Stealing the truck is only half the battle — How do you manage to put the truck in the right place to pick up a truly hazardous shipment? A lot of the stuff these trucks carry isn't all that dangerous.
Seems to me that you've have to be pretty choosy about which load of material you sent the truck out to receive. Also, where do you find a driver that wouldn't arouse any suspicions when he goes to sign for the load?
An easy way to tell is to look at the diamond-shape decal each and every truck must bear on the rear doors (sometimes the rear side). It has a 4 digit number, often color coded, and will usually say "corrosive" "explosive" or whatever catagory fits. Red tags obviously dangerous, the 4-digits can be looked up to see almost exactly what it is carrying.
That said, this past weekend I had to drive about 80 miles on I-90...lots of trucks as per usual; however, I found myself looking at those tags especially on the tankers. Since this state has 2 speed limits - 65 for cars, 55 for trucks - you pass alot of them. I drove past one that had a tag "flammable" and took a damn good look at the drivers' face in his side mirror as I passed.
Profiling? Sue me. Take nothing for granted any longer.
Think a little harder, folks. They probably don't care too much what it was carrying (if anything). Worry about what it might carry, in the future. The truck is the thing--if it was carrying something nasty, that's just icing on the cake for them.
No joke; "hazmat" placards are required on 18-wheelers hauling lead ingots!
The press has made a big deal out of how many truck drivers have hazmat endorsements. It's called moving the freight.
It's not uncommon for trucks and drivers to go missing. Drivers quit, aprk and leave the truck which the company has to find and pay someone to retrieve.
Trucks have been parked in truck stops over a week until someone found the driver dead in the sleeper. Rundown batteries would explain why the satellite isn't working.
You should have seen what a tanker truck full of chlorine did when it flew off the 610-59 exchange in Houston a few years ago. Now, imagine a tanker truck full of gasoline 'blowing' on any of the bridges over the Mississippi River. Most people are not aware of the number of 'sea ports' up the Mississippi River. (Big economic pain)