More Mayhem.....

and the saga continues....

I checked the calendar and the full moon is still a few days away, but it seems that the gravitational pull has affected a few more Truckers already....

I ran a short haul last night and on my way home this morning, I witnessed a few more "could have been avoided" occurrences.

~4. A jack-knifed Big Truck....Usually this is the result of poor driving conditions or erratic maneuvers involving other motorists. But NO!! This fellow was jack-knifed because after he slide his tandems at the truck stop, he forgot to lock his pins back into place....For those who don't know, the pins lock the sliding tandems into a carriage mounted underneath the trailer. The tandems slide in order to be able to adjust the weight of the load on each axle. So, after he left, he hit the brakes and they were obviously working very well. Well enough to indeed rip the tandems from underneath the trailer and send it sliding in a wide arc, blocking the freeway ramp!!

~5. A flatbed overturned in the median!! He has a big single coil of steel, probably weighing about 20 tons or better. The ones I hauled were usually about 42, 000, so that is my guesstimate.
He had it secured to his trailer using only 4" straps......A lot of them, but still.......My obvious problem with this is that it is completely illegal to haul a 40,000 pound steel coil with canvas straps.. It has been awhile, but I think you are actually required to use one chain/binder per every 5,000 pounds of weight....Well, something like that anyways... All it took was for that coil to shift a few inches and the trailer immediately begin to flip....The coil itself was shot through the median and came to rest just inches from on-coming traffic.


and finally

~6. While getting fuel, I noticed an Big Truck's horn ringing out a warning. I looked to see what the disturbance was, when I noticed that the Trucker toot toot tooting his horn was actually trying to clear traffic so he could exit the truck stop. He was sitting at the exit trying to cross over a four lane highway. After becoming impatient he then decided to dive out into traffic while blowing his horn in hopes traffic would stop for him....and it did......With smoking tires and squalling brakes, 3 cars slide to a stop to allow the USA TRUCK to cross the highway.... I have no idea what this guy was thinking, but I bet you he would have regretted this decision had he decapitated the occupants of any one of those vehicles....


Normally, I cringe at the moves that four-wheelers make, and I really should not engage in Trucker bashing, but I cannot for the life of me understand some of the idiotic decisions being made on our roadways. In ten years as a Truck Driver, I have only been involved in ONE accident..and it could not have been avoided..Even the Smokey remarked on what an excellent job I did to maintain control and not hurt anyone including myself....

I will be in NYC when the Full Moon shows his little cheesy head! At least there, I already know what to expect!!


So do me a huge favor, and do not force me to blog about your next stupid move, cuz I will do it!!