TANKER DRIVER LOSES CONTROL

A slurry tanker was being driven along a two lane single carriageway approaching a crossroad intersection. A transit van was waiting at the junction ahead of it requiring the tanker driver to slow down. As the brakes were applied the tanker veered over to the right hand side, at the same time the rear of the tanker slewed across the carriageway. As it was coming to a halt the tanker rolled over onto another vehicle crushing the driver of that vehicle.

Earlier that day some mechanical work had been carried out on the tanker, during which the front brake “slack adjusters”, being the operating levers for the drum brakes, were replaced.

The examination was carried out by the Police vehicle examiners and FEA Engineering Consultants took part in the examination. During the examination it was found that a whole series of defects and errors caused the collision.

The presence of air leaks resulted in one of the slack adjusters being correctly adjusted when in the released position. The nearside however was adjusted after some delay, the air leaks resulting in the lever being in the fully applied position when the adjustment was carried out. This resulted in the offside front brake working correctly and the nearside not working at all.

Had a brake or road test been carried out prior to the driver picking the tanker up the fault would have been seen immediately and rectified. Upon braking the tanker would pull towards the offside.

The faults did not end there. The rear brakes applied too much braking effort resulting in the tanker rear wheels locking up when emergency braking was applied. That caused the tanker to slew to one side.

Finally, the tanker tipping over was assisted by wear in the rear suspension linkages and it being partly filled with liquid.

This was a catalogue of disasters that could have been avoided.