Seen on the road

This was from a couple years ago, but still makes me laugh evey time I see it.

There are a lot of steering wheel holders that should never be in a truck. We get some here that can't back into a 40' wide drive from a 4 lane street.

They give the whole industry a bad name.

I got out back when they started deregulation and the wages went into the toilet.

Also got screwed by the teamsters as well.

Still have a CDL just in case, may drive some when I retire from this job.

That's an expensive way to not pay attention

Talk about being in the right place at the right time...

Great pics!

?No hable? gm

Several years ago, there was a local company that built the equipment that is used at the airport for loading passengers on the planes. Not sure what it is called, but it is a huge, expensive piece of equipment.

They would load it on a flatbed, wide load, escorts, that whole deal, and haul them about 50 miles to DFW airport.

One day I drove by the place, out in front, not 100 yards down the road, the driver pulled up to the first intersection, went to turn right...

Dropped the entire thing off in a huge hole! Turned the truck on it's side, destroyed the trailer and the machine!

I still don't see how that was possible... What could he have possibly been thinking? Or not thinking!!!

Oops!!!

This past fall after the Va Tech/UVA football game, there was an accident on I-81, 15 mile backup. So the UVA Equipment truck took an alternate route. Past the sign that says the road isn't recommended for tractor trailers.

That looks like West Virginia. On some of the curves you have to be careful not to rear ended your own trailer!
Elmo

The days of TRUCK DRIVERS are long dead and gone . Now we have somewhat warm bodys driving big trucks that should not be allowed to drive anything bigger then a Pinto . We have people training people to drive big trucks that should not hold a driver license . NOT everybody can do this job , just like not everyone can be a doctor . Each of us have the ability to do what we do best . I know what i can and can not do , what i am good at i am vary good at and have qa lot of years doing it . I learned how to drive a big truck from and old timer and it came natural for me . I also tried to train some that no matter how hard ya tried they could not get the hang of it . Then others picked it up fast and turned into great drivers . I learned welding and wrench twisten from old timers . same with running heavy equipment it came naturally to me but not everyone can do this . Then ya throw in the fact that with most drivers today they don't care about anybody but them selfs and they have nothing invested in there jobs but time . If they break something they don't care because they have nothing invested the company will give them something else to drive and they don't have to fix it let someone else do it .

Don't forget texting.

When I got my CDL, ended up going to a 2-day class. I think it was an hour each day. Anyway, aced through the written part but had to do the parallel park a 2nd time. I didn't think that was too bad considering I had never backed up a big rig before.

When in the Air Force, there was this girl who was Security Police who said she couldn't drive a stick. Said how everyone else had tried and given up on her. Drove her out to an empty parking lot on base and walked her through it. She did so well that a couple days later, I had her go off-base during lunch hour. She was scared but did very well. ...I figured she'd never truly trust her newly-found skill if it was limited to just a parking lot.

Doesn't have to a big rig. One of our ambulance volunteers scrapped left side warning lights off our new ambulance trying to back into station. 22' wide door. 8' wide ambulance.

Came home one day to find a semi-trailer blocking a blind turn by our house. He tried to U-turn on an old road but it was a drop belly chip truck that high centered on the way the road is banked. For reasons unknown he decided to unlatch the trailer and let the truck drop free. He was furiously catching the tip of the pin with the leading edge of the 5th wheel plate when I got there. It would grab about 1/2" of the pin if he could launch hard to get the axles to lift, he'd drag the trailer sideways a foot but by then the pin would jump the plate and he'd go again.

15 min later he had the trailer drug free but what a mess to the belly of it.

The trailer tilts till it sits on the drive tires and the truck can't go forward any more. Let's see, the truck on the left dropped in first, then the second truck was trying to not swing too close to truck number one when he turned right. There was still plenty of room for both of them.

The secret to making money driving, is haul stuff not everyone can haul,(Hazmat)

In our area, we have some hills between us and the columbia river hwy. The truck route is a windy snake, that makes some go the extra distance to portland via the freeway (NO Hazmat on the freeway). There are several lesser routs over the hills, most marked NO thru trucks. One of the guys I used to work with was headed home in his pickup via one of those lesser routs. He came around a series of corners only to find a big-rig with a 4 axle 53 foot trailer stuck in the road. The landing gear was grounded out on a high spot in the road. The driver was frantic, He asked my co-worker if he could help him back it back down the road. The highway was probably only 3 or so miles behind him. My buddy looked at the trailer and saw that there were all 4 outside tires blown on one side and 2 on the other side. My buddy was thinking how to politely tell this guy he was in deep trouble when a county mounty showed up. Problem solved. I have no idea how they got that thing out of there, but it was ugly.
I have been over that road with a 4 axle truck, but I would have to be desperate to try it with my 4 axle wagon. The truck-trailer combination tracks much better than a semi.
Tim in OR

Country roads out where I live. One morning drove through a crossroads where an 18-wheeler had tried to turn onto a smaller road. Whole cab slid down a bank, stopped about five feet from the house on the corner. Truck and trailer on a good tilt, just begging to make splinters out of the house. Tricky job for the wreckers but they got it out.