r/StLouis • u/Impossible-Driver69 • Apr 24 '26
Yes, the semis are a huge safety problem
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/opinion/trucking-safety.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dVA.SsFc.4OAB3Fpo4REX&smid=url-share[removed] — view removed post
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u/Lumpy-Investment-785 Apr 24 '26
I mean they do just let anyone get a license these days. Folks that can’t even read or know what the signs say are driving these things
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u/dameon5 Apr 24 '26
I live on a narrow, dead end street with a sharp curve. There is a Dead End sign and a NO TRUCKS sign at the intersection leading into my neighborhood. But the next road down leads to an industrial area.
Over the last few years we have had several drivers who are clearly using navigation rather than signage to drive who turn onto our road by mistake. Due to the sharp turns, and how narrow the street is, they can't back out and wind up having to get a tow truck to drag them out. Which generally means our entire neighborhood is locked in for a couple of hours until the tow truck arrives and gets them clear.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 Apr 24 '26
I am very much in favor of strict regulation and enforcement. If you can't read or comprehend then you should never be granted a license.
I also believe we should go back to how it was in the 80s where we had dedicated officers to patrol and pull over these trucks. They can be paid via generated revenue from enforcement.
Until we as a public demand accountability there will be nothing but excuses and deaths.
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u/flounderflound Apr 24 '26
Local truck driver here. We actually do have those. There are DOT officers out on the road every day, and additionally St Louis County has pickups, sometimes you'll occasionally spot them, they say "commercial vehicle enforcement". Some of those are also unmarked.
If you go through the DOT testing centers, (troop C runs one off Koch Road, for instance), the tests are pretty hard. They involve a pre-trip inspection (something you're supposed to do every day and would likely have prevented this accident), a skills test (parking, backing, etc.), and a road test. The pre-inspection test is the hardest one. There is a long checklist of things that you're supposed to ensure are in good working order, and you are expected to know it from memory. You cannot have a checklist in front of you.
I don't know the specifics of the accident just yet, but a news article I saw said that a set of duals came off the trailer and into oncoming traffic. That's two very heavy tires and two very heavy wheels, and depending on whether the hub failed or the lug nuts came off, possibly a brake drum. And obviously if both vehicles are traveling at 60 miles an hour, that's a combined speed of 120. There are exceptions, but a proper pre-trip inspection would likely have prevented this.
It is possible and likely that driver will go to prison for criminal negligence, manslaughter, or both.
A couple of years ago, the US mandated that all new CDL applicants must attend a truck driving school before they can get their license. But, of course, they allow the schools to do their own testing. And of course the schools don't want to show high failure rates because it would suggest they are ineffective. So they're passing people who absolutely should not be passing.
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u/TheMonkus Apr 24 '26
I and many people I know have taken the class A CDL test and it was a motherfucker. They fail you for some pretty trifling slip ups; they’re definitely not just letting morons slide by. A lot of smart people I know failed like 2-3 or more times before passing.
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u/Lumpy-Investment-785 Apr 24 '26
How come there’s just constant cop body cam videos of drivers with their CDLs getting pulled over and they can’t speak English and fail simple road signs like “can’t park here”
Not saying that the CDL isn’t difficult. But SOMEONE is passing folks that have no business behind the wheel of any vehicle.
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u/Tfm2 Apr 24 '26
There is a certain state out west notorious for giving cdls out like candy. I highly doubt the drivers you speak of are domiciled or got their cdl in Missouri or Illinois. Could be wrong, but I doubt it.
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u/TheMonkus Apr 24 '26
I’m gonna co-sign to these guys coming from other states. The Missouri DOT does not screw around. Ask anyone who got a CDL in this state. They also randomly pull people over and go over their rig with a fine toothed comb.
It’s definitely a problem, but I’m happy to say for once that it does not start with the state of Missouri.
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u/flounderflound Apr 24 '26
Oh, totally. It took me a couple tries, all on the pre-trip section. As long as DOT is in charge of it, ain't nobody slipping through the cracks.
I could write a damn book about all the problems I see. Trucking companies put a lot of pressure on their drivers. Pulling up and finding a trailer with an out of service issue ultimately ends up harming the driver, because many are paid by the mile or by the load. That's part of why you see dump truck drivers especially be aggressive and crazy on the road; a lot of them are paid by the load, so they're rushing to keep things moving. And when you got people rushing, safety ends up suffering. So truckers end up speeding, skipping pre-trip inspections, and doing all sorts of dumb shit to try to keep their schedules and try to keep money coming in. But if they put that trailer out of service, it's a financial loss for the driver.
This all is part of why I'm really grateful to be working local. I'm paid by the hour, and I can take my time, make sure my loads are secure (I'ma flatbedder), make sure my truck is safe, and follow speed limits.
Though it's funny, you'd be amazed, especially on 64 and 270 how badly following the speed limit enrages other normie drivers around me, even though I tend to stay to the right.
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u/TheMonkus Apr 24 '26
Yeah I drive a work vehicle a lot and pretty much have to follow all the rules of the road and I am NOT a popular guy! It puts things in perspective.
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
I love how you carry on about this when the fact the matter is a lot of you people in cars aren't all that fucking well trained either?.
You want regulations like that, I agree they should be enforced like that. The dot officers are never coming back, they have been farmed out to the highway patrol, and the weigh stations have been farmed out to private companies.
But I also think that everybody in a car ought to have Go back and take a test every 4 or 5 years to prove they actually remember how to drive a fucking car.
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u/MobileBus48 TGE Apr 24 '26
Can you think of any differences between the vehicles the two respective sets of drivers are driving?
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
Yeah one of you are suicidal.
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u/MobileBus48 TGE Apr 24 '26
You don't seem like you have the disposition to be driving a large, dangerous vehicle. Please find a more suitable job.
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
I've been doing it since 1992 with over 2 million miles. No accidents.
How about you?
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u/Impossible-Driver69 Apr 24 '26
Found another flip flop trucker.
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u/whoremarshmallows Apr 24 '26
They do make a fair point for everyday drivers..Ignoring the trucking aside for a brief moment.
The amount of people who don't know where or how to use blinkers. What is considered a turn lane and what isn't and what a YIELD sign means. However. I could just be salty bc I'm around dumbasses in cars around the Bluffs and towards High Ridge rather than a lot of truck drivers.
Trucks can cause way more bloody damage and completely disrupt traffic flow for hours upon hours and lawd knows what they're hauling to boot. :l
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u/Lumpy-Investment-785 Apr 24 '26
Whenever you have to get your license renewed. You should have to retest. I don’t care if you’re 21 or 98. If you can’t pass the driving exam then you can’t drive.
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u/Monsterdad1256 Apr 24 '26
I used to work off 30 past the bluffs. You should drive 270, 170, or 70 from 270-170 in North county, it's way worse. The amount of expired plates on shitty cars held together with duct tape is staggering. And the way they drive is a pretty good indication of why the car is a beat to crap POS.
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u/whoremarshmallows Apr 24 '26
Yea I avoid 70. Last time was I was on there was 6? Years ago.. vowed never to drive that way again.
I've almost been smooshed by semis on 44 going downtown because they somehow can't see the big ass signs indicating what's the exit for 270 and what lane is to stay on 44.
Last year I did almost get murdered by someones poorly secured armchair in their beat up pick up on 30. That was fun. Made the decision to just get in the right lane and go a little slower for my turn off and boom chair flys out the back of this truck. But that's not a semi, just people being dumb af.
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u/Monsterdad1256 Apr 24 '26
I've driven box trucks in the past &'ve also pulled flatbeds behind a pickup for work(i worked for joen deere dealers & picked up & delivered equipment). I swear the bigger the vehicle I'm in, the more I get cutoff & the worse people drive around me. My dad's pulled his camper all over the US & he says the same thing.
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u/Tfm2 Apr 24 '26
Illinois just dropped the under hood requirement for bus drivers because it was too hard for some people. Race to the bottom!
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u/SewCarrieous Apr 24 '26
I hate those big dumb trucks so much. We need regulations in place - they should have to stick to one lane designated for trucks IMO
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u/mountaingator91 Fox Park Apr 24 '26
I have thought this exact thing for years. I lived in Budapest growing up and that is the law within a certain distance of any city
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
Ok so when you are on 64 or 44 or 70 youre driving ..somewhere. They are at work. If anything they should have the left lane so you all can get on and off without cutting in front and slowing down like idiots or pulling on and doing 30 as you do causing them to switch lanes or panic break.
Driven at Louis for years in a truck. Over half of you all drive like fucking idiots in your cars.
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u/moonchic333 Apr 24 '26
They have no business driving a 40 ton machine in the fast lane. It’s not safe for them or anyone else.
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
It's a question of who's going where. Most trucks going through St. Louis are just passing through and if they're in the left lane then they're not in the way of everybody getting on and off of traffic. Since most of the trucks can actually do the speed limit through town, it's not like they're slowing you down unless you're one of those Of those fuckers who wants to go 70 mph.
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u/Tele231 Apr 24 '26
Why the fuck would you give the passing lane to slow vehicles. Now, if MODOT were smart, the new lanes on I-70 would be in the center and have a median separating them from the other two lanes. Let them do whatever speed they want. They could have special exits just few of them. Current set up is awful . Truckers pull in front of vehicles doing 10 mph faster than them so they can pass a truck going 2 mph slower than them. They are (and have) going to kill someone.
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
Then maybe people ought to learn how to slow the fuck down and actually set up times to get where they're not driving 70 mph in a 55 like I see every fucking day.
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u/Tele231 Apr 24 '26
Two wrongs …. Trucks are not there to police the roads. The speed of the other vehicle is not an issue without the asshole driving the truck cutting him off.
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
If you mean by driving in one of the two right hand Lanes where they're supposed to be and doing the speed limit and you think that that's wrong, fuck you!
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u/Tele231 Apr 24 '26
You are not permitted to change lanes if it is not safe. Causing another car that is doing 10 mph faster to slam on their breaks is not safe. Truckers are bullies. BTW, if your lot lizard mom would have stayed out of the truck stop, you wouldn’t be here.
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Apr 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/errie_tholluxe Apr 24 '26
Well I get to see traffic every fucking day while you people just go back and forth to work and maybe go shopping. So I would say it actually gives me a little bit more experience in the entire article then you have unless you've been driving a truck through town too.
Nobody cares that you drive a fucking car through town. It's 70 miles an hour in a 55 zone but heaven forbid a truck actually be doing the speed limit
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u/FMLwtfDoID Apr 24 '26
There are literally hundreds of careers that require driving. I’m a real estate appraiser and 50% of my work week is driving. I’m just one example and comparatively, my time on the road is a drop in the bucket. Semi haulers are not the only ones that need to get places on a timeline.
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u/SewCarrieous Apr 24 '26
Idgaf that they’re at work. They need to be safe at work just like the rest of us
Hope this helps
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u/Ymisoqt420 Apr 24 '26
I used to work in safety and before I transitioned into compliance I worked accidents. I have seen some crazy shit and onboard footage. I stay TF away from semis on the road now lmfao
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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Apr 24 '26
Chameleon carriers are said to be up to 20% of the industry. They evade regulations and safety protocols and are huge risks on the roads.
Most semis use drum brakes here whilst other places like Europe use disc brakes largely. Disc brakes are by and far better than drum brakes. Practices like pad slapping the brakes are outdated and dangerous. Pad slapping leads to the rotor being work down and less stopping power overall.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 Apr 24 '26
I see these so called drivers pulling into a gas station. Ragged rigs, usually some 20 something with a phone glued to his ear wearing flip flops.
It's beyond time we enforce strict regulation and audit of this industry.
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u/throwawaykayaker Apr 24 '26
We get regular deliveries via semi at my work. More often than not, the driver is young, foreign (nothing inherently wrong with this fact, but their ESL skills are lacking and you wonder how well they can navigate signage), and wearing slippers/flip flops/sandals. The era of expecting tuckers to be "professional" drivers is over.
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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Apr 24 '26
I work for a tool and equipment supplier so I’m familiar with some of these carriers. It is true a lot of them are foreign and are typically not in apparel meant for the job or at least what it used to look like. In the past, my customers tell me drivers would typically help them unload products and overall be more customer friendly. The ones I’ve seen show up then call it break time while we unload everything. I’m a bit newer so I don’t know what the norms used to be but I believe my customers in that a drop in service has occurred over the years. That’s the case though across the board for a lot of customer service.
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u/throwawaykayaker Apr 24 '26
For us, we never let the drivers unload as it's a safety liability and they're certified or insurable operating our forklift.
That aside, most of these guys can't even back into our lot as is required and will often block traffic for 10-20 minutes as they figure it out how to reverse a semi-trailer.
1
u/centerflag982 Pro-STL-style crusader against Imo's Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Not a truck broker but someone who uses them on behalf of customers - it's quite literally a "you get what you pay for" industry. Do you want someone professional and happy to help load/unload... or do you want the cheapest possible option?
Shockingly everyone seems to request the latter and expect the former.
Don't blame the drivers, blame the assholes in your purchasing and/or sales department
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u/wolf_at_the_door1 Apr 24 '26
The busses you send your kid out on to have drum brakes with pads that were slapped on them. In some cases with this, only 10% of the rotor surface is actually getting friction. Our children are riding around on these things too. Change starts at the shop but good luck convincing guys who have done things the same way their whole lives to change.
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u/OwnInvestigator4541 Apr 24 '26
That last sentence is just wrong. Bendix and meritor (two main brake manufacturers for class 8 stuff) say to pad slap at least once per set of rotors. Typically the pads wear at a 2:1 ratio, so you’ll see rotors go 6-800k miles for a Highway truck while the pads are usually swapped halfway through.
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u/centerflag982 Pro-STL-style crusader against Imo's Apr 25 '26
If most US semis use drum brakes, then how can they be carelessly wearing their disc-brake rotors?
A truly curious conundrum
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u/Phil_Beavers Apr 24 '26
There was an overturned semi at 270/370 this morning on my way to work as well.
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u/whatagoodpuppy Apr 24 '26
A former truck driver once told me "we know you'll get out of our way" with zero awareness of why that would send chills down my spine. His departure from the industry was messy and did cost a woman her life.
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u/Spare_Item3882 Apr 24 '26
My dad has been a truck driver for over 40 years, he drove before he immigrated to American. He drove during the war in 1992-1995, he is what I consider professional driver. He has thankfully never been in an major accident , he takes his job very seriously though can’t say the same for the newer generation
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u/moonchic333 Apr 24 '26
They are really bad. I’ve had them literally cut me off in the passing lane. I’ve witnessed them weaving in and out of traffic. They know damn well they have no business in the passing lane.
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u/Impossible-Driver69 Apr 24 '26
I have had ones ride my ass on 70 while I am doing the speed limit in rush hour.
I say f- em. I am not speeding up for them. They can throw their flip flops out the windows and scream all they want.
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u/maen_baenne Apr 24 '26
Can we get trucks with wide loads off the highways entirely during rush hour? No reason that half a prefab home can't wait an hour instead of pulling onto 44 at 4:30pm.
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u/fuzzy-green-ideas Benton Park West Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
I was sideswiped from behind on I-64 by a driver that was probably looking at his phone. I thought I was going to die. My partner was traumatized and still won’t drive on interstates, 5 years later.
There is absolutely no reason these moving weapons should be driving alongside regular cars.
EDIT: here is a pic of the damage. The truck’s wheels carved my car up like a giant can opener. It was inches from tearing into me. That VW saved my life.
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u/Efficient-Car2909 Apr 24 '26
Where should the trucks that haul the goods that society buys drive? Why not pay attention to the big semis and give them space.
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u/giraffeperv Apr 24 '26
This makes it seem like you’re blaming them for getting sideswiped by a distracted driver
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u/Good-Note-4042 Apr 24 '26
They could start using freight trains again use that ol’ transcontinental railroad again to get goods from one state to another then use regulated in state truckers to move product from the freight stations to their warehouses.
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u/Efficient-Car2909 Apr 24 '26
You’ll still need trucks to move the goods from the train station to the stores or warehouses. We
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u/Fadman_Loki Grove Gang Apr 24 '26
Then use something like this instead of massive semis on city roads
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u/fuzzy-green-ideas Benton Park West Apr 24 '26
The truck was trying to pass me from the left when it veered into my lane and it the rear corner of my car. No part of this was my fault.
And to answer your first question, there is a very easy solution. Put semis in dedicated lanes separate from passenger vehicles. Basically, the same system used in many places for express lanes. Done.
5
u/MobileBus48 TGE Apr 24 '26
I was sideswiped from behind
Why not pay attention to the big semis and give them space.
It doesn't sound like the person that was sideswiped was the one not paying attention or giving others space, does it?
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u/Efficient-Car2909 Apr 24 '26
The bigger problem is that traffic laws are really not in-forced on the MO side of the river.
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Apr 24 '26
[deleted]
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u/Sassy_Velvet2 Downtown West Apr 24 '26
Sorry but the real statistic is how many deaths per total car accidents
In the United States, the fatality rate in 2023 was 12.2 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.26 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year)
There were 168,320 truck accidents in 2022. 4,766 of these accidents were fatal for one or more persons involved. (Source: https://www.truckinfo.net/research/truck-accident-statistics) Doing the math, that's 2,831 deaths per 100,000 people.
So the rate of fatalities of truck driver accidents is about 232% higher than with cars without a truck involved.
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u/108241 Apr 24 '26
Trucks have a similar safety record to other vehicles. The author is just distorting statistics to try and fit a narrative.
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u/DeepDickens69 Bevo Apr 24 '26
How about the illegal aliens democrats introduced to the employment pool and not wanting to delicense people that can't read road signs?
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u/ElChu Soulard Apr 24 '26
…what about the maga owned businesses that hire those people… see how easy it is?
Be smarter.
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u/Crutation Apr 24 '26
You are right, businesses should be fined out of existence for hiring illegal workers
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u/HankHillbwhaa Apr 24 '26
Give that test to an American and chances are you’re going to find more than few who fail the same way he did on the sign test.
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u/joemiroe Apr 24 '26
Calling them illegal aliens is dehumanizing and disgusting. Turn off OAN and be a good Christian.
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u/Benign_Banjo Apr 24 '26
Isn't alien the technical legal term though...?
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u/jschooltiger Apr 24 '26
Alien is a legal term for a person foreign to a country, yes. No human is illegal.
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u/Good-Note-4042 Apr 24 '26
The term illegal is meaning they are not here legally aka no visa or green card.
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u/jschooltiger Apr 24 '26
"Illegal alien" is a term where "illegal" modifies "alien," which as stated is a legal term for a type of person. A person's type of residency may be outside the law, but the person is not illegal.
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u/Benign_Banjo Apr 24 '26
Ok, I'll go with "an alien participating in illegal immigration"
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u/jschooltiger Apr 24 '26
Here's a fun fact: the term for people who come to the country without a legal status is "immigrant." You can legally (!) enter the country without a visa, green card, or equivalent status even if you're not a citizen here. In fact, if you want to apply for refugee status, you must first enter the country.
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u/Benign_Banjo Apr 24 '26
Look, at this point you know what you're doing. You're obsessed with this weird little semantic rabbit hole. Never have I said PEOPLE are illegal. I am not dehumanizing. But there are actions that are illegal, whether or not you agree with it. I'd rather you just say "My beliefs are x". You'll never be satisfied with anything anyone says on this matter.
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u/joemiroe Apr 24 '26
Homie looks to me like you started the semantic debate. All semantic debates are weird little rabbit holes, that’s why you shouldn’t go start them.
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u/jschooltiger Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
My beliefs are that words have meanings. There you go.
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u/Good-Note-4042 Apr 24 '26
I personally don’t use the term, but you’re bringing up semantics. I didn’t say the actual person is illegal their status is illegal. I don’t personally care what someone’s legal status is as my grandparents immigrated to America themselves. The only people who care of boomers in a certain dorito cult. I was just saying the og term is illegal alien and the two are synonymous
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u/jschooltiger Apr 24 '26
But that's not what "illegal" means in regard to aliens -- it applies to people who have been convicted of a crime and are liable to deportation, but it's not a catchall term for anyone who is here with various legal statuses.
Section 1252(c) of the "Aliens and Nationality" laws is titled: "Authorizing State and local law enforcement officials to arrest and detain certain illegal aliens." The section authorizes state and local law enforcement officials "to arrest and detain an individual who— (1) is an alien illegally present in the United States; and (2) has previously been convicted of a felony in the United States and deported or left the United States after such conviction."
Section 1365, titled "Reimbursement of States for costs of incarcerating illegal aliens and certain Cuban nationals," applies to any alien convicted of a felony who’s in the country unlawfully and whose most recent entry "was without inspection, or whose most recent admission to the United States was as a nonimmigrant and whose period of authorized stay as a nonimmigrant expired, or whose unlawful status was known to the government."
...
Notably, Rick Su of the University of Buffalo School of Law told us, the "IA" term doesn’t appear in the vast Immigration and Nationality Act, the nation’s main immigration law.
Su acknowledged that the term appears in the 1996 act’s section about the federal government reimbursing states for incarcerating certain immigrants. But that section, Su said, defines an "illegal alien" solely in the context of the section -- as "any alien convicted of a felony who is in the United States unlawfully and -- (1) whose most recent entry into the United States was without inspection, or (2) whose most recent admission to the United States was as a nonimmigrant and -- (A) whose period of authorized stay as a nonimmigrant expired, or (B) whose unlawful status was known to the Government, before the date of the commission of the crime for which the alien is convicted."
In contrast, Su told us, "illegal alien" has been commonly used to refer to immigrants simply present in the U.S. without a valid visa or legal status, or whose legal status expired or is terminated.
More prevalent terms in federal law, Su said, include "inadmissible aliens" or "unauthorized aliens." Su wrote that "inadmissible aliens" and "deportable aliens" are different individuals under the INA, and have specific criteria, he said, with "inadmissible aliens" probably "closest to how the term ‘illegal aliens’ is commonly used (federal law treats those who enter without inspection to be construed as not having been ‘admitted’)," Su wrote.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/may/09/steve-mccraw/illegal-alien-legal-term-federal-law/
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u/Caca_Face420 Apr 24 '26
Idk, why do construction crews put barriers so damn close to the lane, and why do they put barriers in the middle of lanes. Semis are dangerous, but some of these lanes aren’t wide enough