The article stated that automobiles need all the help they can get in a collision with a semi-truck . Absent from the article was how automobile drivers can help us help them.


This month, I was reading through a popular automotive magazine and came across an interesting trucking editorial. The picture for the article depicted a truck smashing into the rear of a car while a female driver looked frightened as she viewed the scene in her rear view mirror. Another picture shows a vehicle bursting into flames while people rushed in to help. I thought this would be an interesting article to read and was surprised to see this in an automotive publication.


As I read the facts and figures, most were accurate and the tone seemed as if it could have come from a trucking industry periodical. The editor fairly writes about how the crash rate ebbs and flows with the economy. When trucks are busy on the highways, there is more opportunity for involvement in a crash. The article noted in a sidebar a recent proposal to limit truck speed. Advantages were noted in regards to safety and fuel mileage however they are not enthusiastic if the speed limiters would apply to automobiles.


In a positive note, the article gave praise to truck drivers in the trucking industry for our crash rate per mile travelled. The piece ended on an interesting note by stating that when it comes down to cars versus 18-wheelers, the cars need all the advantages they can get. What I found noticeably missing from this article was any mention on how automobiles or light trucks can do their part in aiding safety on our nation’s highways. Also missing, were the fatal crash study figures in which research from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute results revealed that car drivers were assigned fault 81 % of the time verses 27 % for truck drivers. In fact, the follow pages of this auto magazine sing the praises of new sport model cars that now offer top speeds of nearly 200 mph and in one case over that speed. The new cars include capabilities today that were not heard of in years past. Many of these new models can outperform most race cars of the not so distant past.


Upon reading, I had to ask myself how do these incredible high performance vehicles help with the goal which was stated at the end of their article regarding truck verses automobile safety.

Comments (3)

Henry Albert

Henry Albert is the owner of Albert Transport, Inc., based in Statesville, NC. Before participating in the "Slice of Life" program, Albert drove a 2001 Freightliner Century Class S/Tâ„¢, and will use his Cascadia for general freight and a dry van trailer. Albert, who has been a trucker since 1983, was recognized by Overdrive as its 2007 Trucker of the Year.

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Screwdrivers, for example, these are often left out of big reviews. When you mention them to someone setting up a Garage Chief garage at first the thought may be oh yeah, I have a few of that somewhere. But since they will be used so often for any number of tasks why not look to find the best screwdriver set out there.

September 18, 2017 5:19:03 AM

"how do these incredible high performance vehicles help with the goal which was stated at the end of their article regarding truck verses automobile safety" Because it is a auto pub and they are there to help sell cars for the makers. The person who wrote the article needs to do a ride along for a week with a 18 wheeler and see first hand what goes on out on the roads from a 18 wheeler.

December 06, 2016 7:39:37 AM

Having worked in the EMS field for several years and been part of the crew that extricated many crash victims, in my opinion (no I haven't read the article) the high performance vehicles don't help at all. They will increase the crash rate because the average 4-wheel driver can buy them and they don't have the skill or experience to handle the vehicles in the summer let alone in inclement weather. There's a reason races are stopped in bad weather. In my opinion, no one traveling America's highways needs the ability to travel 200 mph. The main thing that will come from these vehicles is more horrific crashes, more fatalities and more blame on everyone else and everything else other than where the blame belongs.
After a 200 mph crash there won't be anything left of the occupants to allow them to take responsibility for their actions and that leaves the familys and lawyers to blame everyone else in the vicinity of the crash. Just my opinion......

December 06, 2016 7:27:20 AM