Seen in Print

[Roy]

Good word for it.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Bear spray.

Got it. Even carry a can with me secured in a pouch when I am walking my 2+mi in the neighborhood, for any possible encounters with any mentalcase dogs which get out of their yards.

P.S. Also in the bag: a handy-dandy li'l magic wand that would have its own special way of saying, "you should have stayed in your yard , bitch," to any canine mouth going after my body parts.

[Mitch]

That poor trucker probably has to drive with a brown paper bag over his face. He, (or she) wouldn't want anyone to think they were that stupid to strap down dirt and gravel. That's gotta be some stupid company rule or such that all loads must be secured.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

That's gotta be some stupid company rule or such that all loads must be secured.

Well, there's certainly stupidity of some origin involved,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

That poor trucker probably has to drive with a brown paper bag over his face. He, (or she) wouldn't want anyone to think they were that stupid to strap down dirt and gravel. That's gotta be some stupid company rule or such that all loads must be secured.

Really? The driver didn't come up with that?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

That poor trucker probably has to drive with a brown paper bag over his face. He, (or she) wouldn't want anyone to think they were that stupid to strap down dirt and gravel. That's gotta be some stupid company rule or such that all loads must be secured.

Really? The driver didn't come up with that?

Well, he/she could have just to give a camera something to take a silly picture of for people to talk about on the internet, but that would never, ever happen in reality,

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I thought perhaps he had done it out of habit, just strapping down loads without giving the action much thought , sort of, doing it rote.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I thought perhaps he had done it out of habit, just strapping down loads without giving the action much thought , sort of, doing it rote.

Unlikely.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I thought perhaps he had done it out of habit, just strapping down loads without giving the action much thought , sort of, doing it rote.

Unlikely.

Hey. Wait minute. Maybe he just had a sense of humor and was putting everybody on.

[Mitch]

I don't think the driver would want to suffer the embarrassment given what folks would think just lookin' at it, joke or not. Other folks goin' by would be twirlin' their finger in a circular movement around their ear indicating WTF! Are you nuts?!

[MurphOnMillerAve]

But if he did it deliberately, even as a rote action, that's worse (!)

[HONDO74]

It may sound silly but maybe it was done to comply with the law about securing loads in case he got stopped.

Cargo Securement Rules
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/c ... ment-rules

On September 27, 2002, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published new cargo securement rules. Motor carriers operating in interstate commerce must comply with the new requirements beginning January 1, 2004. The new rules are based on the North American Cargo Securement Standard Model Regulations

The new rules require motor carriers to change the way they use cargo securement devices to prevent articles from shifting on or within, or falling from commercial motor vehicles.

[webenda]

Beans

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Well, this is fun, I learned something, today, that I didn't know. It regards that truck we chatted about.

I had sent a lifelong friend, who has driven trucks for years, the picture of that truck, and he replied that the tie-downs actually did have a purpose. That is, they are keeping the small 4x4 boards at the edges of the load in-place against the aggregate, serving as a barrier which keeps the piles of gravel and stuff from falling off the edge of the trailer, not much of a barrier, but in keeping with the law which requires at least three tie-downs.

[Mitch]

Yeah. Well, at sixty mph over 50 miles, the driver would be lucky to arrive at his destination with much more than a bucket of sand left.