Truck Beds & Passengers

[Miulang]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

All I know is I lost a high school classmate because he was thrown out of the back of a pickup truck when it went around a corner. And I cringe everytime I see the unsecured dogs trying to keep their balance in the back of pickup trucks, especially if I'm the one in the car directly behind them.

For sure that silver car's owner should have his okole jailed because he broke current traffic laws. I'm not so sure about instituting more laws, though. I doubt it would help.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

I know this is a bit off topic but when I used to ride the bus to work in Honolulu I was simply amazed that I could be standing just behind the yellow line back of the driver while the bus careens down pothole ridden Kapiolani Blvd and there's nothing between me and the asphalt ahead except for a large windshield.

I kept imagining what would happen if the bus driver had to slam on his brakes with nothing to keep me from being thrown thru the windshield and into the street in front of me. All you have to save yourself is either a handstrap or a metal bar to hang onto. Buses should also be mandated to be seated only and no standing passengers. Yeah that would mean more buses but heck if riding a bus meant being able to sit instead of stand like some asphalt surfer then I think more people would ride the bus.

Getting back OT...I still think riding in the back of a truck bed with no restraints or even sitting options is totally insane and whether it takes an accident to sensationalize the reasoning behind banning this unsafe practice or not I feel for every time a person dies because of there is no such ban in effect, the reasons become more apparent. Hey some didn't like the seatbelt law but it's introduction saved many lives.

Sometimes government intervention is out there to protect it's citizens, not just to interfere with freedom of choice. Sometimes Government can make wise decisions (Okay stop with the snickering already) when we as citizens do occasionally vote the right person into office.

[Miulang]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

Sort of related to what Craig is saying about buses...most SCHOOL buses are not equipped with seat belts, either. That seems to fly in the face of a school district wanting to keep its students safe while in transit. How many times have school kids been injured in bus accidents because they were not belted into their seats? If the kids were securely belted in, it might also prevent some of the incidents that have occurred on buses from happening, too.

Miulang

[scrivener]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

Craig, I agree that it's an unsafe practice, but I'm not sure if it's one of those unsafe practices that should be illegal. There's already a law against passing in a no-passing zone; these people are dead because someone broke it. To create more laws for protection against law-breakers seems strange to me. Also, I don't see anything ironic about the pets law, because pets can't be expected to make reasonables choice. That law exists to protect pets from stupid owners.

And no lie: Your lifestyle was NOT better in the 80s...you've already told us that!

As for laws protecting citizens, yes, of course. But not from themselves.

[zztype]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

ETA: Who owned the truck, anyway? Was it their employer's? I mean, obviously economic pressures may have been what led these women to work where they worked and therefore to get on that truck (again, a fair argument against a ban)... but if someone was in the business of regularly transporting a dozen people, perhaps they might have considered another vehicle?

How about the military troop transports: Humvees. They're basically pickup trucks covered with a canvas tarp. They regularly transport soldiers all over the island in convoys. Would be be banning Humvees?

Again, to me, the call for a blanket ban deflects focus from the cause of the problem. The problem wasn't the people riding in the truck bed. The problem was an out-of-control driver.

I noticed one police officer being interviewed noted that there were no passenger safety restraints in the back of the pickup truck.

Duh.

But we conveniently forget that there are no passenger safety restraints in buses, either. Just because you're less likely to be thrown out of a bus in a crash doesn't mean that you won't scramble your brains against the inside of the cab.

What about those bus passengers who stand in the aisles? A frontal crash would turn those passengers into missiles aimed at the windshield of the bus.

Where is the hue and cry for banning standing passengers in buses? Where is the hue and cry demanding passenger restraints and air bags in buses?

Many, many more people ride buses than ride in the backs of pickup trucks.

Blaine


P.S., sorry, I see that this was covered in several posts above mine.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

Craig, I agree that it's an unsafe practice, but I'm not sure if it's one of those unsafe practices that should be illegal. There's already a law against passing in a no-passing zone; these people are dead because someone broke it. To create more laws for protection against law-breakers seems strange to me. Also, I don't see anything ironic about the pets law, because pets can't be expected to make reasonables choice. That law exists to protect pets from stupid owners.

And no lie: Your lifestyle was NOT better in the 80s...you've already told us that!

As for laws protecting citizens, yes, of course. But not from themselves.

Some humans cannot make reasonable choices either and that's why we need laws...to protect the naive as well as the law breakers. And I not lying I led a pretty decadent lifestyle in the 80's being the absolute Japanese townie yuppie from Waialae Kahala. It's different now that I'm older I don't need the fast pace of Oahu as I craved as a 20-something year old.

But I still feel that truck beds are no place for anything alive to be in while hurtling down a freeway. The fact that humans still ride in the back at those speeds tell me these people cannot make reasonable choices. Heck there aren't even handles to grab onto in the event the truck hits a pothole. At least mandate that!

[zztype]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

But I still feel that truck beds are no place for anything alive to be in while hurtling down a freeway. The fact that humans still ride in the back at those speeds tell me these people cannot make reasonable choices. Heck there aren't even handles to grab onto in the event the truck hits a pothole. At least mandate that!

Sorry, man. Those guys were on Kunia Road, right near the subdivisions. The speed limit in that area is like 35 mph. Not a freeway. Not freeway speeds.

You have a point about the freeway, but again, the military routinely transports troops in humvees (on the Defense Freeway) which are basically big pickup trucks that are set up just like that pickup truck in Kunia. Humvees have benches in the back for the people to sit on and the whole thing is covered by a canvas top. Hardly protection in a crash.

Blaine

[glossyp]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

The Filipino Community Center is accepting donations for the victims' families. You can drop off a check at the FilCom Center in Waipahu or mail it to:

FilCom Center
Operation Ohana
94-428 Mokuola St
Waipahu, HI 96797

Be sure to write: Kunia Crash Victims on the memo line.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

Sorry, man. Those guys were on Kunia Road, right near the subdivisions. The speed limit in that area is like 35 mph. Not a freeway. Not freeway speeds.

You have a point about the freeway, but again, the military routinely transports troops in humvees (on the Defense Freeway) which are basically big pickup trucks that are set up just like that pickup truck in Kunia. Humvees have benches in the back for the people to sit on and the whole thing is covered by a canvas top. Hardly protection in a crash.

Blaine

Granted not freeway speeds but unprotected none the less. Humvee's yeah just like opala trucks are designed for quick egress but at least there's accomodations for the occupants to sit or hang onto. There are none in pick up truck beds. Oh by the way the US Government considers US troops expendable items (heck I was one of em) and if our own government won't give our troops adequate body armor do you think they've considered safety in a Humvee? You cannot really compare the two types of vehicles.

And no need to apologize...By the way practically no one travels 35 MPH on that stretch of Kunia Road which makes it even more deadly. When I used to travel on Kunia Road I used to cringe everytime some jerk just had to read the fine print on the back of my car while seeing another car approaching me from the Wahiawa side. Any moment this idiot could pull out and make my day a bad one.

The point I'm trying to make here is that a pick up truck bed wasn't designed for carrying human beings. There are no seats, no seatbelts not even handles to hang onto. You may as well be riding on the hood of a car as neither place has the accomodations for passengers, so when passengers choose to ride dangerously like that they are risking their own lives.

Remember this was a head on crash with a cement truck YET the driver and front passenger survived. The four women were thrown from the truck indicating they weren't properly restrained enough to handle the excessive forces that threw them out. If they were restrained at the least they probably would be alive (albeit banged up) today. If truck beds were properly equipped to handle passengers, there would be no arguement against riding back there, but none are and that area statistically proves out again and again that riding back there can be very deadly despite the severity of the accident...remember the front seat occupants survived the head on crash. They were the first to kiss the cement truck. What was the difference? The front occupants were seated and possible belted in an approved seating configuration while those that died weren't.

There is no good arguement for allowing passengers to be riding in the beds of pickup trucks. Lifestyle is an option one chooses, and if death is one outcome of that option then you chose the wrong lifestyle.

[MadAzza]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

... if our own government won't give our troops adequate body armor do you think they've considered safety in a Humvee?

If someone in another vehicle gets in the way of a line of military Humvees going down the freeway, I wouldn't be too concerned about the guys in the Humvees.

No new laws!
No new laws!
No new laws!

(This opinion does not necessarily reflect that of my employer. But it should.)

[LikaNui]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

There's a good letter in today's Star-Bulletin from, um, some lady in Makaha.

[alohabear]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

They should require passengers in truck beds to have a seat and rollbars like in this photo of a classic(?) Subaru BRAT. Then and only then should passengers be allowed to ride in beds.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

No new laws!
No new laws!
No new laws!

(This opinion does not necessarily reflect that of my employer. But it should.)

Wouldn't that be a new law if put into effect?

[tutusue]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

[...]There is no good arguement for allowing passengers to be riding in the beds of pickup trucks. Lifestyle is an option one chooses, and if death is one outcome of that option then you chose the wrong lifestyle.

Craig, just curious...are you referring only to the lifestyle choice of riding in the back of a pick-up truck? If you're referring to lifestyle choices in general, how does one explain the deaths of innocent people who are appropriately belted in their vehicles but are hit and killed by drag racing kids?

[tutusue]

Re: Truck Beds & Passengers

They should require passengers in truck beds to have a seat and rollbars like in this photo of a classic(?) Subaru BRAT. Then and only then should passengers be allowed to ride in beds.

I didn't see seat belts. Possibly they are there and just can't be seen. If only those grab bars are available I fail to understand how a truck bed passenger holding on to the handles could maintain a grip during a medium to high impact crash. And, would most passengers hang on to them for the duration of the trip? IMNSHO, shoulder and lap belts are needed.