I broke a mirror

Prove it if I'm lying then! Id love to see the proof I've damaged anybody else's equipment other then mine, because this would be news to me

 

You are a troll and a idiot

 

Sad thing is it really isn't hard to not hit stuff. I may not have near the driving experience you guys have but I do have enough common sense to go look when I'm unsure of where I'm at. Somebody gets pissed off because I delayed them 30 seconds that's their problem.

 

It's like u stated earlier. Log truck drivers and guys that work out in Bush, run in some of the hardest places to drive a truck and manage to have better equipment at the end of the day than most Highway trucks. That explains it all right there.

 

Not hitting things is more than just doing the GOAL thing. It is being aware of the constant changing that can go around. For example, I was getting ready to back from a city street into one of those inside docks. I was going from bright sunshine indoors. I got out and looked inside. While I was going the back another very small delivery van parked next to where I was headed. Thankfully I did not make any contact, but when I got my tractor back in front of the trailer I saw that van. The van had California mirrors on it. I came within about 2 feet of that mirror. I never saw that van back in. Had I hit that mirror it would have been a preventable accident charged against me. Remember, you don't hit what you can see.

 

I'm not joking about that either. One guy in the town I grew up in kept his trucks 10 years before trading. His last one before retirement looked dang near mint after all that time in the bush.

 

Today, I bet I could travel to a typical truck stop in the US tonight and see at least 10% of the tractors have some kind of damage to the right side. A scratched fuel tank etc. The next area is still on the right side and it is near the rear of the trailer. BOTH areas are telling!

 

I haven't. I'm 41. Never been in an accident in my life, and the last time I got pulled over was 2003.

 

For example I had to back a trailer in a hole with about 3-4" on either side (not enough to put my open hand between) and about 60' to the building in front. So I had to come in at an angle and get lined up and again not much room. Oh, it was also sunset. Guess how many times I hit the trailers on either side? If you guessed zero you would be correct. Now guess how man times I walked back to check clearance? It felt like hundreds, but probably just less than a dozen.

Point is, even in the tightest places there is never an excuse to hit something.
Ok, I will amend that. There is never an excuse to hit something unless some idiot gets in your blind spot after you checked it was clear.

 

So for those who say it is just a mirror or are crap drivers who claim everyone does it, for many small fleets, it is costly.

I just got a new truck out of the shop which had the door mirror taken out by some idiot owner operator who decided to leave the scene.

I don’t know how he took the mirror out and bent the door frame just enough that it was not sealing but this idiot did it.

the cost of the mirror was $456, with my discount

It was 1,5 hours to replace the mirror at $140 an hour - $210

the repair of the door was 2,75 hours at $140 an hour - $385

downtime losses for the two days the truck was in the shop was $4200

I still have to pay the driver who is sitting idle for two days and his housing/food - $1650

so this crap about just a mirror cost me so far ~$6900

and I am not even talking about the legal costs. This clowns insurance refuse to pay for it so it is going to court.

It doesn’t matter what damage you do, 99% of these incidents are avoidable and to treat it like it is trivial shows why we have to pay high insurance rates.