Tanker accident Mona Vale

Interesting reading. As has been said, really it's time for sympathy and understanding. However, what usually seems to happen is the the RMS (or whoever is the authority) jumps all over the company involved , (ie remember Lennon's shocking crash a while ago?) then they come out with a big headline like " truck company hundreds of defects and speed tampering", which of course makes great news..
The reality, as has been pointed out here, can be far different, and as has been said, you could look at ANY truck and find a defect or ten. But of course, the facts behind the headline never see the light of day, so the public once again, see only "rogue truckies", "defective vehicles" and so on.
And never a word from the trucking community in response. So we cop the "big bad truckies thing" again, reagrdless of who, or what, is actually at fault. I find that really sad- especially as it must be a horrible time for ALL concerned, the truck drivers family too!
As an aside, I've had trucks in my yard with auto slack adjusters, pull the park brake on, and watch the truck roll away on a gentle slope.. Don't ever trust the rotten things. They are just another sympton of a silly society gone mad, that says if people have to THINK, things will go wrong, so don't LET them think, just take the decisions out of their hands...... Not good, not good at all.
Cheers
Richard

No sure if it had discs or drums Rod. Discs are a bit more resistant to fade but I think drums are better understood by mechanics and replacement parts cheaper.
Interested in Richard's comment re faulty slack adjusters. I had heard of them and ABS systems being removed in favour of manual adjustment but this was on a truck from the 80s.

FWIW
if itz got any thing 2 do wiff the subject
BRAKES
sum time ago we asked Mack wotz the go when the brakes on Mack truck ....dun seem to work 100%
his reply we have heard sum have a problem but dunno wot the fix iz
he said he had heard by replacing the dash control it may fix it


we did


it did


non serviceable plastic crap
cya

We have discussed various topics regarding this accident however no one has asked the question. How did the media obtain the information regarding the defects that were issued for the vehicles that were inspected. I do not have any problem with regulation for without regulation our roads would be far to dangerous to use however the result of any inspection should be between the owner and the people carrying out the inspection.

That's interesting swishy and I agree with rex but the way the media is these days im surprised karl stefanovic or koshi wasn't set up in there depo for the right in ya face facts but no doubt tracey grimshaw will hit us with the hard truth pretty soon

Here is the report in Mon.7.10.13 Melbourne Age.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Dozens of faulty tankers grounded after fatal blast.
October 7, 2013 Melbourne 'Age'.
Thirty-six fuel tankers owned by a company involved in a tanker explosion that killed two people in NSW last week have been grounded in Victoria.
It remained unclear on Sunday how long the Cootes Transport trucks had been defective and when they were last inspected, but there were fears similar accidents could have occurred in Victoria had VicRoads not conducted the safety audit.
A brake failure is suspected after a Cootes fuel tanker careered out of control down a road in Mona Vale, in Sydney's north, and exploded last Tuesday, killing two men and injuring five others.
Cootes could not be contacted on Sunday but it is believed the grounding of a significant proportion of the company's fleet could result in fuel shortages.
A VicRoads spokeswoman said the audit of the Cootes fleet involved intensive mechanical inspections of more than 110 vehicles and trailers, with testing to continue on Monday.
Faults detected included oil and air leaks, brake and suspension defects and structural integrity issues such as problems with the chassis. Thirty-six of the 91 vehicles found to have defects were grounded.
''Depending on the severity of the defect, the vehicles are either being grounded or ordered to undergo repairs within a certain period of time,'' the spokeswoman said.
''All vehicles will be checked before they are allowed to return to the road. VicRoads will review the

Apparently Cootes have had so many trucks grounded in Victoria that fuel shortages are likely.

For what its worth, after 20 years in Transport, the last 10 of which I spent as a Transport Manager, I quit 2 weeks ago mainly, amongst other things, to get out of the firing line with COR laws. My future rode in the palm of the hands of 65 drivers that were under me along with a dozen or so mechanics and with every vehicle on the road, every day I faced time behind bars if one of them had a fatal accident. So screw that.

Bruce the industry will be at a loss without your expertise.
For much the same reason, I have NOT gone back to professional flying.
I find it far less stress just to plod along at the bottom of the food chain now, rather than having every move scrutinised and being a mobile target for someone with absolutely zero hands on experience to fire at. Rod.

Be interesting to see how far back up the chain this one goes. It also raises doubts in my mind about the value of these accreditation schemes.
Rod was asking about discs v/s drums and an older article here saying Cootes had tried discs and gone back to drums.
hendrickson.com.au/index.php?pid=1&edit=13&c=1&r=1

Bruce, as hey Charger says, it's not good to lose peeople like you..
I'm not defending Cootes in any way, in fact I'm not making any statement about this or any other accident / incident, as I don't have the facts.
But what I do find sad is that we, as a nation, have shifted to a "blame" culture, with authorities ready to pounce on anyone who is perceived to be "outside the rules". And it's easy to see where that leads us. It turns us into a nation of box-tickers. Drones, who arent allowed or encouraged to think.
Why on earth would ANYONE run trucks, or any other risky venture, when you can be hung out to dry, and prosecuted, for any failing in your "responsibilities"?
I certainly don't have the answer. And I'm not saying it should be a free for all. But are we heading the right direction here? Is it possoble for us, as a nation, to ensure that nothing EVER goes wrong? Maybe we all have to stay in bed and pull the covers up, in case we get hurt getting out?
Buggered if I know....

Cheers
Richard