So I helped out a Swifty...

I get a few calls a month to help a trucker at a low bridge, we have many and a few are not marked till too late. Most drivers I have met want me to back their truck up for them. They say "I" cant back that far. I use my police vehicle (Harly Roadking) and pop up cones to block road. Ill clime on step and back up the truck from outside and teach them as we go. Most could likely do it, but by the time I get there the are so excited they cant think. We all need to do our part to help other drivers. We were all new at one time. Dispatch sends me all over the city if I am working cause I am the "Trucker Cop".

 

Okay, guys. I might "get it" for this, but I'll say it anyway. I DO NOT subscribe to "hold n shake." First, I don't trust another driver that much to remember the trailer brake needs to be set. Second, I have read too many reports of people being seriously injured and even killed when on the receiving end of the trailer tires. Third, it is a bad habit. Fourth, it teaches the noob absolutely nothing.

Hammer, I respect you and your experience. I appreciate very much that you helped this feller out. May I suggest next time to use a pair of ViseGrips so he will learn how to do this on his own....and to keep you among us a while longer? Please?

It is far more important to give someone a skill than to give him a one time quick fix.

Just sayin.

 

I just knew you were going to chime in on this the way you did. You were very nice about it too, yet firm. How did your meeting go?

 

I dont know it didn't seem like it was a quick fix or that he was holding his hand just one driver helping another and passing along some experience and knowledge. Im sorry we dont know it all. You are definitely in titled to your opinion just giving mine as well.

 

Oh im about to get it

 

I will give you that it can be dangerous, if the guy going to rock the trailer is an idiot. Anytime Ive offered to pull the handle out while another driver goes in to rock it, I just disconnect the emergency line.

 

From whom?

Consider this. You don't know the driver, or the equipment. When you hold the handle out while the other driver shakes the trailer back and forth, you are dangerously close to those trailer tires. Essentially, you are at the mercy of the driver (a complete stranger who might just be a John Wayne Gacy type) and equipment that has already proven to be faulty. If you clamp a ViseGrip on that pull handle, you can remove your person from any contact or possibility of contact with substandard equipment and an unknown person. Additionally, a lasting skill is passed on. How to move stubborn tandems when there is not another person there to bail you out.

Hammer helped this new driver. I acknowledged that. All I did was suggest a safer way to do it next time. I like Hammer and would like to see him around here for a very long time. He has so much to offer, it would be a travesty to lose that due to the negligence of a driver who doesn't know any better or a questionable piece of equipment.

There was a period of a few months not too long ago when several stories were posted about this very thing: A Werner student accidentally killed his trainer. A wife accidentally killed her husband.... a fifteen dollar set of ViseGrips would have saved their lives.

 

I hear you thanks for explaining a safer way to do this i will keep it in mind if and when i run into this situation.

 

Mr. Oxberger, you are entitled to an opinion regardless of experience level. Please don't allow yourself to be intimidated by someone who disagrees with you in a less than civil manner.

 

Thank you Injun, i just dont like to step on anyone's toes and i highly respect people with more experience then myself. I wouldn't say i get intimidated I'm just overly nice sometimes just how my personality works im sure u will see this in future posts. everyone has been very nice and helpful so far.