Video - capture of truck on runaway ramp

GON

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All of us have seen runaway ramps on downward grades in the interstate, but I have never seen a truck use the ramp.

Earlier today I came across this video. A YouTube search has numerous videos of trucks in runaway ramps.

The thing found most surprising on this and other videos was how far the runaway truck was able to travel up the runaway ramp.

 
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That truck went a LONG way up that ramp. I assume the sand wasn't very deep - or didn't exist?

I actually saw one that had hit the ramp on I-40 in NC. I didn't see the event. The truck was at most 1/3 up the ramp. The driver was standing there - hands waving, explaining to a trooper what happened. There were fiberglass truck body parts everywhere.
 
Terrible footage here but my wife and I were discussing this as we went over Wolf Creek to the SLV yesterday


I said, "Now Earl I'm not the type to complain
But the time has come for me to explain
If you don't apply some brake real soon
They're gonna have to scrape us up with a stick and a spoon"

The interweb says CW McCall died in '22 -- I didn't know
 
Has anyone else watched a train derail... actually see it come off of the tracks and end up on the ground? That's pretty much a once in a lifetime event.

I've seen it. The spikes pulled up on about five ties, and allowed one rail to move outward. Once that happens, it is all over.
 
I said, "Now Earl I'm not the type to complain
But the time has come for me to explain
If you don't apply some brake real soon
They're gonna have to scrape us up with a stick and a spoon"
Said it's sorta like steppin on a plum...
 
It appears that truck was going so fast it was passing the other cars before it reached the runaway ramp. That had to be terrifying for the driver.

What I don't understand is once it gets stopped on those runaway ramps, what holds it there to keep it from rolling back down backwards ? Do trucks have non-hydraulic "parking" brakes that can hold it ?
 
Looks like the one on I-70 in Colorado. I wonder if the ground was frozen which let it roll further up the hill?

@Hall -the truck gets buried so its weight is on the axles which keeps it from rolling backwards. They need to pay big tow trucks to pull it out and pay for the restoration of the ramp.
 
It appears that truck was going so fast it was passing the other cars before it reached the runaway ramp. That had to be terrifying for the driver.

What I don't understand is once it gets stopped on those runaway ramps, what holds it there to keep it from rolling back down backwards ? Do trucks have non-hydraulic "parking" brakes that can hold it ?

The static drag factor of the tire/gravel system just needs to be enough to prevent gravity from accelerating the truck back down the grade.
 
We really had those brakes smoking! They say the hardest part after you hit the ramp is cleaning all the gravel out of the engine compartment, and the driver seat.
 
@Hall -the truck gets buried so its weight is on the axles which keeps it from rolling backwards. They need to pay big tow trucks to pull it out and pay for the restoration of the ramp.
That makes sense as the ones I've seen in KY, WV, and the Carolinas (well, probably NC) appeared to be dirt or even sand.
 
It appears that truck was going so fast it was passing the other cars before it reached the runaway ramp. That had to be terrifying for the driver.

What I don't understand is once it gets stopped on those runaway ramps, what holds it there to keep it from rolling back down backwards ? Do trucks have non-hydraulic "parking" brakes that can hold it ?
The brake system is all air on those and they have a park brake system that will engage either by pulling knob on dash or when the brake system air supply gets too low it will engage the park system.
 
Looks like the one on I-70 in Colorado. I wonder if the ground was frozen which let it roll further up the hill?

@Hall -the truck gets buried so its weight is on the axles which keeps it from rolling backwards. They need to pay big tow trucks to pull it out and pay for the restoration of the ramp.
That’s I-70, west of the Eisenhower Tunnel, going downhill towards Dillon.
 
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