Installed now:

Disc brakes - front & rear , 6 channel ABS:

http://www.peterbilt.com/aero387dc.4.aspx

Sure, it is true - when a truck is involved in an accident it is typically a severe accident. And it is usually the other vehicle that experiences this severity.

The level of severity of damage caused by a vehicle is NOT proportional to the level of fault.

If I'm at a gun range, I know there will be bullets flying in a general direction, typically towards a set of targets. As such, I make it a point to stay out of the general area where these bullets occupy space for any given time. If I'm on the road and there are big trucks around, I make it a point to do what is necessary to ensure my safety as well as the truckers safety.

When I see a police squad car on the road, I am going to slow my pace a bit, knowing that if I am driving 10mph or more over the limit, he may have an objection to my driving. If I see a truck on the road, I am going to be careful and give him the right of way, knowing that if I jump infront of him, stay in his blind spot, or do something unpredictable, he may not be able to slow his truck enough to avoid an accident.

-Z-man.

Why do we allow motorcycles on the road? They can't stop as quickly as my bicycle. If only they spent the money on brakes, they could stop just as well as my bicycle...

Why do we allow bicycles on the road? They can't stop as quickly as my feet. If only they spent the money on brakes, they could stop just as well as my feet...

bicycles can't stop worth a damn.

Unless someone you love is decapitated by one.

Let me get this straight.
You want an 80,000lbs. truck to perform like a 3,000lbs. car?
I'm all for that, first i'll need to yank out my 550hp Cat and cram a jet engine in there (might need two)my present 0 to 60 is quite lame. Then to stop it lets see.......well come to think of it, don't think i'll be able to stop it.
Better put some sway bars on her and hope for the best.

I applaud them. See, it can be done!

They don't go worth a shyt either.

i didnt understand the poll. you ask a yes/no question, but only give dis/agree answers...i locked up. :)

semis belong on our highways. they were design with them in mind. so were the traffic laws. safe distance between vehicles should be adjusted accordingly depending on the vehicle type. driver's responsibility. physics, not only are they a good idea, they are the LAW!

Disc..front and rear,,
6 channel ABS and anchor don't mean squat when Lucy comes zipping across...
your front bumper...
cause she KNOWS she can make it..
and we go crunch..
and then everyone cries bad truck..
Trucks,Cars,Bikes all have improved..
not sure about us..
the one's with the key..

Rika

Maybe you got it all backwards. You don't need the truck to brake better, you need the idiots car to brake less. That way the car can't outbrake the truck and they will both stop in the same distances. Everything's equal.

Problem solved, I'll send ya a bill.

This is one of the dumbest threads I think I've ever seen here.

I just finished this book. It was pretty interesting, and a lot of you have picked up on some of the same themes....supposed safety makes us push harder, etc.:

http://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Drive-What-Says-About/dp/0307277194/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252026533&sr=1-1

Nope, don't think so cuz. These monsters need to stop better.

Trying to improve highway safety by reducing the stopping distance of large OTR trucks is dumb huh?

Wow.

Peterbilt seems to disagree.

we should just make sure that non-time critical heavy freight goes by rail - not enough does

then there'd be a lot fewer semis on the roads

some inspections would help out too.

+1 and there have been some monumentally dumb threads...

Modern Semis have ABS, Our Semi has ABS it a big ass Freightliner Toter with a 3 car stacker.. Yeap air brakes and ABS..

Not sure if the tech has made it to all trailers though.. some trailers have ABS..

There is no way you are going to get an 80000# (or more) vehicle to stop in the same distance as a passenger car...

When I drive our Car carrier...http://www.rudtnersracing.com/toter/toter.jpg

You drive with your eyes looking a mile ahead, and than 20 feet ahead.. and repeat.. you do this because some idiot will try a three lane switch below the bumper of the truck.. and you can barely see the hood of their car.. then look ahead for potential brake checks etc..

FWIW I have the proper license to operate that behemoth.

Don't think the truck manufacturers have been sleeping regarding braking, traction control, fuel economy

In rain, or light snow conditions... if I accelerate to hard up a grade... I get "wheel slip" warnings if I am pushing to hard on the go pedal..

Having said all that.... should we build another road system just for trucks?

There is already anti-lock used on most modern brakes. A hydraulic or electric regenerative braking system could be added to to the air brakes of the U.S. fleet, easily.

However, it would be more expensive than a few hundred civilian deaths annually.....
You decide.

That sounds like a personal problem ;) YRMV

That works great for small countries with an existing rail infrastructure. The U.S. eeehhhh not so much. With rail install costing $1M/linear foot (exaggeration) to grease the way (whiners, land owners, home owners, state govt, fed govt, blind, aids inflicted, anyone offended by the mere thought of a train, etc...) we would be forced to use an already overtaxed rail infrastructure.

Hey I like riding trains (except those in the US) as much as the next guy but frankly they are way too expensive and very inflexible...unless you're talking HO scale with the cool 3' flex track. That stuff rocks!

That is an interesting perspective, I thought the demise of the freight rail system started when the Eisenhower Interstate system started to gel..

The only rail system that would survive would be light rail intra city ... subways, etc.

I guess that one of the reasons you see the TV adds where a rail carrier touts how they car haul 440 ton @ 3 MPG or something...