Student team and backing incident

@Trucking in Tennessee
Same thing happened to a friend of mine at a refrigerated warehouse in Murfreesboro. When he tried to turn, his ICC bumper hooked into a Camaro and yanked the hood and both fenders completely off and left them about 50 ft. from the car. He said "screw it", they were rude to me, so I'm heading for the interstate. He got away with it. A few months later I was talking to a forklift driver there and that subject came up and he told me about his buddy's Camaro. He said all the employees were laughing about it except him.

 

@Trucking in Tennessee - try the intermodal companies around Nashville area.

 

Yes, I know. I got caught in Atlanta two weeks ago with a closed interstate (I-85 with out of Commerce) and had to go cross country through dozens of towns. Somehow my right foot started really hurting below the ankle and I have been limping around for a while. Can't stay off it long enough to heal up. So I didn't get out but one time and thought I had room. Hard to measure swing.

 

For the record, I think it is a safe bet that IF your vehicle makes contact with another vehicle or a fixed object it is on video. Those dang camera's are cheap and pointing every where and today's digital storage devices can capture and store years of video. We are all big boys and girls. I say act accordingly. As I have stated here many times. I never get too bent out of shape if I made contact with a trailer and scratched it a bit. However after seeing some of the video's I have had emailed to me over the last few years? I don't think I would ever do that again. Don't report a contact at your own risk. think about this stat. The typical mega safety dept gets close to 20 video's a day. Almost every driver out there has a video camera! We live is a big time surveillance society and to think some people seem to forget this!

 

It's much worse than that. I got called in one day and they handed me a sheet of paper full of violations. These included any HOS violation, even if it was 5 minutes. They monitor speed, and anytime a mph warning gies off (72) you get flagged. I operated mainly in Tennessee and Kentucky. You are either going down a hill or up one. You get 42k on and you are going to set it off every mile. So to avoid you would have to ride the brake every hill then fumble around trying to set the cruise again (because they measure that too). Big brother is truly watching. No matter how hard you work or how many hours you put in, all they care about is nitpicking things that don't matter.

 

Now you see why I am a stickler for being honest with EVERY contact you have with this industry. Personally I doubt I could give less of a tinkers dang about the moral scruples of another. However it is THEIR butt on the line not mine!

 

I notified the owner of the van because it was the proper thing to do. Turns out it was his personal vehicle. I own up for my actions.

 

There is no reason to become paranoid! Just do the job. Watch what you are doing and respect your size and weight. Do these things and you will have a long career.