Parts of Texas see a lot of gas well drilling trucks. These trucks are very heavy vehicles. They have to be massive to carry and support the equipment necessary for well drilling. Heavy drilling trucks have a problem: when they’re traveling down hill and they’re applying the brakes to try and slow their momentum, those brakes heat up fast. When the truck brakes overheat, they sometimes fail, and the truck driver loses control of the speeding truck and crashes.
But Texas is mostly flat, so drilling trucks don’t experience that problem too much in our state. But in West Virginia, which has seen its gas drilling activities pick up mightily in recent years, they have some steep and rugged terrain. A lot of gas drilling activity centers on part of Highway 250, a steep and narrow two-lane rural highway running through Marshall County. Apparently truck brakes overheat and fail frequently there, since the Marshall County government is discussing making a special exit ramp off the highway just for speeding trucks on which the brakes have overheated and failed.
In a notable incident in the summer of 2011, the driver of a drilling truck with failed brakes started to pull his truck into the left lane, where he would have survived according to police. But then he saw a car approaching in that lane and made a heroic decision to save that car and driver from a deadly truck accident. He pulled his truck back into the right lane, which took him and his out of control truck over the steep hill. That truck driver sacrificed his life to save a stranger.
The police officer interviewed at the scene lauded that truck driver for his bravery and skill. But he had some advice for the many truckers who drive through that steep and challenging terrain: “Slow down.” A local city councilman added a comment speaking to infrequent brake servicing and maintenance on many trucks.
Their words apply equally well to truck drivers in our state of Texas. Roads are crowded, and even flat terrain has its challenges. Deep and wide potholes come immediately to mind. And other drivers on the roads can make surprisingly bad decisions. The truck driver himself may not know how well his truck has been maintained. His brakes could fail, a tire could blow, or a hydraulic system could suddenly malfunction. A truck driver needs to give himself the time and space to react to these challenges. And he may want to be proactive about checking on the status of his truck’s systems before he steps behind the wheel. A good maintenance check might just save his life and other lives too.