Letter to the Editor: Install Discs

isc brakes for Class 8 trucks are long overdue. They have been standard equipment in Europe for more than 20 years. Disc systems are a totally proven technology in use on automobiles and aircraft for more than 35 years.

In your article (“Manufacturers Face Looming Rule Change,”), an executive for a brake manufacturer said that stopping distances at 75 miles per hour drop to about 325 feet with discs from about 475 feet with drum technology. Later, a fleet vice president said, “Unless discs become mandatory, we won’t spec them. The business case just isn’t there.”

I would not like to be the attorney representing any trucking company that just had one of its trucks run over a family car because “the business case just isn’t there.” If existing, on-the-shelf, superior technology is not being utilized because no one wants to be first, I think a jury would see through that argument very quickly and make large awards against the defendant.

I>1999 Road Team Finalist

wner-Operator

ew Tripoli, Pa.

This letter appeared in the July 12 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.

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