I BLEW IT...and ended my career!!!

Reminds me of delivering a (1) chair to a furniture store in "downtown" Astoria OR, with the wrong address, of course. I had to go around the block from the store to get to their warehouse. That only took 2.5 hours. Those streets were laid out in the 1800's, and they allow(/ed) parking right up to the corners. I had to track down every owner of those many vehicles. I could have easily carried the chair there in 5 minutes. Another lesson learned... Those businesses in Chicago whose docks were designed for trailers drawn by horses I'll save for another thread.

 

If you can pull into a place you can back out, it may not be easy but it always better than tearing up your equipment...

I see a lot of people new to trucking tearing up trucks trying to u-turn when they should be backing up...

That video of the USA driver is a fine example...

 

I haven't read all the replies but for the love of Pete this is basic stuff people.

1. You need to check your jaws with a flashlight....there is no excuse not to take this extra 2 seconds.
2. Don't trust your GPS for anything. GPS/mapping software is only there to calculate miles, plan your trip and remind you where you are on the route that YOU choose.
3. If you are going to drag your trailer through the grass, for crying out loud GOAL to see what's in the grass or if there is a ditch there. I had a driver blow a tire doing the same trick as the OP because he didn't look. HINT: the grass might be tall for a reason?
4. Stop BEFORE the shipper and walk your fat arse up there to see where the gate is.

Holy smokes get out of the stupid truck people.

 

^^^^THIS. dropping trailers is something I hear about all the time yet it should never happen check and double check, I cant tell you how many veteran drivers I see hooking just do a tug test and "oh its good" they never get under and look and make sure no gap and jaws are locked. heck anytime the equipment is out of my sight, when I get back I glance under just to make sure some joker did not pull my pin. make a habit of this and maybe except for mechanical failure I guarantee u will never drop a trailer. and to the op your career is not over you will not make a whole lot of money and it will take a while to redeem yourself. I know guys with terrible csa scores, dui whithin the last 5yrs, accidents, and whatever else there still driving just not with a very reputable company

 

That usa driver tore the living crap outta that truck...I watched it three times...I still cant believe it..lol
My phone screen is cracked so I cant see the sign...does it say 13'0?

 

I saw fake ids at the flying j....did you know justin bieber and lady gaga have cdl s.....lmao
Let me know if you see gaga...she got something iwant....lol

 

I just finally watched it, yes it was a 13'0, I was just waiting to see if he would try to just plow under after failing to do that u-turn. I would of just got the police involved at this point and get the traffic cleared behind then back up until you can make a turn out of there, instead he tears up that truck and im sure lost his job.

 

Sometimes what happens on the road stays on the road. The fairing you probably could have gotten away with not reporting. Or maybe just say some rivets came loose. The others you had to report.

 

This is great advice, and I did this all the time when I was out OTR. By using the satellite images you get a lay of the land, where and if there are turning lanes, how wide the streets are, size of shipper/receiver parking lots, entrance locations, etc.

Another bit of good advice. It's always good to call the shipper/receiver and get directions from them. Just beware, and this is no knock on women, don't let the receptionist give you directions. Many times they only know how to get to work in their car, and might give wrong or bad directions. Always ask for a shipping /receiving manager. Some facilities do have recorded directions, though. Those are generally ok to follow.

This part is the main reason I responded though. Trucker GPS's are not fool-proof. I've had quite a few instances where my Rand McNally TND520 wanted to send me down weight/truck restricted routes or over weight restricted bridges. And some of them have been restricted for many years. Always have a true Rand McNally Truckers Road Atlas with you as well. They aren't exactly fool-proof either, but many times, by using ALL your resources, you can get to your destination without incident.

 

In addition to all the above use the Street View option to study your turns and entries into customers. Many's the time I've been able to read signs, like "Truck Entrance is on James Street" or "No TRUCKS!"... saved me more than once, especially when picking up a load at a customer that would have required a blind side back into their dock off the street until I studied it and realized if I simply DON'T take the turn that Google Maps and my Nav System had me go for the most direct route and went around a 2 square mile block so I could arrive at my customer "the back way"... then it was really easy.