Emergency stopping (question)

I have not forgotten.

My first ABS in a big rig was back in 98, this is where my Batesville Boss learns a little story telling which would not do well with him.

I needed to call dispatch. Where in the world do I put this thing. Tiny tiny tiny river road barely fit the 53 on curves. While I am contempltaing the call to dispatch another problem came along. Baftroom. *&^%

Here i am at fat 50 trying to outrace the needs I see a little hilltop diner with room for maybe two of us big rigs.

Up that little dirt path we went. Way too fast. Foot to the floor. Trailer ABS kicked in. It actually got me stopped while my tractor was beginning to catch air. at the diner. After the dust cleared and a little yelling about dumb truckers we took care of those two problems well enough. Just need to get the excitement for the fast ABS stop out of my voice for a calm hello boss to Dispatcher. (That's hard to do)

Fast forward some years. A insurance scammer (I saw him coming in that little Rabbit with 4 inside eyeballing me all alone on the cross bronx) He stopped short in the rain. All of my ABS kicked in in it's technology glory and had steering and everything. Whipped right around that car in total control, foot on the floor at 50 and coming down fast as if it was a ballet.

Those 4 just sat thunderstruck and stared. Not to mention another herd coming on them.

I cannot wait for disk for big rigs. Imagine what I can do with them.

By the way I still get a little nauseous thinking about that view of the gaurdrail and end of pavement there at such a unnatural angle. Ugh.

 

This is the very thing that @REO6205 was talking about the other day.

 

Take the hint, your driving to fast for the conditions. Slow down, if you can not stop in the distance you can see your traveling to fast. No Do Not Use the Trailer Brake Only, This will put your trailer into a slide and make matters way worse. Modern trucks have anti lock brakes, which means apply and dont let off, let the anti locks do there job , fastest way to stop a truck. Once you apply with anti locks you do not let off, fanning the brakes will put them into fail mode.

 

With driving and particularly with a heavy vehicle there's whats known as defensive driving and its a real shame that most companies fail to educate any of their drivers in this regard. One of things you can do when driving a tractor trailer is always keep a look out on the road in front not just on the vehicle that's close to you in other words keep a look out on whats say 1 mile in front not just 100 yards in front if your seeing cars and other vehicles with there brakes on up a mile ahead 99.9 % chance there'll be some kind of issue on the highway ahead. By doing this it will allow you to apply the brakes more gradually and come to a complete stop without risking your own life and those of others.

 

Thing I often find is this, i try to leave a nice gap between me and the car in front of me, so someone else pulls into the gap i left all the time.

 

Smith System is a real thing and its almost natural for trucks... but this day and age, too many truckers have decided that they should be able to drive like 4 wheelers because.. "that's fair"..

 

Then let them in and back off.

"Hey, that rear end accident wasn't my fault. They cut in front of me 2 miles ago."

 

Over the years I ve heard a lot of reason why trucks (and cars too for that matter), are tailgating. None of them matter when someone goes to the hospital or the morgue.
I know of a bulk tanker driver that will not go over 55 no matter what states she in, and you know she is always on time with her deliveries, no accident and no tickets... She disproves the crap spewed about having to follow to close.
The amount of time you will save be speeding and tailgating will be lost forever if you get stopped or worse yet have an accident.
So sit back relax, pour some coffee before you set out its about the journey not the destination, and relax, enjoy.

 

^^^ This...words of wisdom. ^^^

 

@SuperRookie mentioned getting a CB and using it. That's good advice. However, in this day and age there's often radio silence or idiots blathering.

Whenever I am running in urban areas I have Google Maps running with the traffic layer running. I do a lot of driving in SoCal. Often I can "see" stopped traffic around that blind curve or hill crest well before I see brake lights. That's when I pop the 4 ways and engage the Jake brake with light service brake application to alert civilians with two brain cells and a functioning synapse there is trouble ahead. Then I get on the CB and warn those who "have an ear to hear". I slow well in advance to allow PLENTY of room in front for folks to have a lane to safely bail out.

It AMAZES me how intent some truckers are to try to complete a pass when it is MORE than evident they won't have room, then end up smoking their rubber to avoid piling into stopped cars. WTF is going through that pea brain???