Dropped Trailers

Does it count if I was dropping the trailer but forgot the landing gear? (Notice it before it ran off my fifth wheel)
If not then I never drop a trailer before, I check all the time. Once I didn't check the tandem pins and only 1 was in, making my trailer dog track literally into the other lane.

Takes 2 seconds to bend down and look.

 

yep I had a system of checking the trailer lights etc, etc and the lock around the kingpin every time. Another thing I always did was drop every trailer whether if its empty or loaded was to leave the landing gear just far enough up that when the next truck pulled under the trailer would be super simple to hook up. Some brain surgeons didn't get that and I wound up with a severely torn shoulder muscle and almost 6 months of treatment.

 

I had a huge grief sandwich with a DM once, cause the pins wouldn't engage on the tandems. Finally just limped it about 30 miles to a TA, said send authorization to fix, or I can just call safety and explain it to them. Breakdown sent the authorization, fixed in like 15 minutes.
Some people's children I tell you.

 

When I was a tow truck operator I picked up way too many dropped trailers, many times in the rest area where some arse thought it would be funny to maybe teach someone a lesson and they pulled the pin while the driver was sleeping or out of his truck. To this day I still visually check my pin every time I get in my truck, even if I just stop for a quick bathroom break. I almost never drop my trailer except for service (car hauler), but still check the pin every morning and set my trailer brakes first then pull against the pin to make it almost impossible for someone to pull my pin while I am away from the truck.

When I was hauling for a spring water company I had a close call with dropping a trailer, I was just moving one from the door to the yard as a favor, never visually checked the pin and wouldn't you know it came off the 5th wheel and lucky for me caught the rearmost cross member, otherwise with 40k of bottled water it would have put the landing legs through the floor, it had happened before to other drivers at the same company. After that experience I began checking my pin even just doing yard moves.

 

Since I'm one of the few guys at the shop with a class 1 I often get asked to move our trucks around if needed when the drivers aren't around. The trailers rarely get unhooked but I still check the jaws before moving, even if the driver just parked the truck and went home 15 minutes prior.

 

Funny. It was CRE driving school that taught me to get under there with a flashlight and check every time I hook up.

Based on my observations, those of us who get under there and look are in the minority. Even these worthless students I get have no idea why I am under there.