Greetings to ALL and Welcome to my First Posting for 2009! Let me echo my wishes for a "Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year" to each of you!

I appreciate your questions concerning Law Enforcement, Traffic Safety and the Law from a Police Perspective - Remember my disclaimer - I am not an Attorney At Law and I  am not giving "Legal Advise." I am simply trying to put some "Common Sense" out to the masses which will add to the "Happy, Safe and Prosperous" parts of my opening Welcome statement.

QUESTION:  "Over the holidays while we were driving on Rt. 9, my daughter noticed the special lanes for out of control trucks and asked about them. I was able to tell her what they were for but not if they got used. Can you tell us more about these escape ramps? Thank you."

The terminologies of Runaway Truck Ramp, Truck Escape Ramp and Emergency Escape Ramp are synonymous. And, they are all designed to do the same thing - to give an operator of a motor vehicle, especially an operator of a truck, that has lost its brakes sufficient to slow the vehicle going down grade, over driving conditions (speed and weather), an "Escape" from the situation; thus, preventing a worst case scenario - i.e. a collision which will most probably result in major property damage and/or injury up to and including fatality. You will see a number of them, including the ones you saw off both the east and westbound lanes of Vermont Route 9. Truckers across the nation have seen the advantage of them in preventing collisions, saving lives (theirs) and damage to their rigs and loads.

Without going into the "Engineering" of them, basically, there are a couple kinds. Both use a "road" at a slight angle off the road they have lost control on onto a "ramp" that has an increasing positive (up) grade. This slows the vehicle. One type may use a paved or hard packet dirt surface. Another uses what you saw - a positive ramp with a bed of "A" stone and/or sand. This type of stone also aids in the slowing of the vehicle AND retaining it where it slows to a stop. In fact, when a truck goes off into this type of ramp it gets stuck and must be towed out.

In addition, some states use "Sand Piles" for vehicles to run into and others may use "Sand Barrels" like you would see along some of the Interstate Highway System. I think of the northbound, Exit 10, off I-89 in Waterbury (VT), where you see the big-yellow with black striped barrels as the ramp turns off to the right and the main highway curves to the left under Vermont Route 100. These are used to slow and divert the major forces of collision away from the vehicle and in particular the occupants.

States use guidelines to determine the need for these ramps:

• They may first look at the number of collisions
• The seriousness of collisions that have happened in a particular location
• The alignment of the road against the speed limit in that area
• Who is traveling the route - i.e. a major school bus route
• They then look at signage (This is probably why you took notice of the ramps in that they have increased the signage in that area drawing attention to the grade, speed and ramps available.)
• They then look at Speed Control - i.e. a recommended "safe" speed or reduced Speed Zone that is enforceable with Tickets
• Some may set up a "Mandatory Pull-Off Area" for trucks to pull into and then start down the grade

Hope this has been helpful - Drive Safely!