I was recently perusing the news when I ran across a story on the KSL News Radio website. The story was about a Provo, Utah couple sharing their story of a home move gone wrong in honor of National Secure Your Load Day. Yes, it’s a real thing. Can I say I’m not surprised?
National Secure Your Load Day is all about raising awareness about securing loads before hitting the road. Tying down cargo seems like a no-brainer to me, but the concept is lost on so many drivers that mere words in a blog post can’t do it justice.
I’ve seen it all, or at least I had thought so before I ran across the KSL story. The couple behind that story chose to do something I had never actually seen with my own eyes. Their adventure was a first for me.
Hold Down the Mattress
The couple was moving from Provo to Spanish Forks. Among other things, they had their mattress in the back of their pickup truck. Rather than tying it down with ratchet or cam straps, the couple made the decision to hold the mattress in place with one of their bodies. I guess the young lady drew the short straw.
She laid on top of the mattress and off they went. Things were fine until her partner got the truck up to about 50 mph. That was it. The mattress and its human tie-down were no match for the air moving over the top of the truck. Both mattress and young lady went flying.
Fortunately, the young lady did not sustain serious injuries. She and her partner now use the story as a way to warn other people not to repeat their mistake. Their story cannot be told often enough. Under no circumstances should a human being ever try to hold on to cargo at highway speeds.
Tie-Downs Are Easy to Use
I have seen my fair share of mattresses traveling down the road perched atop family sedans. I have seen all sorts of unsecured cargo traveling in pickup beds and utility trailers. I have even seen some of that cargo fly off and land in the roadway. The thing that makes me crazy is that it does not have to be this way.
I get that tying down with rope is a hassle. I get that bungee cords are not really very good cargo securement devices. But tie-downs like ratchet and cam straps are a completely different story. They are incredibly easy to use. They are so easy to use that there really is no good excuse justifying a failure to secure one’s cargo.
Insert, Pull, And Go
My favorite tie-down option is the Rollercam cam straps. How do you deploy it? It is simple. You insert the open end of the strap into the buckle, pull until it’s tight, and go on your way. Nothing could be simpler. It takes less than a minute to deploy a cam strap if you know what you are doing. And if not, learning how to use cam straps is pretty simple too.
I know people who prefer ratchet straps instead. That’s fine. Ratchet straps can manage heavier loads. For my purposes, they tend to be overkill. But to each their own, right?
National Secure Your Load Day is a real thing. It’s real because people either don’t know they should secure their loads or just don’t care enough to do it. One way or the other, the best way to address the problem is through education. That is what the day is all about.
