(quoted from post at 14:12:51 12/17/14) Well maybe not in the same category, but over time, the amount of commercial truck traffic has increased. Where I live, is a corridor to Vermont and New England, and I see trucks, tractor trailers 24 hours a day.
One of the things that stands out is excess speed. Another is the use of hand held devices such as ones cell phone, with no regard for the distraction. The excess speed is a noticeable problem, click on the link below. I don't recall what the investigation results determined, but we do know that this has become a hot spot for roll overs. There are several others in the area, and it appears that drivers do not respect the rules when they have a load on. I see drivers of heavy commercial vehicles leaning them in turns, and driving at speeds that are unsafe. The accident in the article was an LPG trailer, and in the early 60's one of those did quite a bit of damage in a rural town just south of the accident location. Many people recall what happened then, and this one was like it was happening again. These are 2 lane roads, and I hate traveling them because you have to keep your eyes on every vehicle going the other direction, there have been more head on collisions on this stretch than I can recall, and I have witnessed a few. In the 70's there were red and white bumper stickers that said, "Pray For Us We Drive Route 7" its more true today. On our stretch its always the screech of skidding tires, followed by the loud bang! Law enforcement patrol cars, ambulances, fire department vehicles responding to situations or events are so much more numerous now, when I was a kid it was not very often, now its like the nearby city !
You know that in VT seven is called the Molly Stark Trail. I was headed to MacFaddens once and as I came over the top in VT where it is real steep, there were seven bales of nice second cut hay that had fallen off a truck or trailer. I picked up five, then at Macfaddens I sold two for $7.50 each to a guy that needed something in the back for dunnage with a motor that he had bought.
The stretch profiled in the article is a scenic area, but all "S" turns, in the mid 80's they did re-align it better, at a high cost, but there just is no way to deal with it, its a pass between small mountains, before it was worse, and truck traffic was significant then, I cannot recall any of these kinds of accidents for years and years, now they are common and there is no doubt in my mind that its careless drivers.
Years ago, trucks were slow, drivers were more attentive or so it seems, and personally, as I did drive tractor trailers, I was always very careful, more so with a load on. These guys leaning these rigs over in turns, stressing the tires, pushing the limits today, makes no sense to me.
So yes, there is something to this, or so I believe.
Rt 7 accident