Scariest Moment

Discussion in 'Questions To Truckers From The General Public' started by ISLAND WARRIOR, Apr 16, 2009.

  1. phroziac

    phroziac Road Train Member

    3,138
    502
    Jun 16, 2009
    Gary, IN
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    hahaha, all the lights were green? niice...

    i wish i had a traffic light pre-emption controller in my tractor...
     
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  3. gladiator

    gladiator Light Load Member

    179
    129
    Apr 17, 2010
    wheeler,mi.
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    One sunny morning, Feb. 2008. heading east on I96 out of Lansing MI. three lane highway doing 65 mph in the center lane. Came through a curve only to find just about every car on the highway going the wrong way....
    There had been a accident, and I'm guessing these drivers didn't want to wait.
    A true miracle that this didn't end in a bad way.
     
  4. Big Don

    Big Don "Old Fart"

    17,996
    35,640
    Sep 8, 2007
    Utah's DIXIE!
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    I've got a couple of "scare" stories, both from way back, before I was driving commercially, and both on I-25 between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.

    I was south bound, driving a company owned 1968 Chevy van, with some TV pix tubes and other electronic parts. Winter time, bad snow storm. N/B car came right through the median into the southbound lane. I don't know how, but he missed all the southbound traffic, and continued on into the barrow ditch.

    Another time, I was south bound in my old station wagon. Early winter morning, but the sky and roadway were clear. There had been a storm during the night, but it was long gone.

    I was sitting on 70 MPH when I topped Monument, and started down the grade. BLACK ICE. All I could see were brake lights from out of control vehicles. I had my pregnant wife, and her little sister in the car with me, and I told them "hang on." Just "slalomed" down the grade, around all the cars losing control. If I had touched the brakes, I'm sure it would have been all over. Got down that hill, and got off the road so we could ALL clean out our underwear. . .
     
  5. Sly Fox

    Sly Fox Road Train Member

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    Oct 29, 2009
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    Back when Illinois was still 55, I was westbound at I-88 at 2am trailing another truck hauling pup doubles. I'm right along behind him contemplating to pass when suddenly a four-wheeler comes down the hammer lane the wrong way. I was just about ready to pass. I had to get on the CB and ask him if I had really seen what i just saw.

    Luckily we were only four or five miles west of the tollbooth, so the car would figure it out when they got there, i hope.
     
  6. curtislyn

    curtislyn Light Load Member

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    Jul 16, 2007
    Montgomery, AL
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    July 1992...first trip into New York City. I never traveled to a big city like that before and was confused on the directions. Luckly another truckdriver showed me the way to get where I needed to go...he was delivering right down the street from where I was going.
     
  7. CondoCruiser

    CondoCruiser The Legend

    19,726
    18,731
    Apr 18, 2010
    Tennessee
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    The time a one armed crack head lot lizzard jumped on my truck at 3 am in Jersey City was pretty scary. I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman.

    Funny thing was he/she asked for a cigarette while hanging on to my truck with the one arm. I had to stick it in her mouth and light it, then she jumped down.
     
  8. dab11999

    dab11999 Light Load Member

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    Feb 5, 2010
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    I remember one load I was on back in 1990. I was working for an outfit out of Linden, UT called Pacific States Transport (PST). We hauled a lot of machinery and military equipment and a few airplane engines. My running partner was an older driver named Richard Denham. He was one of the best flatbedders in the country. I learned a lot from him. He always called me his little buddy, he was about 6"6". He had a chicken ranch in Arkansas.
    Anyway, we were sent to a Chevron oil shale mine back up in the hills out of Rifle, CO. The set up was this; the mine was at the top of a cliff. There was a switchback dirt road that zig-zagged up the face of a cliff. Up at the top of the cliff was a small area where an overhead crane ran out of the mine entrance. We had 48' stepdeck spread axles and had to get them up that cliff around all those steep tight corners, in loose dirt. Richard looked at me and said "Tom's going to owe us for this one".
    We decided to go up one truck at a time, and keep our CB's on a side channel so we wouldn't get interrupted. Richard went first and when he got to the top he called me on the CB and said they wanted to load both of them at once. I made it up to the top and they had us unhook our tractors so they could turn the trailers around with the crane. After that was done, we just stood back and watched them load the trailers with these big drill machines. Then we chained them down and nailed some dunnage around them so they wouldn't shift going down the hill. We hooked our tractors back up and took a deep breath. Richard says "tell my wife what happened if I don't make it." I said "don't worry about it, you can tell her yourself." He just smiled and said "let's go, we're burning daylight."
    He went first and I followed right behind him. We must have spent two hours crawling down that hill, making sure we hit every corner perfect. There was no backing up if we got it wrong. If you lost traction and slid you were over the edge. I remember seeing a helicopter hanging about the same level as my truck but I never gave it much thought. Had to stay focused on what we were doing. When we finally got down to the bottom Richard says, "That #### Tom is going to owe us." I walked over to the shipping office and rang the bell on the counter. The shipping clerk comes out of the back office and says "you made it!" I just laughed and said, "Yep, it's safe to come out now." Richard laughed about it for a month after that.
    I stopped in there a couple of years ago. I guess that helicopter took our picture and they got it hanging in a museum at the mine there. Man does that make me feel old. I'm in a museum. I saw Richard not too long ago. He said he just happened to be on his last run. He was pulling a van on a dedicated run between Little Rock and Chattanooga. He said, "I can't believe you're still doing that flatbed crap". "You know it," I said. We had a couple beers and talked about the old days. It was good to see him again. He's retired now.
     
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  9. Skunk_Truck_2590

    Skunk_Truck_2590 Road Train Member

    2,093
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    Feb 16, 2007
    Stonewall, LA.
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    Yea it was strange. I wasn't thinking about looking both way's before pulling into the intersection, just got a green light and got of the clutch. Right after I got over the white stop line I realized traffic from both directions was still on the move. Would have been creamed by a dodge 1 ton dually flat bed that seemed like he was haulin' ###.
     
  10. phroziac

    phroziac Road Train Member

    3,138
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    Jun 16, 2009
    Gary, IN
    0
    hahahaha never had that happen yet.....

    i love in ohio how they allow you to pre-empt lights yourself at night..as long as you have your highbeams on, light is red, and no one is coming, it turns green...just have to slow down a little and give it time for the yellow cycle on the other side...


    most of the other people on the road dont seem to understand it though...sometimes i flash my highbeams at the light when someone is coming and they think im flashing at them..... yeah, they can sit at that light if they want to..
     
  11. Gearjammin' Penguin

    Gearjammin' Penguin "Ride Fast-Truck Safe"

    2,442
    6,872
    Feb 18, 2007
    Central AZ
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    0630 today.

    It's been a little breezy in Arizona of late, and this morning, as I was hauling a pair of empties across I-40...the wind flipped my back trailer! :biggrin_25521: No one got hurt and I got it to the shoulder before it went completely over...but I'm still shaking. I haven't had anything close to that happen in fifteen years.
     
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