Jackknifes Happen Often on Dry Roads, Too

It appears the driver hit the binders and the tractor's brakes seem to be sticking, pulling the rig to the left. Screenshots from ABC newscast. 

Forgive me if I devote too many of these blogs to jackknifing, but ‘tis the season of slick pavement when a lot of such accidents occur. They are dangerous to the errant rig's driver and to other truck drivers and motorists nearby and can cause a lot of expensive damage.

But how about a jackknife on dry pavement? Here are some images from a TV newscast of a tractor and dump trailer suddenly going out of control, bending to port (as a sailor might say), and skidding across several lanes on a freeway and blocking them as it comes to a jarring halt. What the blazes could cause that?

The very short news report didn't include the accident's whereabouts, and I searched on Google and YouTube but couldn't find it. What I did find in short order were a lot of recent jackknifing incidents, almost from coast-to-coast. Quite a few were on dry pavement, some resulted in injuries, and all caused traffic tie-ups that teed off a lot of people.

I studied the short video and these pics several times and determined that the driver apparently hit the binders hard when he saw traffic ahead slow down. It appears that the brakes on his rig grabbed, the wheels locked, and the tires began skating across the asphalt.

Anti-lock braking systems are supposed to keep brakes from locking, but this time didn't. Why might that be? I invite experts and experienced drivers to offer opinions in the comment section below. Meanwhile, here's what I think:

The tractor's brakes were out of adjustment, and/or air valves were sticking, so the brakes didn't release when told to by the ABS. It's also possible that ...Read the rest of this story

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Spot Freight Market Measure Falls from Previous Month, Up from Year Earlier

Despite an increase freight volume during February, a measure of the total strength of the truckload spot freight market declined from the month before due to softer rates, according to the freight matching service provider DAT Solutions.

The DAT North American Freight Index for February fell 13% as an influx of capacity from contract carriers held down spot van and refrigerated freight rates even though total freight volume for the month improved 48%.

"Volume on the spot market in February was robust for what is traditionally a slow month for freight," said Don Thornton, senior vice president, DAT Solutions. "The strong freight volumes attracted an unusual number of contract carriers, and the added capacity helped keep rates down on many high-traffic van and reefer lanes until late in February, when national average contract rates began to firm up."

Compared to January, the national average spot van rate was $1.62 per mile, including a fuel surcharge, down 5 cents, while the average reefer rate was $1.86 per mile, down 9 cents. However, by the last week of February, load-to-truck ratios were up sharply and spot rates had increased week over week. In contrast, the national average spot flatbed rate was $1.96 per mile, 4 cents higher than in January.

Although month-over-month spot van and reefer load posts declined in February, demand for flatbed trucks rose 27 percent. The flatbed load-to-truck ratio was 26.6, meaning there were 26.6 available flatbed loads for each truck on the DAT network.

"Flatbed freight includes building materials and heavy machinery," Thornton said. "High volume indicates activity in construction and energy sectors in particular, as drillers take advantage of crude prices that have been mostly over $50 a barrel since OPEC agreed to cut supplies in late November."

When the DAT measure for February is compared to the same time a year ago ...Read the rest of this story

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Demand for trucking and logistics services is strong and continuing to soar, according to a variety of metrics tracked by Stifel Capital Markets, but if motor carriers expect this trend to lay the groundwork for rate increases, don't hold your breath.

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