Rollover on QEW yesterday

chica123

chica123

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Jul 14, 2010
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Hi all.

Anyone know what the mechanical failure was that caused the rollover yesterday? They were so quick to post that it was a mechanical failure...even before an investigation was completed. I was just curious.
Have a great day everyone!
 
The Toronto Star reported:
Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said it was a “mechanical issue” that caused the truck to rollover but the OPP are still investigating.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/20...-qew-in-both-directions-at-st-catharines.html

I hate it when the OPP say 'Mechanical Issue' because I cannot understand how a mechanical issue would force the tractor/trailer to jump the wall. Possibly a blown steer tire or a shifted load may have happened but in this case the truck hit the wall too hard and at too much of an angle. It wasn't the mechanical issue, it was poorly managed by the operator after the mechanical issue happened.

It just shows how bad press continues to stain our industry and paint it like we are all running poorly maintained equipment.
 
Well these are the exact thoughts that ran through my mind. I was very surprised that they declared this "mechanical failure" so soon. I will be curious to see if more information will be released.
 
I wonder it they do that as a way of saying "it wasn't the driver's fault" Mechanical issue implies "forces beyond operators control".
I know..Pie in the sky thinking but it is another perspective.... :)
PR
 
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Jim, Looking at the picture could a broken tie rod have done that? or broken hub? wondering if something broke on the front driver side steering tire and the unit "climbed" up itself and pushed/pulled the unit into the wall?
 
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Packrat. I do see your point of view for sure. It's just that I would be inclined to think that in a major incident of this nature, they would be a little more cautious about giving information so quickly. Usually you would see them say, "the cause is under investigation" or "the possibility of a mechanical failure is being investigated". You know, some generic nonesense that buys them some time to come to an accurate conclusion before they send it to press. Is my thinking along the right lines?
 
Oh, btw...my curiosity is purely self-serving. All the moms on the playground at school this morning were talking about those big, bad truck drivers and how they should only be allowed to drive at night. It sort of makes me want to know exactly what happened so I could give an educated response to their comments...lol
 
PackRat said:
Jim, Looking at the picture could a broken tie rod have done that? or broken hub? wondering if something broke on the front driver side steering tire and the unit "climbed" up itself and pushed/pulled the unit into the wall?
Click to expand...
Forgive me, I don't want to sound like the 'judge jury and executioner' here. It may have been a tie rod, hub or even the whole axle but my experience tells me that there are a bunch of other indicators like shaking and wobbling that would tell me to slow down and pull over way before I was sent careening into a wall at high speed. I looked at the many pictures with great interest and did not see any scraping on the pavement that would indicate a tire/wheel failure. It is just my opinion based on the very little information that I have. I am glad to hear that nobody was hurt, there was no hazmat spillage and everything is back to normal.

I guess we will have to wait and see if a report is released. Only then can we make a valid assumption. My real concern is the publics opinion on the trucking industry. Last year there was a prolific death in Putnam just in front of the scale with a wheel off situation. Now it seems like that is the media's output now to focus on loose fasteners and cracked hubs on the very very few vehicles that may have them. OPSEU has a twitter account showing off the best of their latest finds of how bad trucks can be on the road. My response right back at them is that the lack of enforcement allowed that particular truck to be in that state of repair on the road - it should have been caught way earlier.
 
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The OPP are not our friends, they need a villain and we are an easy target. Just watch that retarded Heavy Rescue and see the towing company they are hooked up with in Toronto (I think they ride along with Kamera Kerry) and that will show you what they think of trucks. Just look at the reaction of the mom's at the playground I'm sure in their minds we need more police on the road.
 
"Police initially said a mechanical failure caused the truck to rollover, although that is now under investigation by Ontario Provincial Police as is the vehicle’s destination and identity of its shipping company." As quoted from the St. Catharines Standard today. Here we go.....
 
I meet a lot of driver at truck stop and warehouse. Sometime they do operate un safe truck. i make sure mine serviced properly at all time.
 
My point exactly trucks are involved in 25% of the fatalities and yet we are the ones they are targeting. They can't do their jobs so the make us the bad guys.
 
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