metal beasts. It’s frustrating for other drivers as many dump truck drivers, not all of course, seem to think the rules don’t apply to them.
Of course, this doesn’t apply to all dump trucks. Over the years, I’ve seen many more securing their loads on Arkansas roads. But there are still a significant amount that don’t.
For me as a driver, it’s frustrating to see these trucks with no identifying markers on the rear. If one happens to get a windshield chipped, they often have to speed up to get beside the truck, or follow it to its destination, to get some sort of identifying marker.
Why many of them don’t cover their loads, I don’t know. It could be ignorance, laziness or indifference — possibly a little combination of all three.
But whatever the reason, covering loads in the law. I checked with the Arkansas Highway Police and according to state law:
No vehicle shall be driven or moved on any highway unless the vehicle is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping there from.
If that doesn’t sound like “cover your load” then I must need a brushing up on the English language. Sure, someone might say “well, I don’t need to cover my load because it’s loaded the right way” but that is pretty irrelevant when you have rocks, gravel and other things flying out of the back of your truck at the people you share the road with.
Now the law does allow for an open bed manufactured on or before Sept. 30, 2001, 6 inches of freeboard at the perimeter of the load within the open bed of the vehicle or trailer carrying the load. The measurements must be taken at the perimeter of the bed and measured from the top edge of the bed down to whatever is transported.
But, of course, that rule doesn’t seem to be followed very often either. I know I’m not the only one who has seen the top of a gravel pile peaking out of the middle of the truck, higher than the surrounding bed.
Over the last few months, I’ve also noticed trucks with stickers stating “stay at least 200’ away.” From what I gathered from others, some truck owners have claimed that the said stickers protect them from liability.
Of course, I checked into whether this was actually the case or not.
The “stay at least 200 feet away” stickers may be good advice, but they have no legal bearing, according to the Arkansas Highway Police.
Plus, it’s kind of hard to do when you’re going through areas with stoplights and congested traffic or the truck is passing you. You’d think the people who put on the stickers would consider that.
Now if it were a one-time occurrence, I probably wouldn’t feel so frustrated, but it seems to be something I run into all the time as a frequent driver. There’s frustration that the trucks keep breaking the rules and frustration with law enforcement because it seems that many of them don’t seem compelled to enforce it, even when these trucks are right in front of them.
I understand, there’s bigger fish to fry out there. But myself, and many other drivers I’ve spoken to, have been put into dangerous situations due to this. The dump truck drivers may not be driving drunk or even driving recklessly, but they are creating hazards out there by not securing their loads.
So I ask anybody driving a loaded dump truck, please cover your loads. You’re not the only ones who have to deal with your loads.
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