Awareness is the Best Weapon: How To Not Be Stupid Out Here

Depending on the area, I don't walk between trucks to get to mine I walk around. Drivers have got jumped by folks hiding under trailers. Besides we sit on our butts all day, a bit of extra walking is a good thing

 

I've seen in youtube videos people walking right in front of parked trucks at the truck stop. How do they know a truck won't suddenly pull out of a spot and run you over? I would walk at least 10 feet away from the grills of the truck that way the drivers can see you.

 

There's a rule around horses. Point of the shoulder. Also guns. Their always loaded. Know the code. Situation awareness.

 

Absolutely. I always stay 10 feet ahead and look directly in all the windows when walking in front of trucks. Amazing how many don't.

 

Simple awareness is key when I'm driving at truck stops. Been almost 3 years since I started driving and haven't had any issues getting mugged. But I'm a big dude and always watch my back when cutting between trucks. Thankfully I never have to make big cash advances, some guys get $500.

 

I have learned to always check under trailers, check cat walks and most especially when someone is coming in to make a question about something stupid like do you have a time? At that point the biggest problem is a probably two man strike while one distracts you with something meaningless and causes you to sit there and mentally loop nothing and the other gets you from behind. Lights out. Especially if you just loaded somewhere with a million dollar narcotics load and pulled into the pilot down the road. You don't stop for nothing, not for at least 300 miles if you have everything inside the cab including a chem toilet for two people you don't need to stop for 30 hours. I don't know of any car or SUV capable of staying with you that long over 1500 miles. There are a few that will do 800 miles range.

I have been near missed by people inside a truck stop. All those roaring engines, cares of the job on your mind combined with the fatique coming off you as you walk to the eating counter marks you very easy to hit. Hell Ive almost been killed at Fort Collins by my own trailer at the wash bay there between it and the dock as the happy yard jockey almost squashed me into that steel and concrete. I dove into a green muck pond about two steps just before getting mashed. Why? Being tired and focused on one small task to excluding the world around you.

People want to make trouble sometimes and you are going to be "It" It could be anything. Sometimes a car a half mile down the road you turned left across may be speeding and forced him or herself into a curb and ruined a wheel, a custom wheel and tire. Now they want the company 800 number and your information. What for? They did not hit *&% (Make contact with you.) That took a week to resolve because the bus station I was using to turn inside of and come out was a good distance from a intersection where the man was and for him to get from there to near me after I finished my turn required excessive speeding. You get nuts like that sometimes.

Atlanta Petro had one at the fuel line claiming to have been ripped off lumping a load and wants a comcheck from the resturant up the hill how does one get a comcheck when they know nothing about it? (If that is not a red flag for you Drivers, then I don't know what is) It is not your problem so don't acknowledge him. Tell him to go away, you have nothing for him. If they don't go away, a few gallons deisel from the pump.. whoops did it splash into your eyes? here go through this door and find a bathroom to clean yourself up. (*And be ready for real trouble)

I check trucks with hazmat diamonds on them. Exlosive, radioactive, corrosive (My favorite...) and anything with several placards I do not park next to or near. Sometimes I'll move on to the next stop. It would be so easy for a terrorist to get in there with a highway flare and a box of metal wool pot and pans cleaner for accelerant. Duct tape it to the rig and be gone while the whole thing goes up. No thanks. I keep an eye out for that.

Paranoid? Hell no. Just another day in a dangerous area which might be your last.

For the most part being aware is your best asset. Just a short time ago a big truck for Europe in Nice plowed a mile worth of people on a promenade which is custom made for such a terrible attack by terrorist. Most of the people on the one raw video I have seen so far of it plowing were not aware of it until there was maybe a few seconds from impact. There was french bastille day and fire works celebration going on there too. One reason I do not physically go to these events and participate anymore I'll watch the display from somewhere like a mountain not much more than 10 miles distant.

As far as weapons. Ive tried to hit targets holding my Colt thug style and can do it, but there is such a crazy problem doing that you are more than likely not to be hit by a stupid thug holding a gun sideways. You might not be even stopping or hanging around once you recognize the thug's manner of behaving while being armed. The short swing of the arm on his gun side, the stiff leg under the gun, the buldge in the clothing and usually a revealing of the butt or some part of the weapon because they do not practice proper conceal carry holster, clothing etc. Constant touching of said gun on the waist band etc. You know enough that from these signs it's a potential gunman and really consider getting out of dodge.

Also the darkness is where something may happen to you if you are a unlit truckstop or market area with broken lights. I know this is such a common trait you hear about people going into dark places to get attacked when least expecting. Criminals are like that usually. They don't want attention or detection.

I can go on and on, but this thread will get long enough on it's own. I gave you a few things to consider and for every one I can think or remember 10 more that has developed over the years. My tire thumper has a few notches on it from jaws, skulls and teeth. Fortunately it's been cleaned up a long time ago. But the markings are there as a memory of how close two thugs came to putting my lights out and gaining control of a 18 wheeler with a expensive load, money in the cab and all sorts of goodies including electronics and a team driving wife. Having a woman around sometimes attracts criminals really fast.

I leave you with the last one. In Jackson TN (Aka Denmark) east of Memphis there is a TA. Had a man follow my spouse into the cab intent on rape he got into the doorway enough to understand that there is a me coming out of the sleeper with a blade for him like a snake and he ran after falling so far. Good riddiance. I hope he broke something on the way down to that pavement. Next time I told my spouse do not take this truck into the back lot in the TA itself, park across the street in the gravel area that is built for trucks. And that is one reason why. It's a shame it took something like that before she will listen to what I teach and why. That attacker does not understand (And probably does not want to) how easy or close that blade got to his extended neck as he was climbing in. What a neck with it's big juicy blood vessals. Pick one.

Memory is funny sometimes in situations where you have to defend yourself. Make it a good one. But you have already lost if your situational awareness was so bad that a thug has marked you for prey and is attacking.

 

That TA in Jackson is the only place I had someone break in my truck,on a sunny Sunday about noon.
I scaled my load and parked next to a truck, got my ticket and went to Subway, on my walk through the sit down restaurant an old wooly hair man glanced at me, as I was walking to my truck the truck beside me left, both no big deal.
The door key felt a little odd, it took a while to notice my Kindle I had charging on the bed and the charger were gone. I'm real lucky that's all they got, plus I almost always put the air brake lock on when I leave the truck.
I wanted a newer Kindle anyways, plus Amazon said that if anyone turned the wifi on on the stolen one, that it would be erased, I hope so

 

I worked for a company once who required seals on all trailers- loaded or empty. I asked them why? They said they have had cases where people would stowaway in their empty trailers and it would lead to problems later so they just decided to seal all trailers.

It made pretty good sense to me at that time considering the number of hijackings that were going on with big trucks. Theyd hide in the trailer, when the driver opened the door hed be staring down the barrell of some kind of weapon, hed end up in the trailer up til a certain point, and the truck would disappear, along with the driver. Back in those days, a lot of shippers wouldnt even use seals.

I still seal all trailers to this day- at least I know if someones been in the trailer or not.

 

Knowing your surroundings is a big one. It doesn't just apply to avoiding conflict either.

I had a guy (probably a crackhead) try and approach me downtown one day. I wouldn't let him get closer than 30' to me. He insisted that he talk to me face to face. I insisted that I'd drop him like a sack of potatoes if he took so much as a single step closer to me. He played it safe and kept away.

Another time we were working on a large excavator at a mine site. Laydown we were in was across from the truck shop. A guy I was working with had to go into the shop. Climbs down and starts walking. Somehow doesn't see or hear this giant 797 Cat haul truck. If he had walked another 20 feet he wouldn't be here today.