Another excavator hits bridge

I would probably fail.

 

I couldn't pass one of those walk around tests!

 

I've done a decent amount of flatbed work (structural steel & such ) a few coils (got a REAL QUICK EDUCATION at the scales on that one! ) & some RGN equipment moves, but it would be very interesting to see how an experienced hand does things. I always used common sense, but that didn't fly with cois.

 

What was the common sense you used on coils that wasn't good enough?

 

Coil sreel securement is a DOT regulated thing. I had dunnage front & rear, more chains than required, but the 4X4's weren't tied/nailed together as required.No ticket, drop trailer & run to Home Repo for nails, wood & hammer. My day wasn't as bad as the guy & kid next to me re-stacking canned goods to make axle weights.
FYI; Lay coils sideways on a pallet...tie 'em how you want. Kinda stupid methinks.

 

http://www.chronline.com/crime/wsdo...cle_6a8954ac-5460-11e6-b331-1b3218964564.html

Anyway thanks to this idiot that overpass is now a ex-overpass. Just how much do overpasses cost? Insurance going to cover that?

If I remember right that thing was clearly labeled 14'8 with a big yellow sign. The actual hight was of course slightly higher and it is in the atlas. Nevertheless in the last 10 years it has been impacted at least 9 times.

 

Was just talking with the guy's up @Loves .... that bridge got hit just about once a year.

They are kinda glad it got taken down because they wondered how safe it was after the multiple impacts.

Now we get the tedium of Environmental impact reports and the chaos of getting the politicos to fund lifting the other side and perhaps widening I5 while they are at it. Not to mention big trucks trying to cross back over @ the next bridge south just to find tight traffic circles in the WWI residential area........

 

That's what the paper reported and probably where they got that factoid.

Once you remove that overpass the one down the road a couple of miles is the same height. So now, the same idiots will hit that until it falls down. The first overpass was just like a fuse for the next couple going south.

When the load is two foot over your 13' freightliner you should have some clue that you will have some issue with the way you arranged things on your trip. But this fact apparently gets by some of these drivers.

 

Doubtful. You are a problem solver. They pay you because you can think outside the box.

There's so much involved in the job that there's no way that someone could make up a proper test for an open deck endorsement.

When I was blade hauling, I would have drivers new to blades, but not new to driving follow me. Stretching the trailers and driving down the highway is extremely easy. Any one can do it. It's the other stuff that gets them. The trip planning, the homework with permits, fuel stops. And the stuff that you can't explain in words...the finesse behind the wheel, the setup for the turns, backing.

The loads that you guys hammer in, the roads, the locations...I know what's involved. Been there, done that, got the t shirt to prove it. For you guys to do what you do, day in and day out is, IMHO, amazing! Only an A Gamer can do it. Top of the line driver. When we see all the headlines about bridge hits, accidents, securement issues, yet you guys are consistently hammering in loads, apparently there is a skill set that has to be there.

There isn't a test that a desk jockey can make up that you can't pass.