Traffic problems also affect the military: buses and cisterns can teach something

(To Gianluca Celentano)
14/05/18

Stress, the frenetic rhythms of life and the precarious work of the new millennium could be the causes that often contribute to carelessness towards the rules and the civic sense of good cohabitation even on the streets. Of course it is not all the fault of those who travel. We all know that the national road network should be modernized to guarantee safety, but also to cope with increased traffic and current climate change, responsible for sudden and catastrophic precipitation.

The chronicle tells us almost daily dramatic events related to infrastructure including railways, a degradation that, as published by "La Repubblica," costs 40 billion a year of public money for the repayments attached to accidents, money that could be better and more economically invested in careful maintenance. This is the situation with which the Ministry of Transport must confront itself to get in line with the most advanced European countries and where, despite government efforts, the two watchwords coming from Brussels are often: austerity and sanctions to the beautiful country.

The bus under the Tombone in Trento, infrastructure?

During the successful rallying of the Alpine troops in Trento, which was also attended by the head of state Mattarella, on the social networks the news of an army bus was quickly rebounded, which, at the end of the event, got stuck under the bridge del Tombone di Trento, in via Fratelli Fontana. They are unpleasant claims that, in the absence of constant experience driving heavy vehicles, can occur, even if rarely fortunately.

The image of Google Earth it does not seem to let you glimpse prohibition signs but only the metallic - sound - black and white flags placed at the top and perhaps this element would have deceived the conductor of the Sitcar Army bus that we remember having a height of 3.820 meters.

Experience and tranquility

Essential prerogatives for the profession of driver where you are never good and never should be given confidence in the medium, however in the civil environment I feel the need to express a feeling that is perceived several times when people are transported outside the world of "heavy driving". It can happen especially when traveling with groups of adults, that someone maybe a little 'more animated than others, I say with conviction what is the best way or even give driving tips to the driver, despite having only the knowledge of driving for cars or vans.

The accounts could come back if we associate these behaviors, not really isolated and educated towards the worker, to the facts of the chronicle against the drivers and statistically compared to Europe, Italy does not seem to have clear dispositions towards the "poorly composed" travelers.

To cope with this reality to which traffic problems are associated, the only driving school is not enough to train a driver and probably not even a military one. We have already written in other articles that the driver's profession should not be done occasionally but rather constantly and always with big and equal means, only in this way the professionalism of the driver can progress.

The word to drivers with or without stars

Every day they work for a useful service to the country, with buses and trucks, but they are well aware of the most risky behaviors they encounter daily on the roads and that often go unpunished.

The most dangerous behaviors reported - that as a bus driver I confirm - would not seem to be the speed limits (easier to sanction ...) but rather the following:

- move to the last second to exit a bypass, diagonally crossing the three lanes, perhaps without looking at the right mirror and creating slowing down in the best of cases;

- to stop in a lane after a collision without injuries, sure that the yellow jacket worn and let pass for any initiative;

- travel in the central lane when the right one is free, hindering the march of heavy vehicles that can not use the internal lane for overtaking but also the wild stops or the phenomena that march against, rather than those who after a stop at the motorway they enter the lane directly without looking at the left mirror.

The guide with the military tank truck: STRALIS and ASTRA

In the composite military columns, which today I can also travel in small groups, you can cross some engine with a tank of towed fuel or real technical stocks coordinated by the Army.

Those who carried out military service in some maneuvering department of the motorists, will have met these large trucks deployed to transport fuel from refineries to military depots or from depots to departments. Among the cisterns, some special ones are adopted for the transport of drinking water during disasters, as happened for example in Messina in the 2015.

Fuel transport, a reality that could be carried out by civil carriers for the optimization of expenses, is a specialty to which Defense, with good reason, prefers to keep its own line independent.

Currently it is the diesel that goes for the greater on Euro 5 and 6 military vehicles, faster and more comparable to petrol engines. To recognize the type of transported hydrocarbons, just look at the orange plate which, if it contains the 1202 numbers, means that the load is of diesel fuel.

The tractors, or rather the road tractors used to tow semi-trailers with tanks, are the same used for towing the Leopard and the most recent are the Stralis 450 / 480 / 500 for non-operational transports and the Astra SMH 66.45, with three-color, black, rust and Nato green livery.

The Iveco StralisAlthough it often has several warning lights that require battery reset, it is still one of the best trucks in the world for reliability and performance.

I dealt with an 450 version for about six months and the driving satisfactions were not lacking. I still remember the hills of the Varese area, its power uphill with load, a power that, if not controlled, caused the ASR system to intervene.

It is equipped with the amusing "ZF to slap" gearbox with 12 gears (6 + 6) and the retarder retarder to lighten the effort on the brake discs; driving it by doing the doublets (obviously optional but recommended) gives a great satisfaction and mastery of the vehicle even if it does not match the ancestor's completely "analog" Iveco Turbostar 190 / 48 that adopted the change Eaton Fuller, a truck probably still in force in some barracks and remained in the hearts of many drivers, including military.

An elderly marshal remembers: "before anything else forget to look at the tachometer and learn to listen to the engine, because only by doing so you learn to change at the right number of revolutions".

Today many Stralis adopt the modern EUROTRONIC 12 AS 1800, the robotized Iveco and Astra, but in the Army the "heavy" ACTLs are more common with the hydraulic ZF. A comfortable system in everyday use, but which, like all "automatic" ones, limits the capacity of its driver.

The older ones will remember the still working "Baffone" FIAT 682 T4 - road tractor- in the military version or the Astra BM 64.42 6X4 but also the 70 T ACP that have contributed to the Italian and military history of the transport of armed goods.

When the tank is half loaded

For drivers, the good guide is only one but with the cistern it takes even more delicacy and advance, a bit like on the coaches.

In fact, it is the displacements of the masses generated by the transport of liquids that create the greatest difficulties with every slowing or movement of the steering, dodging, curves and roundabouts.

A cistern half of its load, despite the presence of internal breakwaters, will create a wave capable of moving the center of gravity for the movement of the contained liquid. In fact, it is not difficult to read news about tanks that have been turned over even at low speeds and for this reason are equipped on the upper surface with small roll bars that avoid the breaking and crushing of the loading hatches with the relative leakage of the liquid.

The dangers. Try to think about the consequences if our articulated truck carried a Leopard by more than 40 tons and some unwise car driver nailed the car in front of the heavy truck or cut off the road.

The chains that block the heavy Leopard wagon would break if the articulated truck was braked and our Leopard would end up in the worst case in the cabin - with the consequences you can imagine. Only in the best of cases would it sit sideways. Similar situations but not so dramatic, are the order of the day for bus drivers and trucks in constant battle in traffic, and often a public opinion devoid of guarantee and full of prejudice, pointing the accusing finger on the heavy vehicle which many sometimes he is a non-executioner victim.

Heroes with the sword of Damocles on the head

It is good to remember an example of the 2013 passed to the news, where Ion Purice, driver of 29 years, put to protect the highway his heavy vehicle (photo) coming after a serious accident and helping to save the life of a child with volunteers of the Italian Red Cross.

Often in addition to insecurity and unemployment, there is unfortunately talk of "deaths at work" but very little of the deaths among drivers of heavy vehicles, even their citizens and taxpayers in the country where the gap between rich and poor is always wider, such as inequalities ...

Controls to companies that are not in good standing are welcome, but sanctions are often perceived as a way to make safe cash rather than a need for prevention. Yet the role of a driver of collective transport is of great responsibility and usefulness and in particular prevents the overcrowding of private cars in the cities of art.

Tiling and training

The Army invests many resources for security and training and we have already underlined it in other articles, but the perceived sense is that it would serve a path of bureaucracy towards some norms that would leave more space to graduates and marshals to form only heavy vehicle drivers used exclusively for this task; as it happens in other armies.

Noteworthy is the technical core unit of the Army that provides for the transfer of materials and means - when the activity is not entrusted to outsiders - that exceed in weights and measures (tanks, submarines, boats) provided for by the Highway Code. Here, studying each type of transport on a case-by-case basis, engineering calculations and preliminary surveys on routes are the basis.

Living as a driver, alas precarious, the disorderly reality of traffic, the commitment of many municipalities - Milan in the first place - should be noted to ease the congestion of cities and ring roads by encouraging the use of local public transport, always according to private traffic. Efficient public transport with maintenance (see the cases of Rome) and separate and questionable regional funds, we should mention the interchange parking lots, where in addition to private buses, there are also military buses for the daily and evening line with the barracks ... "How many memories during the draft!"

Greetings and thanks

I wish to greet all the soldiers in TRAMAT's Spe and the young people, girls and boys who have not yet settled but also, if you allow me, my fellow civilian drivers.

Thanks to the very useful work of TRAMAT, to the regiment of Manovra Interforze, to the regiment Management Area of ​​Transit (RSOM) and to the glorious logistic regiment "Taurinense".

(photo: web)