# Fuck you for cutting corners, American Crushing & Recycling **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 31, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960 "2005-07-31T02:07:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/41 "2005-08-03T00:24:29Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Your link is all hosed up, the items you list are on page 9, but on page 14 where it talks about the walk around the it tells the driver to check the condition of the brake hoses and drums. Furthermore unless truck drum brakes are way way different then what was used on a car (Other than size of course) there is no way in hell for anybody to inspect the lining condition without pulling a brake drum. This is no simple matter, and should not be expected in a daily walk around. There is nothing wrong with his link. It lists the same data with a Colorado cover page that my PA CDL manual lists. I do think you’re actually referring to page 2-8, as 2-9 covers steering and suspension pre trip inspections. For the meat of brake inspections, go to Section 5 beginning at 5-49. Whether you feel this is excessive or not isn’t in question. Those of us who hold CDLs and feel the public safety is important comply with the recommendations. > [@](#): > > So unless it comes out that there was visible signs of a problem that a driver could reasonably be expected to find, I am not going to yell at the driver too much. Particularly since he has already paid a pretty heavy price already. > **Dances** I call bullshit. A pre-trip cannot find all the reasons that a truck might start shedding parts. Don’t forget the driver had only worked there for one week, so he was probably ignorant of the past history of the rig he was assigned that day. Call bullshit to your heart’s content. I never said that a driver was expected to have X-ray eyes. I do expect that if they undertake the responsibility of piloting a rig weighing 40 tons or more that they will invest the time to properly and thoroughly pre-trip the vehicle. I also don’t give a damn if the guy worked there for a week or a decade, his responsibility is neither heightened nor diminished by his status as a new hire. Personally, I’d tend to be even more detailed with a new employer until I determine their level of diligence with respect to my write-ups and general vehicle maintenance. > [@](#): > > Here is one example what I am talking about. The pre-trip tells the driver to inspect the lug nuts for tightness. He does this, and finds them all tight. The backstory (what he does not know) is that this rig had the lugs loosen up a while back, and a several of them broke. The shop only replaced the broken ones. The problem is that the breaking of lug studs overstress the remaining and weakens the hell out of them. There is no way in hell that on a pre-trip the driver could be expected to spot visually the overstressed, and about to break studs. If enough of the studs break, guess what fall off the truck? Apples v oranges mean anything to you? > [@](#): > > Or perhaps a wheel bearing is failing. If the wheel bearing fails you can also loose a wheel. Unless you are a way better mechanic than I am you are not going to find a failing wheel bearing by looking at it as you walk by. > I do agree that a properly maintained vehicle does not go around shedding parts. The catch here is that is obvious that the truck in question was not properly maintained. Interesting posit. If a bearing fails, how does that part individually allow wheel exit from a vehicle? Last time I checked, there were castle nuts, cotter pins, and other retainers involved. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/42 "2005-08-03T00:36:09Z")
**danceswithcats** , perhaps I missed something in your posts, but you seem to place an inordinate amount of blame on the driver. Do you not feel that the company involved is a major factor in this crash? If not close to 100%? Not being a CDL driver, I’m not sure what a specific driver’s responsibility is, but it really seems to me that an employer should be providing mechanically-safe equipment to its employees. ---
**Author:** ![RyJae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@RyJae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RyJae)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/43 "2005-08-03T00:47:23Z")
> [@rexnervous](#): > > **danceswithcats** , perhaps I missed something in your posts, but you seem to place an inordinate amount of blame on the driver. > > Do you not feel that the company involved is a major factor in this crash? If not close to 100%? > > Not being a CDL driver, I’m not sure what a specific driver’s responsibility is, but it really seems to me that an employer should be providing mechanically-safe equipment to its employees. Not to butt in but, I call it 60/40 company/driver as a CDL driver in the past and a current CDL holder I know its **my** responsibility to ensure I am driving a safe rig. Every job I had, had mechanics who would do the tire changes and all major work that needed done but would not know the brakes/tires/wiring where bad in between check-ups unless I as the driver alerted them to that fact. Its in every manual I have ever seen for the driver to do a pre-trip inspection. They took great care in fixing problems the drivers detected because the drivers would not go out that day if the truck they had was not safe. I would lose my job before I lost my life. Its sad, its a tragedy and I do feel bad for those who lost there lives, and feel the company should get what ever the maximum they can throw at them, but the driver is not blameless just because he is dead IMO. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/44 "2005-08-03T02:46:39Z")
> [@rexnervous](#): > > **danceswithcats** , perhaps I missed something in your posts, but you seem to place an inordinate amount of blame on the driver. > > Do you not feel that the company involved is a major factor in this crash? If not close to 100%? > > Not being a CDL driver, I’m not sure what a specific driver’s responsibility is, but it really seems to me that an employer should be providing mechanically-safe equipment to its employees. You’re correct, I do place a large burden on the driver for one simple reason: A truck with defective brakes, inoperative lights, and other flaws is in no position to harm the motoring public unless _ **it is driven on the public roadways.** _ Without question, the company is culpable, but if their drivers keep on driving pieces of equipment which should be redlined, when is the issue forced into management’s lap? My CDL is issued by the state in which I reside, not by any employer. In exchange for the privilege of that license, I consider it my obligation to ensure that nothing I drive or permit to be driven is unsafe. This never struck me as a brain stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/45 "2005-08-03T17:02:36Z")
More has come out about the driver: > [@](#): > > The driver of the dump truck involved in Friday’s crash on Avon Mountain had been fired from another trucking company three days earlier because of **unreliable work habits** and \*\*improper operation \*\* of one of that company’s vehicles. From [this](http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-crashdriver0803.artaug03,1,4676301.story?coll=hc-headlines-local&ctrack=1&cset=true) article. Here is another article talking about his [criminal past](http://www.courant.com/news/local/statewire/hc-03021225.apds.m0488.bc-ct--fieraug03,0,5722151.story), though I’m taking that with a grain of salt, considering the media hype I’ve seen in other stories. > [@from the second article linked in this post](#): > > At the time of the crash, Naafi was facing charges of drug possession, third-degree criminal trespassing and interfering/resisting arrest, according to state police records. > > Ralph Carpenter, commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, said officials were still investigating whether Naafi complied with drug testing requirements. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960/46 "2005-08-03T17:10:48Z")
Something I missed from the first story I linked in my previous post: The question of whether Naafi even hit his brakes is also being examined. > [@](#): > > Sources said investigators found a trail of truck parts - \*\*which investigators initially had speculated were brake parts but now say were more likely from the transmission and the clutch \*\* - strewn along Route 44 . It would seem that the driver was also at fault in this, at least IMO. He shouldn’t have been operating a heavy vehicle at all. The company shouldn’t have hired him, and the company should have maintained it’s vehicles. Quite a combination of circumstances went into the accident it would seem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-for-cutting-corners-american-crushing-recycling/314960.md?page=2)