Tips for CA Knight Drivers

Tips for CA Knight Drivers

The only place I ever got hasseled for 'minor' infractions was CA. Corrected w/o paying tkts, but here are 2 examples w/locations:

1) Location I-680 scales going N. to Dublin during morning rush hr. for my 2nd stop. Stopped me for "having Haz Mat sticker on trailer w/o being a Haz Mat load.' Had p/u'd the trailer at night, and the sticker was only on the front of the trailer, and only about 1/3 of the orig left w/no numbers on it!! Tried scraping with crowbar, but didnt get too far as was an old sticker that was almost part of the trailer!! Got lucky, being a Vet, and talking to a DOT also a Vet, who loaned me a can of wht spray paint to paint over and get out of there in time to meet my 2nd stop.

Lesson: Always carry a can of 'white spray paint' for such an occasion.

2) Chicken S. scale at CA58 E. bound Tehachapi. Was driving a new Volvo, got routined stop at scale, dinged me for having an 'unsecured spare tire.' Was chained & locked, but tied to the 'stack cross brace' and not 'properly mounted (no specific tire mount brkt)!' All Volvos had their spares mounted that way on the tractors! On way back into CA from Phx a week later (had to have DM hold truck as was an Express driver), shop having added a '2nd chain' to the bottom to provide additional securing (since no tire brkt to 'add')...the CA I-10 scale DOT in Blythe where I cleared the tkt said was a 'chicken s.' infraction!!

Lesson: A driver can do 'everything right,' and still get tkt'd in CA!!

 

Police Traps looking for trucks:

1) When I left 4 yrs ago, Sacramento had added 6-8 new motorcycle cops to patrol I-80 East, watching for trucks driving outside the right 2 lanes.

2) CHP patrolling Lucerne Valley (the back way to/from CA58 from/to I-10) on 247 for trucks (to/from the mine as well as those just passing thru).

3) Used to have a cop watching the Knight Fontana terminal exit going east on Jurupa Ave. for U-turning trucks going west

 

Forgot about that one..big trucks going S. down the big hill N. of Yreka at a good clip better watch for the bear by the bridge at the bottom!

 

For all those new drivers who havnt seen or had close deer hit calls (I once counted almost 50 dead deer along I-80 going from Reno to SLC on a foggy night/morn of driving, and also had several close calls in the Shasta Forest of N. CA going the 2-lane back roads from I-5 to Reno), the advice given by my 30 yr trainer was:

1) Train yourself not to immediately respond to animals/wind blown objects/etc. crossing the road and thereby swerve to miss and cause a wreck. It starts out by 'being aware' of the possible danger, thinking "I will not over-react,' and keeping that thought embedded in your brain while going down the road during the dangerous night/foggy times.

2) If a deer does pop out in front of you, aim for the rear end of the deer...if the deer keeps going at his speed, you wont then broadside him...or possibly allow just enuf time for him to pass your front.

3) Many deer hits I've seen actually are 'deer hitting the truck' broadside! As the truck is passing by at high speed, they panic and jump in the trucks direction and smash into the side of the tractor. Not much a driver can do about that, other than being aware and cautious of the possibility...but, make sure that you save some 'deer hair' to turn in to the shop to cover you for the damage!!

 

'Another' reason to avoid driving in Oakland, CA..

Oakland is considering spending $2.2 million on additional red-light cameras

http://www.examiner.com/article/oak...g-2-2-million-on-additional-red-light-cameras


So the question is, why would Oakland consider committing such a large sum of money to a system that has not proven its efficiency? There is no data to support whether these cameras have led to a decrease in accidents. In fact, according to an advocacy group known as http://HighwayRobbery.net, a group opposed to red-light cameras, say that red-light violations in Oakland have increased by 35 percent over the past year.


California has the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world - the fine is so steep that one camera in Oakland generates more than $3 million a year - and a Fremont man is launching a protest group to do something about that...

NOTE: TV report this morning on FNC said that most of that $3M light tkts are for 'Rolling Right-turning on Red' at that light @ $480/violation.....

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article...offers-rile-drivers-3045531.php#ixzz2EIf0afky