Oi! Careful you'll have it over .....! But what on earth it going on here and why is this man trying to turn over this tanker? Well if you click through here Biglorryblog will reveal all... but before you do have a guess how fast the truck is going....40mph? 50mph? You'd be surprised just how SLOW it's going as it doesn't take much to lift the wheels of an artic on a tight bend and to rollover a top heavy tanker..
Following its success in winning the British Sugar bulk sugar contract last autumn, Suttons Group has embarked on a major training programme to improve safety awareness and safe operation with the team of recently transferred drivers. A key element of the programme involved five senior drivers from operating sites at Wissington, Newark, Bardney and Featherstone attending practical training exercises designed to highlight skid and roll-over hazards in particular. Supported by Ken Oudnie, Suttons Technical Manager, the drivers used a skid pan and a specially adapted tanker with stabilisers to familiarise themselves with potential safety hazards.
Mark Haslam, boss of Suttons Tankers tells Biglorryblog: "This was an invaluable exercise within our overall safety programme that focused on key senior drivers new to the Group and used practical training to highlight hazards and prevent incidents. Suttons Group places primary emphasis on Safety in all its operations, as evidenced by many safety awards including being three times winners of the Motor Transport Safety in Operation Award."
Some 87 staff and drivers along with 60 tractors units and 100 tanks transferred to Suttons at the start of the new bulk sugar contract and since then Suttons has added 18 new tractor units and 12 new bulk trailers to this dedicated British Sugar fleet.
I would say about 40ks, 24 MPH for you lads still drinking from firkins. Have nearly rolled a fridge pan at this speed but I didnt have the trainer wheels fitted.
I have done a course like this using an R-model Mack as the tractor unit. My guess is if the tanker was full, then the speed would be approx 35mph, and if the tanker was only 75% full then the speed would be considerably less, maybe 28mph.
When I did this test, the idea was to prove to us that the most dangerous load for a tanker was about 75% full as the liquid would slosh to one side, putting a higher proportion of the weight to that side.
It was great fun doing it, and from memory (it was 30 years ago) I managed to get the wheels off the ground in 3rd high gear on the R-model, a shade under 30mph. We had about 10 drivers doing it that day, and did a lot of damage to the Mack, broken springs, cracked chassis and cross-members etc. A good time was had by all.