Why not just call the number?
It’s for Pilgrim Telephone. A very sexy voice woman tells you to hang up if you’re under 18, and then asks you to press 1 to enter a credit card number.
I did once. Turned into kind of a longer story than I expected.
The incident occurred on a narrow, winding, wooded highway. My wife and I were leaving a forest service campground; somewhere among the occasional farms and turnoffs, a big cable-television work truck pulled out and started riding my rear bumper. The speed limit was 35, I was going 45, and the truck behind us was close enough to pull the shoe off my metaphorical heel.
Finally, on a curve, he whipped around us, and floored it.
I looked at my wife, she looked at me, and I floored it as well, to get the phone number and identifying information off the back.
By the time we’d caught up with him long enough to record his details, we had squealed around some tight corners at speeds topping seventy. This guy was either completely insane, or he was on fire.
When we got home, I called the number to report the madman. And to my surprise, I heard the following recording: “This mailbox is full.”
Ehrm, huh. How about that.
I tried again the next day. Still full.
Either the company’s drivers were all so egregiously negligent that hundreds of calls were hitting that number daily, or the company cared so little about the issue that it didn’t bother monitoring its mailbox.
So I rolled up my sleeves, found the company’s website, and went fishing. I hunted up the names of the CEO and other top-level executives, bookmarked the page, and started looking for any clues about how the company’s email addresses might be formatted. Typically, marketing and investment pages are the best place to do this, as the company will make public an actual individual’s contact information in order to facilitate the receipt of revenue. And in doing so, they inadvertently reveal their network protocols as “Bob.Smith” or “bsmith” or “bob_smith” or whatever it might be.
Anyway, after a few minutes, I had what I was looking for, so I fired off a broadside to the entire executive team, describing not just the driver’s behavior but also my skepticism about their driver safety program given the non-attention to the phone number at which people like me are supposed to report concerns. I may also have mentioned a deadline for their response after which I would be contacting the State Patrol. 
Two hours later, I was cc-d on a mail from the CEO to one of his directors: “Fix this today.”
The director and I exchanged some messages, and I’m satisfied that (a) the director was disciplined, and (b) the phone number was fixed. I didn’t ask for details about (a), but I did call the number a few days later to verify that they did what they said they’d do.
Mission accomplished.
“Crank” = “crackpot,” more or less.
Called once on a teen driving an Auto Parts Supply truck. He was driving like a nut.
I’m pretty sure the manager dismissed my call.
I called just the other day. A semi was tailgating me. He was so close all I could see was headlights. As soon as I could, I changed lanes. He passed me, and I saw he had one of those stickers. I called and gave them the info. The operator I spoke to was very nice, but who knows what happened.
In defense of the semi drivers (my husband is an OTR truck driver, and a damn good one!), the drivers themselves don’t scrape the numbers off the rear of the trailers.
There are many types of different weather conditions to contend with, that help the process of deterioration of those thin, cheap, plastic/paper stickers along quite well, and sometimes very quickly.
It’s not like the drivers are out there scraping the numbers off on purpose, if there are any on there at all. Sometimes, the sticker is flapping in the breeze when the driver is driving (such as ones that might be on the tractor itself, which is a more likely location for semi trucks), and the DOT stops them and fines them for it. They can’t have that, so they’ll just yank it off, if need be, wherever it happens to be located.
The drivers pick up trailers at various locations where they are delivering their goods.
They will then pick up an empty trailer, or a loaded trailer, depending on what is needed at the time.
Then, they deliver that load/trailer to a different location, pick up a trailer there and move on to the next delivery, etc.
Sometimes the ‘My Driving’ number stickers have nothing to do with the company the driver is driving for in the first place. They get trailers from many different sources and locations. Not just their company.
If you really want to report bad (or good) driving, get the name of the company that is on the semi tractor itself, plus the number you see that is located on the side of the semi. That is the truck number that is registered to each individual driver (or team).
Numbers off the trailers mean nothing to ANY company (other than the little delivery van outfits), so you’re probably just wasting your time with that.
Keep in mind the time the incident happened, the day, date and the location of the incident. Drivers must fill out logbooks (this is now done by computer AND paper logbooks in my husbands company, and is done this way at almost all others, also)…they have for years. It’s the law.
The company can THEN find out who it was by simply inputing your information into their computer, and are then able to reprimand (or reward) the driver.
I have called a few times over the years. Only NJ Transit was responsive and called back. A bus had cut me off and one other car.
Jim
One time in particular I recall. I was on the a freeway transition ramp with 2 lanes. I was in the left lane, which was going slightly faster than the right lane. When I drive in traffic I tend to leave a little extra room between me and the car in front, so I don’t have to hit my brakes as often.
Anyway as I am passing a semi he starts to move over into my lane as I am about 1/2 past him. At first I thought he was just being sloppy and had crossed the line, but then when I had to pull all the way to the left and stop to keep him from hitting me (my left tires were against the curb) I started to get a little upset.
Then came the icing on the cake. The right lane started to move faster and he went back to that lane!
Out came the cell phone and I started dialing for dollars. Trailer number, trailer license plate, truck number, tractor license plate, description of the driver and a complete play by play of what went down. The safety director of the company thanked me and told me it would be taken care of.
No idea if anything happened, but they did act like it was serious.
I was rolling down I-40 westbound, west of Nashville, and a trucker was hogging the hammer lane side-by-side with another trucker. As they went up a hill, the right-hand truck would gain a couple of feet; as they went down the hill, the left-hand truck would make up the distance.
I flicked my high beams at the left-hand trucker a couple of times, but he ignored me. I climbed on the CB and asked him how long he was going to hog the hammer lane, and he said, “As long as I want to! Fuck off!”
I saw the number on the back of the rude asshole’s trailer, and keyed the mike, saying, “How’s my driving? 1-800-…”
The asshole immediately put on his turn signal and began decelrating to change lanes.
I called with a compliment once. I hadn’t had a driver’s license long, drove a tiny little car without much acceleration and was taking classes at the local community college. As I was getting ready to merge onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike one night after class, a semi in the right lane saw me and moved over to the left lane to let me on. I managed to memorize the phone number and the truck’s ID number and keep it memorized until I got home where I could write it down.
The next morning, I called the number and said I’d like to compliment the behaviour of one of their drivers. A deep southern voice replied, “Well, praise the Lord!” It sounded like I made his day. I hope so. As I said, I hadn’t been driving long and I did appreciate the driver’s moving over and letting me merge on easily.
CJ
I used to drive truck over the road and a few of the other drivers used to carry a can of spray paint and the first thing they would do when picking up a trailer was to paint over the number. So some drivers do intentionally obscure/remove the numbers.
When we lived in Baltimore a co-worker’s girlfriend lived in DC. They’d take turns trekking out to the other’s house. One day B, who is an attractive woman, was driving up toward Baltimore and a big truck was driving next to her and making rude gestures. She’d speed up and he’d speed up; if she slowed down he slowed down. Finally he pulled off at one of the exits near Laurel. She followed and found the company that he worked for (there was no sticker on his truck). Then she called the office of the truck in question and spoke to a (female) secretary/dispatcher and explained what had happened. She found out the guy in question was married and persuaded the woman working at the company to give her his home phone number. Then she called his house, before he got home, and spoke to his wife, explaining what a pig her husband was when he was away from the roost. Of course the wife was livid. I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall when he got home that night.
I’ve only called once, when a delivery van blatantly ran a red light right in front of me. I was at an intersection and it zoomed in from my left. When the light turned green I pulled in right behind him, took down the necessary info and called as soon as I got to work. The operator took all the info and was very polite, but as noted by earlier posters, dunno that it did any good.
And may I say… well done, Cervaise and ExTank. Well done indeed.
I worked for a guy once who had the company phone number on the side of the truck. This was a landscaping company. The number was just the business number.
Anyway, one day a guy called the office (which the boss was manning) to say, “I saw one of your guys driving one of your trucks like a moron.”
It was the boss driving. Well, his quick temper and terrible driving are definitely his two most prominent character traits.
It apparently quickly deteriorated into a “fuck you” shouting match. The boss was proud of this story.
Anyway, I’ve never called one.
Brilliant!
A few years ago, I was riding the train to work, and a guy in a pickup for some electrical supply house was giving the train the finger.
We’re both heading westbound at about 70 MPH, and this nut’s giving the finger to the train. No idea why - it’s not like the train could have slowed him down as this line has no grade crossings, and he’s doing 70 on the freeway. Not to mention the train windows are tinted so someone outside really can’t see into the train.
I call the number on his door and describe the guy and his location. Next thing I hear is “Hey Julie! You’re not gonna believe what Bill’s doing!”
I’m reasonably certain that when the whole sticker is there and the phone number has been spray painted over, the responsible party is closely affiliated with someone who operated or towed the vehicle or trailer in question.
I’ve seen that at least six times in the last year…
A good thing to do in this situation – where someone is following you, possibly with evil intent – is to drive to the nearest police station.
So how about a law requiring all vehicles to have such a sticker. The 1-800 number would be to the police. Then when some jerk gets pissed off at you and calls on you, you get a call from the police threatening to jerk your license without a hearing based on an anonymous tip.
Or how about this. I make it my business to follow you around and see if you stop at the bar for a couple after work, then phone the cops, give them your license number, and tell them that they should call you up and charge you with DWI.
Oh, and, it was reported that you were smoking a joint.
No?
I thought so.
I suspect that the 1-800 stuff is promoted by the insurance companies. “If you put these on your trucks, we’ll give you a 2% discount” kind of thing. Surely you didn’t believe that the guy’s boss was paying for this to help ensure *your * safety, did you?
Never call these numbers, unless you just call to say, “yeah, the guys doing a good job”. People whose jobs require driving on todays congested roads are under a lot of pressure. If they don’t take shortcuts with safety, the boss will ride them for being late and their productivity will suffer and their breaktime will be eaten up in traffic. It is just another way employers make money off the sweat and blood of their emoloyees.
It is immoral to help bosses screw their workers.
Of course, the roads are full of jerks, whether they are actually on the job or not, but we need to make sure we really understand why things are so fucked up out there.
I just want to be sure I understand you, but please correct me as you see fit.
It sounds to me like you’re saying that we should never use these numbers (or even call the police) if we see an employee driving in a reckless manner because the employer is at fault and won’t be punished for it. Is that what you meant to convey?
I agree with you that certain types of jobs put undue pressure on otherwise good people, but since not EVERY person with a company vehicle on the road drives like an asshole, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for us to try to be proactive when we encounter those few who are being idiots.
All the time. I don’t know what happens to the corporate carriers, but local business can get immediate results…
The best time is when a couple of kids took Dad’s worktruck out in a rainstorm - thinking they were cool, they were gunning the engine, racing to the next stop, and slamming on the brakes.
In an early-evening rainstorm. :rolleyes:
So, I called his Dad’s number (stenciled on the side of the truck). Told him what I was seeing and, while I was still on the phone, heard him mutter “goddamn boy”, grab what was obviously a CB radio and started yelling at the kid. We were sitting right beside him when his Dad started cursing up a storm, loud enough to hear outside the truck - “I am going to tan your hide, just like I promised when this last happened, gawdammit. Your momma ain’t here to protect you this time!” The kid started blubbering, the light turned green, and before I left him behind I tapped my horn, waited until he turned around, and then held up my phone in one hand and pointed at the phone number stenciled on the door with the other. With a roll of my eyes, I drove off.
It’s gonna be quite a while before that kid acts like an idiot in a truck with a phone number on it! 
If they don’t take shortcuts with safety, they’ll lose their breaks?
Are you actually asking me to expose myself and others to danger in order to protect someone’s break time?
Even if the system is unfairly flawed against the drivers, that’s…uh…searches for a nice word…not going to happen.
You really think it’s morally reprehensible to call a number to report a clearly dangerous driver, and not MORE morally reprehensible to run a redlight and kill a young family in order to protect your break time?
Is there a 1-800 number I can call to report your posting?
Sailboat