Getting started no experience questions

No need. You'll kill yourself or someone else first... I just hope it isn't me that ends up dead....

 

The load weighs 40.000 lbs. It is stacked sheet steel. Not a coil, but can cut the cab in half. How are you going to secure? How many chains or will you use straps? How will you attach the chains or straps? What will keep it from coming forward if it has chains or straps on it? Is the load more apt to come forward, the side or off the back? These are just simple questions. Flatbedding gets a lot more complicated. You have to figure out how to secure each load. You won't haul coils, but what is shotgun? What is suicide? What is a smoke tarp? When do you need a smoketarp?
How far apart do you put the chains or straps? Can you criss cross chains? What keeps pallets from coming forward? These have been easy questions. Let me know when you want me to ask you some challenging questions....

 

Nothing seems hard till someone dies and you get charged with not properly securing your load.

 

Stay away from flats and tankers. You have a slight better chance of not killing yourself or someone else with a box with no training, but even then you are not concerned with the welfare of others. Having money and being able to buy a truck does not mean you should be out here. We all are out here to make money, but the day I don't think about the welfare of others is the day I won't turn the key. That is one reason why I prefer to load suicide. It is my job to make sure the load stays where I put it, but if I were to lose it I rather it come thru the cab and kill me than an innocent person or kid passing me on the side.

 

The question isn't the endorsements. The problem we have been trying to explain is no expierience. Flatbedding is dangerous to the trained driver. Someone who has a CDL and has no exp needs load securement training. Not a friend to call to ask how to secure the load. I have friends who have medical degree's, but I am not about to take out my liver and call and ask how if I get in a bind...

 

Your biggest concern should be being safe and not killing someone. That loser of a trainer that you refuse to do knows how to load and secure. All of us started from scratch and several of us have went thru it a few times because we came off the road and had no recent exp. Notice we had exp, but not recent? Why should you just be able to jump out here and know nothing about load securement?

 

A smart driver knows their limits and WANTS to learn. A soon to be dead driver thinks they already know enough to make it with no training.

A smart driver also listens to experienced drivers and rethinks their plan if it's dangerous.