How long till everything becomes natural and the nervs die down?

kewphotog · Oct 24, 2014

loose_leafs said: ↑

The fact that you were patient enough to not hit anything or run anything over means you are more professional than probably 90% of the new drivers out here, and over half of the so-called seasoned veterans. A lot of drivers run over curbs no matter how sharp or high, loaded or empty, and don't think twice about it. That's how rims get scraped and bent, and sidewalls blow out on tires.

I work for a small outfit, so if i screw something up or wreck something, it WILL get noticed.

It is a delicate balance of being aggressive enough to let people know your intent, without appearing to be a bully that wants to run everyone off the road. If a turn signal and the cab of your truck coming around a 90 degree street corner taking up 2 lanes doesn't get people's attention, sometimes a toot on the electric horn (not a blast on the air horn) will wake them up.

I'm not quite sure what happened in your situation you described, but nothing got damaged so look at the bright side. You may have felt bad simply having to call the police, but you would have felt a lot worse calling the police and your company after you took out a stoplight or ran over a car with the trailer.

About 10 years ago I made a wrong turn on the south side of Chicago on California Ave just south of I-55, and found myself face to face with a 13' 0" railroad overpass. It was already rush hour, and at that point it seemed like every car, bus and truck (low enough to clear it) wanted to use that street at that point. I already had traffic screwed up past the stoplight to my south on persing. Chicago had just had one of the biggest showfalls in years, plus every side street backed to pershing was either blocked with construction or unplowed with parked cars, no way I was going to risk it.

, I called 411 and got a hold of the P.D. for that district, after about 20 minutes (what seemed like an eternity) two squad cars showed up. Two of the biggest meanest lookin brothers in uniform I had ever seen came walking up. I was sure I was in for a ticket. They walked up to the cab, looked at me, looked at the bridge, the front of the truck, first thing one of them said was "well, at least he didn't peel it open like a sardine can like the other 3 dumbf@#ks this past month!" they had a good laugh, I had a nervous laugh. So long story short another squad car and some sort of city car showed up and shut down the intersection of Pershing and California for a few minutes so i could back up and get the ^%$# out of everybody's way. Nothing got hurt that day but my pride.

The moment you get overconfident and complacent is the moment you will make costly or possibly deadly mistakes.
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For newbie like myself (no cdl yet), this was a great read. Thank you

halfburn · Oct 25, 2014

AppalachianTrucker said: ↑

I made one little brushing back motion of a hand signal and sat there, looking at them all in the eyes.
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Avoid directing traffic. If someone has an accident they may drag you into it.

halfburn · Oct 25, 2014

misterG said: ↑

I have been doing this for a little over 12 years now............. And I still have days that I am nervous, or jittery.
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Perfect answer. It was at least 12 years before I was perfectly comfortable and I remind myself everyday not to get complacent. I prep everyday as if I am going to be involved in a major accident and how everything is going to look and sound in a quiet courtroom. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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