Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Recent media attention on the number of highway fatalities caused by semi-trucks has many people asking whether our roads are indeed ’safe.’ A fully loaded truck, like the one that slammed into the back of another truck on California’s I-5 last month can do an intense amount of damage. In that particular accident, three people were killed and at least ten more injured when the truck entering the 550-foot underpass crashed into the truck in front, causing a massive pile-up and ultimately, an explosion.
This isn’t the first time the safety of sharing our roads with oversized semi-trailer trucks has been questioned. Trucking industry practices are continuously being reformed to address the number of fatalities these vehicles cause, including reducing the amount of time a truck driver is allowed to drive without a break, instituting new methods of driver payment that do not include “paid-by-the-mile” incentives, and adding more highway patrol officers designated to specifically crack down on truck drivers that don’t keep proper log books or break traffic laws.
So what can you do to protect yourself and your families?
The trucking industry isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and while we can hope that some of these measures begin to drastically reduce the number of highway deaths, now is the time to make sure you’re driving the safest vehicles you possibly can.
Even the safest vehicles may not be able to stand up to a collision with a semi, but there are certain vehicles that tend to fare better than others. First, SUVs and pickup trucks generally keep their occupants safer than passenger cars when in collisions. While other factors obviously dictate how well passengers will be protected in a crash, such as the type of crash, the rate of speed the vehicles were moving, and the passive safety features installed on the vehicles, SUVs and pickups tend to be heavier and therefore sustain less damage.
Other key factors to examine are the active and passive safety features of your vehicle. For example, while most SUVS offer dual stage airbags (the type that protect occupants from rear-end and head-on collisions by preventing contact with the dash and steering column), the Isuzu also sports head-curtain side-impact airbags that protect the body from injuries caused by rolling or side-impacts. Taking the time to compare the safety features of your vehicle to the available safety features in models offered by car companies that are known for safety (like Isuzu and Volvo) will give an indication of deficits in your vehicles safety system.
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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Classic Trucks for sale in the movies and starring in TV Commercials!
Owners of old trucks would never deny permission for somebody to take a picture of their vehicle.
Let’s suppose somebody came up to you and asked for permission to take a picture of your classic truck to publish in a magazine or a website. Would you refuse? Of course not. You’re proud of your truck and you want the whole world to see it.
But there are people who don’t want to have their classic trucks photographed or filmed. They spend a lot of time fixing their trucks, they go to car shows to show off what they have and yet they refuse to have their trucks filmed or photographed. It doesn’t make sense and it’s not very smart either. Maybe they don’t need the money.
Now let’s suppose you had a chance of having your truck filmed for a TV commercial or, better yet, for a movie! How great would that be? Let’s also suppose that some TV producer decided to create a new series based on the 1940’s, 1950’s or 1960’s. Wouldn’t he(she) need a lot of cars from those eras? And if the series became a hit the vehicles would be used again and again.
Yeah. It it possible and it’s not even too hard. You just have to promote your vehicle in the right places. There are companies out there looking for vehicles exactly like yours. Many companies in fact. They look for classic trucks for sale and they buy them. They look for classic cars of all types and they pay rent to the car owners in order to film the cars. There are companies that go after owners of classic cars, old trucks and hot rods in order to list these vehicles in large databases. Advertising agencies put ads in the papers when they need an old car or pickup truck for a TV commercial. Keep your eyes open because your big chance may come from that direction.
A movie production company may need classic trucks just like yours. They might need your truck to spend, say, three days in Hollywood and a week on location in New York. They would make the arrangements to have the vehicle transported to both places and might even be willing to pay for your expenses to go along. You would see how a movie is made and you could even end up meeting a couple of famous movie stars just because you own an antique truck.
The producer of a movie or a TV commercial may be looking for a beautifully restored old car, one that looks like it came out of the showroom a couple of days ago. But directors want their films to look real. Therefore they may need a regular classic vehicle, one that shows it’s been used. And they might even need a real wreck, a rust bucket so to speak. Your chances are real, no matter what condition your truck is in. Don’t be ashamed of it. Go ahead and try.
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