Be honest

I Agree. no pen needed..

 

Im not at liberty to discuss that... you sound like a DOT officer

 

I do a pre-trip at the start of every shift. I have no idea if anybody would consider my routine full and complete. I'm satisfied that the vehicle is safe to operate when I'm done.

I rarely see another driver doing any sort of pre-trip. Once in a while I See somebody watch me do mine and then decide to get out and kick their tires.

I don't think I've ever seen another driver lift the hood and check the fluids and lotions.

 

You won't see me crawl under one cause I honestly don't give a #### what brake stroke is on Wednesday when adjusted brakes on Monday.

 

Every Owner Op ive ever watched does a thorough pre-trip. Plus they are quite familiar with their rig (this is their bread& butter) they dont want to break down,cause an accident,get sued,pay fines or lose their livelihood. I'm the same way as a company driver.I'll say hey"I'm not driving this tractor the air pressure only builds to 60psi".if its something like an exhaust leak underneath or a trailer clearance light on a pre-loaded trailer(ill write it down and take my chances). I have seen some drivers (just run a line down thru the boxes) turn a key and go.These are the ones providing Christmas bonuses and free turkeys to the DOT. With the new regs about (putting burnt bulbs on your driving record) most drivers have tightened up.Id suspect only 1 maybe 2 out of 10 drivers nowadays are sitting in the cab using a pen.Anybody with any sense is kicking their tires,lights and at least doing a quick visual to see if all the hardware is on the truck.We used to slip seat our trucks.One day I pretrip and guess what. A temp had busted a hole in fender and mangled bottom of passenger step plate.Well he shows up a half hour late that morning(making me late for my route) . Hes thinking im just going to jump in and go(thus shifting the blame on me) No,sir I say Im already late but Im still doing a pretrip. So he grabs his gear and splits.I find the damage and ask the boss about it.He says no the temp just turned in his bills and logs nothing on here on his pre or post trip inspection about any damage.Boss said I looked that truck over good before I turned him loose with it yesterday.CYA is another reason to do a pretrip.You meet all kinds.One day in the summer I caught a fellow driver(cutting and tearing off his alternator belt). Seems it was 100° outside this particular day and this truck had a bad AC in it.I couldnt really blame him for sabatoging it. They just had him go rent a truck and carry on.

 

I've seen plenty of O/O move from the sleeper to the seat and head out without ever getting out of the truck.

 

You can call me a liar if you want but I'm telling you I get under the truck every few days. All the other days I just continue to do the inspection that takes me at least 30 minutes. I do slip seat hauling gasoline. As much as I trust the night driver there's still some things he may have missed or someone could have came through the yard and messed with the trucks. I wear a company uniform and it doesn't get dirty plus I'm in the desert where it's hot. I carry a creeper in my van and use it. There's more to our inspections than a normal truck. We have a lot of gear that we use to load and unload and it's got to be checked too. I have found u-bolts ready to come apart, oil leaks that needed to get fix, air leaks, and so on. Most of us do it but maybe because we all have tons of driving experience behind us. Also there's no problem going to the shop for repairs since we get paid by the hour and the clock starts as soon as I come through the gate..

 

I'm under my truck right now .......

0 degrees too !

 

I was a carman for the Burlington Northern Railroad back in my youth. Right up until a train docked me down and dragged me out of town. The job of a carman was to inspect all the cars that made up the various trains. The systems on those rail cars are surprisingly similar. Doing a full inspection on a rail car got very fast. You know what to look for. The same thing about trucks and trailers. A quick walk around if you have left the vehicle to cya in case someone has hit you and then taken off. Bump the tires, while looking for leaks or obvious signs. If it is your same truck, you know if it burns oil so if no leaks. Go.

Or, if it is cold, you have to remember that if it Rolled in, it will Roll out.

So put me down as not doing a full inspection, but it is logged that way.

 

he must have put it in drive and engaged the front wheel drive to pull out in that manner.

you ain't right.thanks for the laugh!