I really messed up today.

For a driver to say they haven't had a mishap. Well, is in a fantasy land. We all have things happen that we get to say what was I thinking. I been in and around trucks ever since I can remember. I think every male in my family has a truck, some of us more than other ones. My uncle always use to tell me "Well son did you learn something". I would answer back "Yes sir" he would say "well it was money well spent". That would be all he would say period. Look at it as a learning experience. What you learned today may prevent a serious injury in the future.

 

you must know where every inch of your trk,trls,& doors are at all times wheather you can see it at all or not..

 

FWIW, as a non driver, I eat this stuff up - in order to learn what to watch for and what could happen. I appreciate you posting, as it would have been less risky just to keep it to yourself.

Well done TTRers with all the support. +++

 

When I worked for May Trk they had a couple of trailers that would open going down the road with locks on the door, so you just never can trust eq..

 

Crap happens! Especially when you least expect it. You can take each incident as a learning experience. For example, after you open your doors, give them a good yank to see if the latches hold them open, or you can set up some kind of safety setup in case they fail again. I've pulled some units where the hold open points seemed kind of suspect but I've had nothing go bad. I carry wire in case they don't work or I need more clearance between my doors and the next trailer.

 

At least if you've got a "Good Dog" at home, when you get home your dog will be very happy to see you, even though you messed up big time!

 

Oh, I forgot to mention my mishap. We probably don't like to speak about our mishaps, we mostly like to talk about things that makes us look like good truckers!

Years ago I went in to work one cold morning, started my truck up to warm up, them went to the office to have a cup of coffee, get my bills, & let the truck warm up a bit. Our trucks were parked side by side & mine was close to the fuel pumps. I thought where I was parked I could pull out them turn left & get out OK without circling the yard. But that did not work, I cut to short & did a number on a conventional KW’s hood that was parked by my truck. That embarrassed me to death, the night dispatcher came out & wrote up a report on it, after which I went on my way. This was about 2:30 AM in the morning.


I figured when I got back in that I would get a good chewing out from the boss man & no telling what else, but I didn’t! He told me, “Accident happen & I sure you learned a valuable lesson that will help you in the future, so don’t let it bother you the least bit.” They had an extra hood in the shop already painted ready to good so the other truck was only down long enough to change out the hood. And I grantee you that incident stuck with me all my truck driving days, especially when backing into or pulling out of tight places & nothing like that ever happened to me again.