Sharing the road with 18-wheeler trucks can be a scary prospect. After all, an accident with one of those 40-ton trucks isn’t likely to have positive results for someone driving a sedan. Luckily, some truckers are working to make the road safer for everyone.One woman from Montana, for instance, found a new way to communicate with people driving on the road from her own truck-driving experience. Even better, she used her creative platform to warn thousands about some deadly cargo trucks frequently carry…
Driving for hours along farm-flanked highways or jam-packed freeways can send even the most stable minded of us into a road psychosis. Yet truck drivers suffer some of the world’s worst highways every day — how do they keep their minds busy?
Well, in decades past, truck drivers used CB radios to talk with each other as they drove, making it feel as though they had a few buddies on their solitary drives. But eventually, Montana-based trucker Daisy Delaney, below, saw those going silent.
Daisy Delaney / Facebook
“As far as just interaction on a regular basis,” Daisy said, “we’ve all pretty much gone to our cellphones.” But she didn’t share all the enthusiasm for chatting on cell phones, so instead, she tried something few truckers had done before.
Using Facebook Live, Daisy live streamed to people all across the planet. The trucker locked her iPhone into a holder and spoke directly to the Joes at home — not her fellow truckers. She used this platform to deliver unique messages to her audience.
Some of her messages were solely informational: “I travel around America for free,” she said, “which is really a lot of fun for me. And so I started filming just to show people what I get to see every single day out here in my job.” That included…
Dust storms in Oklahoma and the gorgeous landscapes of New Mexico. She waxed about life and sang loudly with the radio as she traveled over 12,000 miles per year. Still, she might’ve delivered her most important message in February 2018.
Daisy shared with her viewers a terrifying image: an 18-wheeler with its cabin smashed by a metal wheel of some sort. “This is a coil,” she said of the wheel. “It’s considered one of a truck drivers most lethally dangerous loads.” But wait a second…
How could a coil be the most dangerous load for an 18-wheeler? Aren’t there some trucks out there carrying explosive chemicals or bio-hazards? Well, Daisy explained herself.
“Most the time,” Daisy continued, “you won’t see [exposed coils] because companies want us to cover them with tarps. So if you see us rolling with a big covered lump in the middle of our trailers or what looks like hay bales all in a row, give us some room.” Why?
Daisy Delaney / Facebook
When a truck carries a coil, she noted, the driver can’t execute sharp turns — doing so would cause the coil in cargo to tip over. Those steel coils, after all, sometimes weigh as much as 45,000 pounds. Which creates another problem…
With that heavy a load, truckers carrying coils can’t brake effectively. “These [coils] are only held down by chains,” Daisy said, “and enough stopping inertia can snap those chains.” If the chains snap, you get a smashed truck cabin.
Ultimately, Daisy shared this information to warn drivers: “Look,” she said, “truckers carrying coils understand the danger of it. They leave a lot of space between the front of their cabins and the cars ahead of them.” Drivers, though, often move into that space.
So cutting in front of a truck carrying a steel coil gives truckers a horrendous ultimatum: “We’re forced to either commit suicide,” Daisy said, “by slamming on the breaks and taking a coil to the truck cabin. Or…”
Daisy Delaney / Facebook
“Take out whatever is in front of us that just forced us to slam on our brakes,” she said. “That would be you. It’s not a comfortable ultimatum and one we ask you not to ask us to choose.” It was a serious warning — but one not everybody bought.
Was the situation truly so dramatic? Were steel coils really so dangerous that truckers carrying them could be put in life-or-death situations? Well, Candy Robb, Inspector for the Indiana State Police Division of Motor Carriers, had this to say.
Trucks hauling steel cables “are a constant problem,” Candy said, echoing Daisy’s sentiment. “Trucks carrying the coils turn over or lose their loads,” she said. “Even if they don’t kill or injure someone, they do a lot of damage to the road.”
Damon Arthur
Still, Daisy never let the dangers of hauling deadly loads across the United States ruin her love for trucking, never missing a chance to emphasize that she gets to travel the country for free. But her favorite part might just be sharing it with her viewers.
“It comes with its challenges,” she said. “Not saying we can’t do what everybody else does out here, but it’s very independent, it’s very rewarding, it gives you a huge element of freedom, and I particularly love what I do!”
Daisy Delaney / Facebook
While only six percent of truckers in the United States are female, Daisy stands out for even more amazing reasons. Check out one of her videos below to see her showing off just one of the beautiful landscapes she gets to drive through!
Going where no truck has been before!!
Posted by Daisy Delaney on Thursday, May 26, 2016
We all know sharing the road with trucks can be spooky; luckily drivers like Daisy can make the roads a little safer for everyone.
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