Brief by Allen Best
Transportation – March 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
Truckers are excited about a new product called Autosock, which is a high-tech fabric that can be slipped over a tire, delivering the same traction in snowy and icy conditions that now require chains. The Autosock can be installed on tires of tractor-trailer trucks in about 5 minutes, instead of 35 to 40 minutes, product representatives tell the Vail Daily.
The product still hasn’t been approved for Colorado highways, although the state is considering it..
For Vail, this new product would have substantial benefits, as trucks commonly are lined up in chain-up areas, belching diesel smoke, before crossing Vail Pass. As well, notes the newspaper, chaining up has been dangerous to truckers in Vail. One trucker died of a heart attack recently while chaining up, and another was hit and killed during October.
