Hey! I'm workin' here!

The BBQ Pit
141

Hi Kids, I’m back …

Sorry it took so long to get back to you … I just had two days that fall under the heading “Nightmare Day From Hell” culminating yesterday with a blizzard that blew in with 60 mph gusts that blew me off the top of my truck (Owie, Owie, Owie!)

First, to all those who didn’t post an actual question, but posted a story or supportive comment, thanks.

Second,Tinkertoy, good job. You can pinch hit for me anytime …

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program:

You just found one of my favorite ‘pet peeves’ that I almost put in my OP. So what is it? Just too much trouble to flip the switch and dim the lights for a few moments? HOT NEWS FLASH! It ain’t just us up here, everybody with normal night vision gets blinded by those high beams, most people are just too courteous to blind you trying to get you to dim your headlights! Goes double for when you are coming up behind other drivers. Make that triple. I find myself real tempted to rotate my mirrors to see if I can reflect the light right back at you and so I don’t have to stare into those spotlights for 15 minutes while you’re overtaking me …

Gets a little tough sometimes - rain, snow, sleet, hail, (HIGH beams) - all make it a bit tougher. Over time, experience teaches you how to compensate.

Yup, ya hit it right on the head. It’s all pretty much an ego thing. I like Tinkertoy’s answer too. I’ll add just two more thoughts:

  1. That many lights are really hard on alternators - even with the super-duper heavy duty alternators - you can plan on replacing them frequently.
  2. They really annoy the hell out of the rest of us. “Why?” you ask. 'Cause we’re driving company owned trucks and the company won’t pay for them, mostly because (See #1 above)

Yes. And no, you can’t use it.

'Cause I think you just want to play with it! :smiley:

Besides, if you really need it, you’re probably going to be a little too stressed out to use it properly, so if you’ll just stand aside, I’ll do it, thank you very much! BTW, why don’t you have your own? (Even though Taters’s answer is technically correct, I just had to add that.)

I’ve had you use my extinguisher four times during my career. Three times to extinguish fires, once to hold the flames at bay until other motorists could help get the people out of the RV. It ultimately burned to the ground - it was a very intense fire. Nearest fire truck was 130 miles away. Have you checked your fire extinguisher recently? (What do you mean you don’t have one …?)

Tinkertoy’s answer is correct, with one more possible reason: in bad weather (ice, snow), in most areas triples are required to drop their third trailer (and in some jurisdictions, doubles are required to drop their second).

Oh, and it could be that the Driver found something wrong with the trailer and dropped it for that reason.

Great quote I heard (with apologies to who ever said this, cause I’m not going to take the time go look up right now) went something like “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle …”

Okay. New business. And I not trying to hijack my own thread. There are a couple of points that I feel need to be made about Commercial Drivers that will answer and (or) generate a lot of questions, soooooo,

I'm going to ask you to spend a few moments reading two very short articles. Think about them for a few minutes, then comment. The first is quoted below, link to the second follows.

[sidebar]
I know we aren't supposed to quote copy righted articles in their entirety, but I've been arguing with the editor(s) of the [*Elko Daily Free Press*](http://www.elkodaily.com) for a week now, and so far I have been unable to get them to put this article on line. At first they said they couldn't understand why I couldn't find it. Then they said they couldn't understand why it wasn't there. Now, it's just not going to get put on line. No explanation other than "the follow up article is on line and that's good enough." 

What can I say? Rural newspaper.
[/sidebar]

So, with proper credit given, here is the original article:


[QUOTE]
**Battle Mountain teen hurt**

**ELKO** - A Battle Mountain teen was seriously injured Thursday after his vehicle hit a tractor trailer head-on while trying to pass a slower moving truck.

Matthew C. Stoddard, 18, was driving westbound in a Chevrolet Cavalier on Frontage Road 402 north of Interstate 80 at 3 p.m., according to Nevada Highway Patrol report.

"Stoddard, while passing a slower moving truck to the left, failed to yield the right of way to an oncoming tractor trailer rig hauling dirt," said Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Rocky Gonzalez.

The rig, driven by Doris Y. McClain, 47, of Laredo, Mo., was unable to avoid the collision and struck the left front of the car.

After the impact, the Cavalier veered to the north road edge, coming to rest on its wheels. The rig veered to the south edge and continued through the right of way fence entering I-80.

The tractor trailer then went across both westbound interstate lanes and came to rest in the median where an electrical fire in the engine compartment was "quickly extinguished," Gonzalez said.

Stoddard was extricated from the wreckage.

He suffered numerous injuries and was air lifted. to Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital.

McClain was not injured.		*By Marianne Kobak*
[/QUOTE]

Okay, [here is the link](http://www.elkodaily.com/articles/2006/03/01/news/local_news/news2.txt)  to the second article. This one has a picture. (Note the hole in the driver's side windshield.)

I am not going to comment on these articles just yet. I know what my opinion is - I want to hear yours. Specifically, what I'd like to hear from you is this:
What do **you** think was the primary cause of each wreck.
What citation or penalty should the individual receive.

To avoid confusion, when making your comments please refer to the first as 'Teen' and the second as 'Bus Driver'

I will link to the follow up articles later. Don't bother trying to use the search on their site, it sucks. (As in, "Google, it ain't" -- unless you know the exact words used in the headline AND the publication date, you'll probably not find it any way. If you're lucky enough to find them, Shhhhhhh. Give everyone a chance to offer their opion first ...

Hey, I gotta go unload my truck - yesterday's snow storm prevented me from getting to my tank farm -- be back in a few hours.

Lucy
142

[total hijack]
So do you live up in/near Elko? I was up there on some of the wildfires in 2001
[/hijack]

143

Based on what evidence we have here it appears both the teen and the bus driver misjudged their attempts to pass the vehicle ahead of them.

Am I right that the teen was driving on a road which was pretty much straight and with unobstructed views well ahead? If so, then he tried to pass when he hadn’t enough time/distance to beat the oncoming truck. Citation/penalty? Driving to endanger for the teen? Certainly his injuries are quite a punishment.

Assuming in the second case that the truck driver didn’t abruptly slow down, then it would appear that the bus driver misjudged his angle when pulling out to pass and clipped the back of the ore truck. I’m also wondering whether the bus driver was following too close. I take it that round hole is where a chunk of ore flew off the truck into the bus? Citation/penalty? Not sure, although I wonder if the ore truck driver got a citation for an improperly secured tarp?

144

Unless the DA is a really nice guy I can see the teen going down for reckless driving. Probably not felony since the only injuries were to the teen himself. If they want to go for the pile on add unsafe lane change, failure to yield, and speeding (assuming he got over whatever the speed limit was on the frontage road)
On the bus driver for sure the guy gets a following too close, maybe an illegal lane change.
Since you chose those two articles to link I am going to guess that in both cases the truck driver got charged with littering. :slight_smile:

[hyjack back to post 129] Yesterday afternoon on my way home I started to pay attention to the tire bludges. Sure enough I spoted local (box) delivery truck that was loosing his inner right dual tire. I also notice that this truck was crabbing down the road. While directly behind him I could see the left side of his truck. Was the low right rear tire casuing his truck to crab? Or was this just a truck with the worst wheel alignment I have ever seen?
Also you you have any suggestions about how to alert the driver? I pulled along side honked and pointed at his tire, he looked at me like I had a 3rd eye in the middle of my forehead.
[/hyjack]

145

Okay. I got to thinking about this after I got out on the road this morning. Need to add some details that were omitted from the articles in an attempt to clear up some (possible) misinterpretations/misconceptions.

Teen:

Terrain: Generally flat and level with a little minor undulation common to all such roads.

Weather: Clear blue sky. Calm. Midday sun. Visibility only limited by eyesight.

Road: Clear and dry. Frontage road is a two lane bi-directional road (originally part of U. S. Hwy. 40 before they built the Interstate). No emergency lane or hard shoulder worth noting. This section of the road is straight except for one bend in the road where the wreck took place. This is not a radical curve, rather, the type of curve no one would feel uncomfortable taking at 75 - 80 m.p.h. Interstate 80 lies 70 feet to the south of the hard pavement and runs parallel to the frontage road. The fence separating the the two roadways is approx. 20 feet from the south edge of the pavement, and about 50 feet from the north edge of the westbound lanes of I-80.

Speed limit: 70 m.p.h.

================================================

Bus:

Terrain: 6% grade. Warning Signs posted with flashing lights at bottom of grade, and periodically all the way up the hill, warning of slow moving trucks.

Weather: Clear blue sky. Slight 10 mph breeze out of the south. Approximately 20 minutes after sunrise. Visibility only limited by eyesight.

Road: Clear and Dry Interstate Highway. 2 lanes each direction (No Truck Lane) Straight road, vision ahead unrestricted by terrain.

Direction of travel: Both vehicles were traveling Eastbound.

Speed limit: 75 m.p.h.

=================================================

About 7 miles East of Elko. You missed some real fun fires here last summer …

The crabbing is definitely an alignment problem. (In this case, the left rear drive wheels are slightly ahead of the right drive wheels.

Nope, no real good suggestions beyond some hand signals. If you have a passenger that can make the signal, use one hand to make a “tire” on top of the other hand to symbolize the “ground” - then flaten the “tire”. Most Drivers will get the hint. [Disclaimer: Do not try this if you are driving. Unless your name is Zaphod and you happen to have a third arm to hold the steering wheel.]

Woulda sworn that was a third eye … :eek:

I will link to the follow-up articles tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll be around to answer any other questions that may pop up. Also, I have my marshmallows and chocolate ready incase anyone really wants to flame. :smiley:

Lucy

146

Chewing this over as I drove to and from the barn earlier, it occurred to me to wonder: Did a poorly secured load cover cause a chunk of ore to fly out, smash through the bus driver’s window, startle him into swerving left to keep from getting hit in the face, and thereby cause the accident? Would the bus have to have been following too close to make this possible, or could the ore chunk have hit and bounced up?

So, just how long ya gonna keep us in suspense, huh? Might could get some fiery language outta us if you tease us too long, mister. :mad:

147

No, the hole was not caused by a chunk of ore. The load and tarp were properly secured. The hole was created by the bar that holds the tarp in place.

(These tarps are kinda like those old-fashioned window shades. Rolled up on a spring loaded bar and attached to a motor driven bar that pulles tarp over the load when activated, and the spring tension pulls it back when deactivated. It was the bar on the motor driven arm that damn near skewered the bus driver’s head.)

This was mentioned in the article but you probably missed it. It was, after all, in the last paragraph. (The last of just six paragraphs - short attention span? :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: )

Not too much longer - would kina like to see some more opinions first.

Meanwhile …

Time for a little background, just so y’all have some idea about what got me going on these two articles in particular. You may not realize this, but I (quite literally) work right along side most of these Drivers.

With regard to the bus wreck, K-T Services is one of my customers, as is the company that owns the side-dump that was rear ended. I called K-T Services in the hope of getting the bus driver’s side of what happened, but the Safety Director, whom I know quite well, politely but firmly (and, I should add, understandably) dodged my questions. (Hey, I had to try, I’m a bit of snoop about such things …)

I did get to talk briefly on the CB with Ron (the Driver of the side-dump). His side of the story cracked me up. I’ll get to that a little later.

The ‘Teen’ article caught my eye last Saturday when I was reading the Weekend Edition of the paper. I let it pass, like most people would, as just another wreck.

On the following Monday, I had an opportunity to speak one of the Drivers that was involved in this incident. The driver, who for the purposes of this discussion I will call “Doug”, works for a company that I work closely with. They deliver fuel, antifreeze and lubricants to the mines, I pick up the oil/antifreeze after it has been used. We frequently have lots of time to stand around and bullshit while loading/unloading our cargoes.

Doug was the Professional Driver operating the “slower moving truck” (SMT). No where in either article are his efforts mentioned. In fact, the SMT goes almost unmentioned in the article, except as the vehicle being passed.

The SMT was in fact a super tanker loaded with 10,221 gallons of diesel fuel. Doug had just finished loading his truck at their company’s rack located at Dunphy, NV (about 5 miles East of where the wreck occurred). The gross weight of his truck when he scaled out was 123,840 pounds. He was traveling at his trucks governed speed of 68 m.p.h. (Slower. Moving. Truck. Hint, Hint, Hint!) :dubious:

I really believe that his heroic efforts at getting that rig stopped need to be mentioned here. He managed to get that rig stopped just a scant 9" from where the Cavalier came to rest, and he never made contact with that vehicle. Fact is, I’m not all that certain that I could have done it. (Doug said he wasn’t sure he could do it, either - and is pretty certain that he could not duplicate the feat!) Doug is also the individual that called in the wreck on his cell phone and got emergency vehicles headed out. “ATTABOY, DOUG!”

What Doug told me about the wreck did not jive real well with the newspaper article. There were some major omissions. This got me thinking hard about the whole thing. This discussion with Doug was followed by two, admittedly fortuitous, events.

[sidebar]
Notice that these types of wrecks tend to attract every Highway Patrolman that can get there before the last vehicle is towed away. In this case, there were seven Patrolmen on the scene, and three of those are listed as official Investigating Officers on the report.
[/sidebar]

While I’ve met Rocky on several occasions, I have not, as yet, had an opportunity to speak with him about this incident. However, on Wednesday, I was able to buy one of the other investigating officers a donut and a cup of coffee and spend about an hour picking her brain and clarifing a few more facts. What I learned was very interesting, the type of stuff you almost never get to hear about. I will relate some of what she told me later.

The second event occurred on Thursday. The company that Doris works for happens to be a client of mine. I was able to speak at length with her supervisor and actually see her truck while I was loading their oil. Interesting also. Details a little later.

Lucy

148

:stuck_out_tongue: yourself, mileageboy – here’s the last para of that story, which I did read:

Now, just where in Hades is there any mention of a bar in them there words, huh? Huh? :mad:

Just because you know there’d be a bar involved doesn’t mean those of us who’ve never driven an ore truck would know, ya know. :wink: I was just trying to figure out how the blazes would a tarp make a hole like that?

Okay, off to read the rest of your post, see if there’s any more nits I’m minded to pick. :smiley:

149

I’m sorry, this may be obvious, but how does one know that it IS a SMT? No offense, but except for the double trailers out there, one 18 wheeler looks much the same to me.

I never knew about trucks being governed before–it explains alot.

150

As to how one knows that it IS a SMT, stand by for my next post in a couple of minutes. It should explain a lot …

EddyTeddyFreddy, ya gotta know I was jus’ pullin’ yer leg. Or something.

Anyway …

Please Stand By …

The post you asked for is coming right up.
(Go get your coffee ready.)

151

It better not be my tail, tail, tail. :wink:

152

Well, the time has come - I was hoping for more comments, but - oh, well …

This is bound to be long, so please, bear with me. What I’m about to relate are the facts regarding the ‘Teen’ wreck, as related to me by one of the investigating officers and my associate, “Doug”.

First, playing the part of the Slower Moving Truck (SMT), we have Doug in a super tanker loaded with 10,221 gallons of diesel fuel traveling Eastbound on Frontage Road 402.

Following the SMT is Matthew C. Stoddard, 18, driving a Chevrolet Cavalier.

Approaching from the West at 70 m.p.h. is Doris Y. McClain, 47, driving a Freightliner which is pulling a single bellydump trailer loaded with 25 tons of road base (dirt).

SMT and Mr.Stoddard are approaching a modest curve in the road. Mr. Stoddard initiates a passing maneuver by pulling into the on-coming traffic lane, apparently not having taken notice that there is a bellydump approaching from the opposite direction.

Doug, having an unobstructed view ahead, can see the bellydump approaching. At the moment he notices the car initiate the passing maneuver, Doug immediately makes some quick mental calculations and comes to the conclusion that there is insufficient time or space for the car to complete the maneuver safely. Doug initiates a panic stop. At this time Mr. Stoddard apparently is still trying to accelerate and either fails to take notice of the tankers panic stop, or fails to act on the observation.

Meanwhile, Doris can see the super tanker coming towards her as well as the car that is following. When she momentarily losses sight of the vehicle that was following the tanker, she initially presumes it is due the angle of sight from her perspective, still, she puts herself on “high alert” because she can’t see the car. Her first real indication that something is amiss is when she sees the tanker’s tires start smoking and realizes that the tanker has just initiated a panic stop. At this moment, it will still be approximately 1/2 second before she is able to see the vehicle coming at her in her lane. Doris immediately evaluated the information she had at hand and concluded that she should also initiate a stop.

In her statement to the investigating officer, she said that she did not know why the tanker was in the panic stop mode, but seeing as she was less than 2 seconds away from the tanker, whatever was causing the tanker to stop could potentially affect her. She concluded that needed an escape route, and she needed it NOW. Going to her left was not an option as this would have put her on a collision course with the super tanker, so going right was her best and only option. She quickly glanced at the Interstate and scanned the traffic, noting the presence of 4 vehicles in the Westbound traffic lanes. When she glanced back, she saw the car coming at her in her lane, and knew she had to make a decision.

The investigating officer estimated that at this moment, Doris was less than one second away from impact with the Cavalier.

Doris made the only decision possible: to sacrifice her rig, her cargo, and herself in an effort to save the life of the car’s driver and passengers (she did not know there were no passengers in that car). However, she could not leave the pavement just yet. Even though she had reduced her speed somewhat, her momentum would still carry her rig through the barrow pit and into the Westbound travel lanes of the Interstate - the problem: those four cars on the Interstate would be directly in her path. She’d have to delay her movement just a half a heartbeat more before leaving the roadway. That moment’s delay would mean a glancing, yet head-on blow to the Cavalier, but would ensure the safety of the occupants of those four cars on the Interstate.

Six different witnesses agreed on this one point: Doris only missed that last car by less than one foot, and that only because the driver of that fourth car saw her coming and punched the gas pedal. The bellydump came to rest in the median, where it caught fire. Doris immediately exited her truck and extinguished the fire.

The investigating officer measured the distance from the skid marks [made by the Cavalier just as it came to rest on the North edge of the frontage road], to the front bumper of the super tanker where it had come to a stop.

Nine inches. Doug had just missed hitting the Cavalier a second time by just nine. little. inches!

No one will ever know why Mr. Stoddard failed to hit his brakes when the super tanker went into the panic stop. No one will ever know why he accelerated instead.

Speculation: Simple error? Maybe. Inexperience? Perhaps. Inadequate driver training? Possible.

But we’ll never really know.

You see, that is because Mr. Stoddard paid the ultimate penalty for his error.

Now let me give you some of the back story.

When Doug and I first talked about this, he chuckled at the very misleading description of “Slower Moving Truck” that was given in the newspaper account of this incident. He said, and this is a direct quote, “It was only a ‘slower moving truck’ in the sense that it was moving slower than the kid wanted to go. I was doing 68 goddamn miles per fucking hour and this kid couldn’t wait a few more seconds for a straight road and a clearer view!”

Doug was fine with his part in all of this. He was satisfied that he had done all he could. That is, he was okay with it until he found out that Mr. Stoddard had died - Doug’s boss told me last night that Doug has requested a few days off …

I was genuinely surprised at how little damage there was to the bellydump. On the left front side of the truck the bumper is bent, the left front fiberglass cowling, hood and fender are shattered, as are both headlights on that side. If that were the only damage to the rig, just $1725.00 in parts and labor would have it ready to be put back on the road. The trip across the Interstate inflicted a lot more damage to the rig than the collision. That truck ain’t goin’ nowhere for quite a while.

Doris’ supervisor told me that she made a valiant effort to “climb back up on the horse” last Monday. Went home after one load. Came back and did busy work around the shop on Tuesday, and made another valiant attempt to saddle up again Wednesday. Went home at lunch time. Called in ‘sick’ Thursday morning. Called later that afternoon (about the time I was there loading oil) and asked for a few days off. When I talked with her boss this morning he told me that she has now requested an indeterminate leave of absence.

Sad. Neither Doug or Doris did anything wrong. In fact, investigators insist that these Professional Drivers’ skills were what gave this teen a fighting chance (even if he did ultimately lose that fight). In their place, I would have made every attempt to do exactly what they did - right down to the decision to sacrifice myself, my rig, and my load.

As you can now see, there was an awful lot of information that never made it into that article. As is the case with many such articles. Never assume that the newspaper has all of the facts, or even if they do that they told the whole story. The original story was just ‘filler’ that day, anyway. If they had sold one more ad space on that page, we probably would never have heard about Matthew C. Stoddard.

There isn’t much more to add, except my opinion, for whatever that may be worth.

Look. We all do stupid shit. I’ve done stupid shit. :wally I’ll do stupid shit in the future. :wally Hell, I opened this thread because of all of the stupid shit I see drivers of all vehicles do every hour of everyday. It makes ya go a little nuts. But no one should have to die as the penalty for their stupid act.

I’m certain that Mr. Stoddard was not stupid. He just made a mistake. He failed to evaluate all of the possible consequences of his intended action, and it got him killed. Too bad there are no Mulligan’s in real life.

If you learn nothing else from Mr. Stoddard, learn this:

A passenger car is no match for an 80,000 pound truck.

Right or wrong.

Your mistake or theirs.

It ain’t even gonna be a contest.

Sorry, this one’s more than just a little emotionally intense for me. Gonna take a little break before I do the thing with the bus.

Lucy

153

Now it’s time for “Fun With Bus Drivers”. :smiley:

I don’t know what this guy was doing, but he was not doing his job. The only real information I got outside of what’s in the newspaper article is what I learned from talkin’ to Ron, the driver of the truck that got rear-ended.

Some quick background info:

First, these sidedump ore trucks are heavy. Real heavy. 129,000 lbs. of gold ore heavy. Consequently, they don’t move very fast going up hill.

Second, there are a lot of them. Three companies running a total of more than 150 trucks. All of them are doubled up sidedumps. All of them have strobe lights on the front, and 4 to 6 flashing yellow lights at the rear of the second trailer. It’s not like you can’t see 'em, day or night.

Third, these trucks run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s not like there are a lot of times when they’re not out and about.

Fourth, these trucks are running at approximately 10 minute intervals. Gettin’ so ya can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one.

Finally, just like me, the buses run right along side these ore trucks. They’re always in the way. You’re always passing them on the hills. Did I mention that those trucks are heavy? Best speed going up steep hills is about 20 to 28 m.p.h., depending on the truck, the weather, road conditions and the experience of the Driver.

True, the bus driver was driving directly into the sunrise.

True, it’s tough to see much of anything when you’ve got the sun right in the middle of your windshield.

Still …

Ron told me that he was watching this bus come up behind him. Aware that the bus driver might have difficulty seeing his truck, he ambled on over to the extreme right side of his travel lane. The bus was coming fast. Ron estimated that he was going at least 65, probably a little more.

Ron couldn’t understand why the bus wasn’t moving over. There was no other traffic for at least a mile in either direction. He soon got worried that the bus wasn’t going to get moved over in time, so he started moving over into the emergency lane.

Ahhhh, did I mention that these ore trucks don’t move too fast going up hill?

Bang.

(BTW, did anybody notice in the picture that the extreme left rear wheel and tire from Ron’s #2 trailer were imbedded in the front of the bus? There was about 40 m.p.h. difference in their respective travel speeds. Kinda like driving into a very sturdy wall at 40 m.p.h. It was quite an impact. It could have been a real disaster: Ron damn near spilled his coffee!)

Ron was worried that there were passengers on board the bus so he jumped out of his truck and ran back to the bus. Damn near got run over by a car on the way.

Relieved to discover that there were no passengers on the bus, Ron turned his attention to the driver.

Who looked like a ghost. :eek:

Ron said the driver was so pale that he initially thought the driver was dead. After determining that the driver had only suffered minor injuries, Ron proceeded to unload on this hapless soul, adding what he felt would be just the right measure of insult to go along with the injuries. Guy had to be feeling an awful lot like Arthur Dent. :smiley:

(As I drove by the accident scene this morning, I noticed that the bus left a grand total of about 2 feet of skid marks. That had to be one hell of a wake-up call …) :eek:

Note: The newspaper article leaves the impression that Ron’s rig had to be “towed away”, ostensibly by a tow truck. This is not what happened.

Ron waited while 2 very talented field service mechanics from his company put the trailer back together well enough that, with a Highway Patrol escort, Ron was able to complete his run, dump his load in the appropriate location and return to the yard.

Ron spent the next couple of hours regaling his fellow drivers with tales of his exploits. Much at the expense of the bus driver, I would imagine. :stuck_out_tongue:

So, was the driver asleep? Just not paying attention? Maybe just another idiot? The Nevada Highway Patrol had something to say about it.

Due care, indeed …

So, what say you all?

Will justice, in fact, be served? :dubious:

I’ll check back tomorrow to tally the chuckles. I mean votes …

G’Night All.

Lucy

154

Lucy While this thread is still going I wanted to tell you about an experience of mine. Hubby had told me about one of their drivers having an accident with some teenagers who pulled in front of him too closely, no one was killed but it was close. A co-worker and I were discussing it when the school’s drivers-ed instructor came in to the library, so I ask him what they teach the students about driving around trucks and he said “It’s not any different driving around trucks than any other vehicles” :eek: . I had to pick my chin up off the floor before I could give him a piece of my mind. We’re now trying to get the school district to allow us bring truck drivers in to talk to every drivers-ed class. Fortunately we have plenty of volunteers. I hope they agree to make it a part of the class.

155

When I was in college I drove a fuel truck for a Union Oil distributor. My job was to go out and refuel the bottom dump trucks (mostly duals, but there were a few super singles) These trucks were running 12" sideboards and had permits to gross 82,000. They ran a steady 45-50 mph up and down the route for the new freeway. Flagmen stopped cross traffic at each road they crossed.
One afternoon Bob didn’t show for a refuel. I asked and was told that a couple of rednecks ran a flagman and got t-boned by Bob when he was fully loaded. When Bob did show, his bumper was bent, a headlight broken, and the fiberglass hood was cracked. It did not look like much of anything had happened to his truck. The rednecks? Both dead, their full size pickup was less than half it original width.
Moral of this story?
Don’t fuck with 82,000 lbs. you will lose.

156

So just how far back should I be from a truck? How far in front of one? I have problems judging distance sometimes and I want to make sure I’m not one of the assholes Lucy was griping about in the OP.

157

I’m guessing at least far enough to see both mirrors. :smiley:

158

Thanks for the full stories, Lucy. You’re right, we rarely if ever do get the full story on stuff like that.

Not entirely off-topic: When I commuted into Boston regularly, I got chummy with the regular conductor on my usual train. Since it was a non-rush-hour run he had time to chat. We sometimes talked about trains hitting the living – two and four-legged – and what it does to the crew when it happens (not if – he said anyone working the railroad for a respectable amount of time will have this happen to them). Shakes the hell out of them, as you can imagine. The engineer’s got the same problem as truck drivers of immense mass with huge inertia creating tremendous stopping distances, and of course is locked into one path.

One time we were creeping through a section we normally would take at a good clip, then halted. Being a nosy sumbitch, I went up to the front of the train to see what was up. On this run, the engine was at the rear and the engineer ran the beast from controls in the vestibule of the leading passenger car.

Turned out there was a big-ass tree down across the tracks – one of those jaggedy-branched pines, blown down by the wind, caught on other trees across the tracks that held it slanted high enough for some of those sharp branch ends to smash through the vestibule window right at engineer-body height. Just to up the ante, it was about a dozen yards past a stone bridge over the single set of tracks, so that if the train were running at full speed, the engineer wouldn’t have been likely to see it until he was almost on top of it.

Fortunately, someone had seen it down and called it in, so the engineer got radioed warning before we got there. We arrived as the clearance crew was just beginning to work. I got a chance to chat briefly with the engineer, about how it was a classic case of throw the emergency stop switch and run like hell for the rear.

That must be how it is sometimes for truck drivers: You see disaster leap up in front of you, you do what you can, and the laws of physics take over from there.

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Lucy, the drivers in the incidents you described have my condolences. I’m not sure what else to say.

I understand getting impatient with trucks; I’ve been stuck behind tanker trucks on a hilly stretch of highway with no passing zones for five miles or so; I’ve waited while a less-skilled driver needs a few tries to successfully negotiate a 90 degree turn onto an on ramp while I’m trying to get lunch or go home. I’ve even managed to have a morning’s work fouled up because a truck driver on a straight, level stretch of road in an industrial area somehow managed to clip a telephone pole. (IT types like me have a bit less to do if the business has no electricity.)

On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to maneuver a truck on some of the narrow streets around here. You guys have a tough job, and I do appreciate it. Lucy, I’ll join those who’ve said this has been a fascinating thread and I thank you for it. As you said, we all do stupid things and most of the time we survive them. I’m just sorry a kid doing a stupid but typical thing had the results it did.

CJ

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You should see how drivers maneuver their 18-wheelers around the loading dock at a DHL distribution center near where I used to work. In order to pull out, they have to do a 180 in a space that’s only about twice their length.

GoogleMap - DHL is right next to where that big row of parked cars is, which I think belong to a business that is no longer in that complex.