General local driving chaos

So, I am based out of a store in Chandler, AZ. There are 2 trucks at that particular yard. This week, the other driver took a week off. So, the boss calls a temp agency to get a driver for the week - we're busy and I can't keep up with the loads by myself.
Well, I didn't get to meet this new driver right away, I come in early and leave early - long before he gets there.
So, instead of seeing him on Monday, I didn't "get" to meet this driver until Tuesday late morning.
He starts talking about the International 7600 we have him driving - it's a 10 wheel truck with a 24 foot bed. It has an Eaton 9-speed.
He begins to tell me how the truck grinds in every single gear.
???? I drive that truck all the time, I don't have that problem. Well, he says, he has the clutch "all the way down to the floor" and it still grinds.
Okay, I'm not thinking real well. Admittedly I have a lot of things on my mind, so instead of coming to the obvious conclusion, I'm at a loss. I tell him I don't have that problem with that truck, but I don't use the clutch when shifting, so I wouldn't know about this "grinding" problem.

I felt like a dolt when it suddenly dawned on me to ask him a few questions. "How long have you been driving?" 10 years, he claims. "WHAT have you been driving?". Straight trucks.
It suddenly dawned on me that many of these smaller straight trucks have similar transmissions to cars and pickups in that if you push in the clutch, you can get the thing to go into gear regardless of transmission/engine revolutions.

Yup. That's what he was doing, and didn't have a clue how to shift the thing. I'll be driving that truck on Monday, I wonder if he basically has destroyed the transmission? I started laughing after I realized that this guy doesn't have a CDL A license, never got one, and has never driven with that type of tranny.

Changing the subject, yesterday, I'm on a surface street. The street is under construction. There is a HUGE sign with lights with a GIANT arrow right in the lane that is - blocked by barricades and that sign right behind the barricades. I get out of the lane and into the left lane. There is a itty, bitty eeny teeny winey tiney little tin can car next to my trailer. It's just sitting there as we're cruising towards the end of that car's lane. I'm almost to the barricades, in the open lane, when I notice this car speed up, attempting to pass me and get into my lane. There is NO WAY this car is going to get past me without crashing into the barricades or ramming the semi, I guess. That little car ramming a semi would be like a Tonka Toy ramming a pickup truck. Yup, she sped up even more. JUST before she crashed into those barricades, I hit the brakes hard. She just barely had enough room to crank that little tin can into my lane without hitting my truck or trashing the barricades (I was a little upset by this idiot, just to say).

I'm driving down a 2 lane highway. This particular highway used to be used for farming implements only, until the advent of the Phoenix area starting to sprawl out in every direction, developers buying up farmland and turning them into huge housing subdivisions.

Well, this highway is heavily travelled. There is a line of cars behind me as far back as I can see. There is a line of cars in front of me as well. There is a continual line of traffic coming from the other direction.

Well, I'm taking a glance in my rear-view mirror and notice a small, red car actually passing other cars! I mean, wow! There isn't ROOM for this kind of nonsense, he's basically forcing traffic coming at him to slam on their brakes to avoid a head-on collision, as I'm watching this nutcase pass 3 cars until he gets to my truck.

Yup, he decides to attempt to pass me. There is a loaded dump truck coming straight at this freak-of-nature, he makes it about halfway up my trailer. I'm not going to be slamming on my brakes with a load of heavy ductile iron pipe, so I don't. I start slowing down, yes, but I am not going to pay for this person's stupidity.

Was there a head-on collision? NO. This car went off the left side of the highway, plowed into a freshly plowed plot of farm land, kept his foot on the accelerator and was trying to literally plow this car though all that dirt at a speed that must have TRASHED that car's suspension and whatever's underneath the thing. The cloud of dust went WAY up into the air.

I just shake my head, every single day, seeing this kind of nonsense going on out there. I see it and then do a double-take, did I actually see that driver do what I THOUGHT I just saw them do?

 

More mindless ramblings.
So I'm driving along on a local freeway going the speed limit at 65mph.
It's summertime - it's 112 degrees outside.
There are several cars on both sides of me - I'm in the middle lane.
I think I about "defecated" in my pants when one of my drive tires literally blows up, taking out the quarter panel and tossing debri all over the place.
I mean, it was the sound of a bomb going off.
Well, be that as it may, it had no effect on the steering of the truck - I was still straight in my lane, a little bit shaken - that kind of thing doesn't happen too often, in fact, I've never had an entire quarter panel taken out by a blown tire.
But - looking in my mirrors was priceless. One driver of a car had slammed on the brakes so hard and apparently turned the steering wheel that it was going into a sideways slide. Another car was in the emergency lane, skidding to a stop. Still a third car had veered over to the slow lane and had slowed down to - I dunno maybe 20 mph (12 lane freeway).
Remember - my truck as far as steering it goes did NOTHING. I only started pulling over to the emergency lane after I figured out that the entire freeway behind me had either stopped or slowed WAY down and I didn't have anything blocking me from getting over.

Jus' 'nother story.

 

Yes, a synchronized transmission - but it seems so many people don't understand that terminology that I just don't use it anymore.

 

I always love that one .... like a cloudless sky, there isn't a hint of traffic behind you, but these people will come flying up beside you, literally dive their vehicle into your lane, and then slam on their brakes to make a right hand turn, directly in front of you. They couldn't want a millisecond of time to get behind the truck, no, no way, we are obstacles to overcome out there - we are in everybody's way!!