Truck driver b.s.

Well it's my Saturday to work. Got us on a 3 week rotation so it's not so bad. After today I get the next 2 weekends off. Make Dat Money!
Need more coffee.

 

Hope everyone had a good morning. I drive sunday morning on a route that has my favorite stretch of road and combination of turns, but unfortunately I pee'd literally 10 minutes before I was informed on taking a random. 3 gatorades and an hour and half later, I was back out there lol. no problem passing of course, but maybe I should start showing up with a full bladder haha

 

I drink coffee constantly so peeing is never a problem for me, lol.

 

Yup, 7 degrees here. I've had the truck plugged in all weekend so hopefully it won't be a rough start.
Be safe on this cold Monday drivers.

 

Starting 2nd week of vacation. Haven't done shit.

 

Happy hump day! 34 degrees to start the morning, upper 40s and rain later, snow tomorrow maybe.
Backed into an inside dock at a place I've never been to before yesterday. I have a roll up door on my trailer. Couldn't see anything until my mirrors wher past the building door. It was a push dock! Who the hell uses push docks anymore?! Yup, right through my door. I was pissed! I bitched out the shipping guy because there was no signs to tell you it was a push dock. Oh yeah, great day, had to kick the door into place to even get it to work. Bottom panel will need to be replaced. Had to tell my boss right away and have the head maintenance guy take a look at it.
Grrrr.

 

Ouch, Greg. That doesn't help my confidence any with reversing. At least I can stick to outdoor attempts. You real drivers are pretty badass when it comes to that stuff.

 

Backing is the most dangerous thing that you will do in a truck. Always remember that and you'll be fine.

 

Q for those who know, I fully understand how/why the skills are needed. Watching my bro in law leaves me awestruck at what he can do. But one thing which surprises me is how nobody seems to want/use rear facing cameras? Is that b/c you never really have control of the trailer? In my bro in law's case, it's his horse trailer(s) so he could definitely have one or 3 cameras (one on the back center, one on each corner) to fine-tune positioning from the cab. I think he is just so damn good it would not help him at all but for me, knowing I'm not going to hit something, would allow me to practice with a bit less fear.

 

Morning drivers. Pouring rain here this morning. Will change to snow after 3 today and get 4 to 8 inches. Hopefully I'll be almost done by then. Might be interesting tomorrow morning. Be safe out there drivers. Folks east of Michigan are gonna get what we're getting.

 

No good at all, if you’re not sure get out and look. After doing that enough times it will make you a lot better.

 

G.O.A.L. Get out and look.

 

Thanks for the advice. I assume that's mostly limited to situations where no traffic is present/waiting? Or do you guys ever GOAL in the middle of, say, a cluster-f'd situation in an intersection? Or is that where you just insist on only moving forward and wait for others to get out of the way?

Some of this anxiety comes from the potential situations I could put myself in if I'm not cautious, given my lack of experience to know, intuitively, what types of things to avoid. Once you are nose in and stuck, that's where it gets complicated.

 

Rain is changing over to ice. Everything on the front of the truck is iced up.

 

As a bus driver, I really don't mind slowing up traffic because these are all people not utilizing the extensive, and free, public transit system in my area. I also stop in the middle of the road all the time as part of the job. if theres a situation you're hesitant about, doesn't hurt to wait a little bit for a safer setup

I haven't had the opportunity to need to back up in the middle of traffic, but if the situation presented itself, I'd get out to look and use the opportunity to communicate with other drivers that I need them to hold on for a bit so I can reposition. Like theres one left turn on a route I can think of where I can't overhang the bus over a curb so it requires a little setup to wiggle through a tree on the right and the oncoming lane on the left of the turn. I'd rather make people wait in the intersection than clip my mirror on the tree

If its something like I'm making a turn and someone is pretty far over the line and I have green arrow, then I make them back up. Most times they know they're over the line, but don't piece together that larger vehicles need that room. They get the picture when a 60' noodle is turning directly in front of them and they realize thats what the lines are for. Happens on right turns too where the lines are set pretty far back so we can make it around the curb, but when you make that right and are face to face with the car, they know to back up.

Like if someone is over this line, I'll make them back up. If its like 2-3 cars though, I'll have to wait.

 

Yeah, that's exactly the stuff I'm not quite keen enough to have the right feel for. I mostly have avoided them and left that to my bro-in-law. There is one intersection similar to yours on our way to the regular pickup location which requires use of the left turn lane from the right side of the intersection. My bro in law just handles it fine, even in heavy traffic, even with a bit of an incline. He gives other cars the look and they stop short. I would likely second guess my entry to the intersection by worrying about who's in front and who is behind, then stumble through my gears and get stuck while the light turns, then be facing those left turners all pissed off that I'm in their way, while soiling my undies trying to not hit anyone.

I'm thinking of your situation, white line isn't set back, 5 or 6 cars stacked behind you in the bus and behind the guys turning left with more coming behind them. At some point you have to force the issue and then from there you'd just sort of require them to merge right and get out of your way so you can swing through and complete the turn to clear the way?

At least with busses the routes are planned and repeated. I think I'm close to trying to handle this intersection but also nervous about bungling it. Helps a lot to have someone in the passenger seat telling me what to do.

 

Yes the nice thing about the bus route is that they are known and frequent enough that people expect them, like you said. Also the turn mechanics of a semi vs an articulated bus are definitely much different, so unfortunately I'm not much help there

 

You've been a great help so far, the more I can learn about this stuff the safer I get. It's a lot of awareness that someone with 30+ years of experience has baked in and someone like me with 0 is going to have to acquire with time.

 

Yeah it takes time, but you'll get it! Sounds like you're always thinking about safety, which is the right mindset to have. I certainly don't have as much experience as some of these guys, since I've only been doing this part time for about a year, but I really enjoy it which helps me to want to learn more.

 

Well went from rain, to sleet that came down heavy and accumulated and made a mess of the roads, then it changed over to snow on top of the sleet. Drive home after work was fun in the taco though. It has a great 4wd system. I think it's way better than the gm's I've had. Love my taco more and more everyday.