Seems to me the logistics of towing the trucks away wouldn’t be quite as difficult as implied in many posts above. Perhaps this is just my ignorance of trucks showing?
Can’t they just unhitch the trailers from the tractors and tow (or airlift?) them separately? The trailers only have wheels at the back end (that’s why they’re called semi-trailers, get it?) so if they can’t unlock the brakes, they can jack up the rear ends of the trailers and put a dolly under the wheels. Or just back the trailer up a few feet and bring in a new tractor of their own, hitch it up, and drive away with it. Tractor/trailer hitches are standardized, aren’t they?
I saw an official last night on the tv pointing out they have made arrangements with social services, on standby, then on site, ready to intake children displaced during any action undertaken. See if that doesn’t unsettle their ‘children as human shields’ clever ruse!
I don’t know about truck air brakes per se, but as I understand it, they are the same as railroad air brakes and those I do know.
The brake shoes are pressed against the wheel (or brake drum) by air pressure and thanks to leaks, that pressure will bleed off in at most, a few hours. Therefore, if you expect a car to stay on the same spot, the hand brake will need to be applied instead.
To apply the hand brake a wheel is turned or a ratchet lever pulled which uses the same linkages as the brake cylinder to apply the same brake shoes against the wheel. The problem is, the pressure from the brake cylinder is greater than the pressure any human can apply so if you spot a car, crank on the brake wheel until it is tight, then walk away, when the air inevitably leaks away everything’s gone slack, and the car remains where it is only by force of habit.
Therefore SOP in tying a car down is to crank on the wheel until it binds a bit, pull a handle which releases the air from the brake cylinder, then continue cinching the hand brake until everything is tight again. Workers sometimes don’t get this sequence right which is why you’ll sometimes find a derail on an industrial spur.
Therefore I suspect air brakes will not of themselves prove to be a deterrent to removal
Yup, what DavidNRockies said. The brakes are on when there is no pressure in the system.
I’m not a trucker but this should be easy to over come. Imagine the amount of semis that are towed that the engine cannot/is not running. The tow truck will pressurize the brake system.
I think (again not a trucker) that the air hose coupler would be VERY standardized.
I also think that most of these trucks would be empty. Towing with nothing but force shouldn’t be a problem.
Ever see a big articulated 6x6 motor grader? Around here used for grading gravel roads but mostly clearing snow. Being articulated, it can navigate tight turns, even though they weigh 20 tons.
Ottawa must have some. If not, they are roadable with speeds of about 30mph. They also have rippers on the back. A hydraulic arm similar to a three point hitch on a regular farm tractor. I’m sure, that after chaining up the front of a tractor of a semi, it would be able to pick the front wheels of it nearly off the ground. Or at least minimize any affect of the front wheels of the semi.
I find it amusing that they arrested Lich and Barber, but left Pat King alone to keep on “organizing”. My pet theory is, they realized he’s so stupid, that letting him try to run things by himself will do more damage to the convoy than arresting him.
If the owners are taken away, and there is no one to keep an eye on them, I imagine that the semis will disappear on their own, bit by bit, as they are stipped down for parts.
What is left should be much lighter and easier to handle.
Class action suit against the MEdom fools has been expanded. Many local restaurants are joining the suit.
They are working at increasing the number of plaintifs named in the suit:
Private investigators had been gathering information about the trucks at the demonstration, logging licence plates and tracing owners through provincial registries.
Above and beyond the monetary penalty (and I really hope that the lawsuit is successful) this might, though I kind of doubt it, prove to these people that their positions are actually despised by the people whose city they’ve invaded and occupied.
