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Post by bobbbiez on Dec 18, 2013 9:46:14 GMT -5
My condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to 35 year old StateTrooper David Cunniff's wife, children, family, friends and to his extended family at the NYSPD.
Very sad, too young to leave us. Rest in peace Trooper Cunniff. Thank you for your dedicated service to our community.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2013 11:44:16 GMT -5
What a shame that something like this has to happen to good caring people who dedicate their lives to protect others. My prayers for the wife and children and the rest of the officer's family and friend's. Rest in Peace Trooper Cunniff.
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Post by Clipper on Dec 18, 2013 13:41:49 GMT -5
Very sad indeed. No charges for the tractor trailer driver as of yet. I read somewhere yesterday that he may have been changing lanes prior to losing control. I may be that there was slush between the lanes that caused him to skid.
Police officers truly do have a very dangerous job and are really not sure when they walk out the door to begin a shift if they will be coming back home again. I would not want to stand beside a vehicle along side of the interstate, especially in a snow storm. Too many are struck by cars and trucks and die in the performance of simple traffic stops or accident investigations, and yet I still see way too many people that still do NOT slow down and do NOT change lanes in accordance with the law.
Trooper Cunniff's family will be in our prayers. Such a shame to see a young father and husband's life cut short at such a young age. May he rest in peace.
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Post by dave on Dec 18, 2013 22:13:30 GMT -5
" ... and yet I still see way too many people that still do NOT slow down and do NOT change lanes in accordance with the law."
And sometimes that's because someone already in the left lane won't let you out. Instead of slowing or dropping back as you're trying to get out when another vehicle is on the shoulder, some idiots figure that's your tough luck.
I'm from an era when on a limited access highway a vehicle is seen off on the shoulder of the road, an imaginary yellow flag goes up and EVERYONE maneuvers for the maximum safety of the stricken vehicle, including letting cars out of the right lane.
With a vehicle off the road up ahead of me not long ago, I moved left and some a-hole doing over 90 barreled down on me from behind. I held up straddled in the middle of the lanes as I passed the stopped car and the jerk behind me actually drove partially off the road to pass me, fishtailed, recovered and went on his merry way. Did I mention he was pulling a full size camper trailer?
When anything like that happens I always say to myself, "I'll probably see you in a ditch in the next twenty minutes," but this was the first time anything like that actually happened. Sure enough, Roadrunner of the Thruway was off the road on the right hand side, car and trailer still connected and completely swerved around, facing from whence he had come. A Trooper attended him. He was very lucky, and he stood there outside the trailer literally scratching his head. I could see no damage to either trailer or SUV. He was amazingly lucky all 8 wheels stayed on the ground and didn't flip or roll.
I don't know why people don't realize that once your trailer starts to slide and you put on your car brakes the trailer is going to overtake the car, get ahead of it and pull you around backwards. If you don't know that you shouldn't be pulling a trailer.
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Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 18, 2013 22:36:20 GMT -5
Even when what I pulled was a light weight pop-up trailer, I had the model with electric brakes. When I was a TA I ran a physics lab doing simulated braking using model cars and rubber bands. Locking up the rear wheels on a car was bad. Locking up car wheels with a trailer pushing and things would get really wonky.
A trooper making a stop on an interstate is in a very dangerous position. They deserve all the consideration and respect we can give them.
Dave, I know exactly how it feels to be blocked from moving over. The only thing you can do is get off the gas and stay alert. Braking introduces another set of potential bad things.
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Post by Clipper on Dec 19, 2013 0:04:33 GMT -5
I am not an engineer Clarence, but I was always taught and I always taught those that I trained, that a wheel that has broken traction will actually move faster than one that is still holding a grip to the pavement surface. Many truck drivers years ago used to pull down on the lever on the steering column that would apply the trailer brakes to slow the trailer when it was slippery. It was proven over the years that when that trailer broke traction, the first thing it would do is try to pass the tractor. I became a believer one night, going down a hill on I-81 in PA when I eased on the trailer brakes, looked in the driver's side mirror and could clearly read the company name the whole length of the trailer. The only way to save myself was to accelerate slightly to pull the pull the trailer back into alignment and to allow the trailer wheels to once again begin to roll rather than slide. If the tractor remains straight and doesn't break traction, the trailer will slew sideways and slide out of control when it's wheels lock. Most companies have removed that lever and valve from the steering column.
Some companies insist that owners of tractors remove that valve before contracting them to pull their trailers. Reason being that many owner operators use that valve to do all their stopping with the trailer brakes, saving on their own tractor brakes. That works fine on dry roads, and saves the tractor owner a lot of wear on the brake shoes on the tractor.
Does that make sense to someone with a knowledge of physics?
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Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 19, 2013 6:18:27 GMT -5
It makes perfect sense. (When the real world doesn't agree with the textbook, it's time to re-examine the book.) A rolling tire will move more easily in the direction it's rolling than in any other direction. A sliding tire can move equally easily in any direction.
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Post by dave on Dec 19, 2013 9:02:27 GMT -5
Clipper's right, at least the way I learned it, and from experience one time coming down a hill and my 40 foot trailer showed up in the rear view mirror. * But I was never sure the sliding trailer tires were subject to less friction that allowed the trailer to come ahead or the combination of that with the braking tractor that resulted in the mismatch of speeds. I would think the latter and, as Clip pointed out, goosing the tractor a bit will straighten things out. CB, I hadn't thought about your point that a sliding tire can move ahead or sideways easier than tires rolling and in contact with the road. That would mean than even a small force could kick or bounce the tires sideways, but it's when they're going faster than the tractor that the problem occurs.
* (I was not a trucker. I trained and got my Class A when I retired. I took a job teaching and wanted to drive a logging truck out west summers. Instead I went west with my wife guarding me as we drove a Lebaron convertible. Hahaha!)
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Post by clarencebunsen on Dec 19, 2013 10:32:02 GMT -5
Like most real world things friction problems can be messy. Depending on materials, surface conditions and (with tires) temperature static friction, rolling friction and sliding friction can have 3 different coefficients. "Seat of the pants" experience tells me that sliding tires have less "grip" than rolling tires and in a braking situation would move faster if possible.
First rule of bad weather driving: keep the front wheels ahead of the back wheels.
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Post by Clipper on Dec 19, 2013 13:03:12 GMT -5
"First rule of bad weather driving: keep the front wheels ahead of the back wheels."
That is definitely the bottom line Clarence. I have rolled off of hills in slippery conditions a little faster than I might want to go because it was more prudent than to use the brakes at the time. Of course when that happens a driver quite often leaves hickeys on the seat cushion from puckering all the way down the hill, LOL. I was southbound on 81 one night, on a steep downgrade where it meets I-80. It was very slippery, and another driver and myself were headed to Hagerstown Md. There had been an accident and the right lane was blocked. We didn't dare brake, so we moved as far left as we could and rolled by the scene at about 40. I told my friend "that was a little nerve wracking." His response was that he was puckered so tight that a person could not have driven a sewing needle up his butt with a stone hammer, ROFL. Now THAT is the definition of a stressful driving experience. I can still hear his voice on the CB when he said that. I still chuckle when I remember it. I never minded the bad weather when I ran West to Iowa and Wisconsin where the road was basically flat, but I always hated going South on either I-81 or the Northeast Extension of the PA pike when it was slippery or stormy. Another desolate and scary stretch of road in nasty weather was the section of the Northway from Lake George to Plattsburg. I have driven that section at night and never passed a car or another truck for the entire trip.
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