I had an epiphany about backing up a tractor-trailer on a city street

I am not dismissing your point. I agree with you. I admit that I made a huge mistake on Thursday. It is only dumb luck that has prevented me from not smashing into a car or a motorcycle when I back up on public streets. This thread has helped me realize that.

 

I have had the police come out and spot for me when I had to back into a public street because there is a low bridge blocking me or a gate that is closed at a shipper/receiver blocking me probably more than ten times in my career. The only times in the past that I would call the police to come out and spot for me were when I had to do an alleydock back (like a 45 degree back or a 90 degree back) to get out or if I was backing into traffic running perpendicular to me. But in the past, I would not call the police to help me back out if the traffic behind me was going the same direction as me. I don't think I made any mistake when I backed into the public street with a police officer spotting for me outside the truck. It was literally the police officer's job to tell me if there was a car or a motorcycle behind me in my blind spot, and the police officers probably would have told me if there was a car or motorcycle behind me in my blind spot. But I'm surprised that it took me ten years of trucking for it to occur to me that I should never back straight up on a public street in which the traffic behind me was going the same direction as me unless I have another person standing outside the truck who is spotting for me. The only consolation I have for this is that at least this first occurred to me on my own. Nobody else ever told me about this before I created this thread. My trainers never told me about this, and my trucking school never told me about this. I just realized it on my own and decided to create a thread about this here to get everyone's feedback.

 

The only safe way to do it would be to have a police officer come out to where I am and stand outside the truck and spot for me when I backed straight up on the public street.

 

What is most frightening to me about what I did on Thursday is that there could have been a motorcycle behind me. I backed up about 30 feet. I could have killed him. What could have happened is frightening to me, but I am not frightened about the future because now I know to never do that again.

 

Why would I spend so much time of my life creating these threads if I were a troll?

I've seen lots of other semi-trucks with 53' trailers back straight up on public streets before in my career. I'm sure there are lots of other truckers out there who don't realize the danger of backing up in the blind spot just like I was in my first ten years.