IDK

The accident in 08 (Olympia I-5, N bound, bottom of a hill, curve, 50 ish degrees, no ice) was a HH with student. IF I remember correctly, it was a fresh student driving with a sleeping mentor at night in heavy rain just after rush hour. I drove past the results (South bound). Rig skidded (looked like an avoidance accident, ie: cut off semi) and rolled. Student and mentor were killed. Again, I say IF I remember correctly, the student was in his 2nd week on truck. I believe they were backhauling pallets, but I'm not sure. If that's true, his gross weight was about 55-65k.

Again, I am going from memory and what I heard in the office. Personally, I wouldn't be letting that fresh a student drive thru Olympia without being awake. I always came into that curve and hill around 50-55.

 

That was an incident was a case of road rage. That is why it was filmed. The student was a real tool. Now he is a dead tool.

 

Hmm, then you and I have heard different things. Admittedly, other than rolling past the results, my info is hearsay.

I do know that curve on the hill has more than it's share of accidents. It right at the junction of another highway as well.

 

Yep. Know that curve well. I'd like to see the film on it.

That curve will sneak up on you if you're not paying attention. Even for those of us who have been on it before. Kind of like Northern Cali southbound I-5 just before Lake Shasta. Seen tires come off the ground there, too, despite the warning signs.

 

good points...

 

the mentor survived. banged up pretty good, and claimed he was in the sleeper doing paperwork, and the student had just taken over driving duties within the hour. But still, that is just poor judgement. I mean cut off accidents can happen to anybody in any type of weather condition, but you DONT have a newb student with zero experience pulling HH in rush hour traffic (or just after?) in heavy rain. That would be like a mentor taking a newb out for the first time just before I-70 gets shut down in Missouri because of a 100 year blizzard.

 

I'd say you made the wrong call. Sounds to me like the real issue was the 5 hour notice and you weren't ready. Oh well.

So what if they guy came across as an arsehool?

Here's a free lesson for you: Many, many, many, many truckers are arsehools and some of those arsehools are training. What they say, what they mean and who they are don't always add up. You can only judge them on what you know and not on your first impression. Life on the road begins on the road and not in your imagination. If you had any ambition, you should have taken your chances and jumped on his truck.

That said, I hope this doesn't get you pushed down the list, just like turning down a load could.

As far as HH training is concerned . . I trained HH in the winter of 2005 and then drove Costco dedicated off and on for a year or so. My first 3 weeks training were in a FL 9 spd, 3 axle and then 3 weeks with a 13 spd, 4 axle. 13 is far and away a better transmission but don't plan on getting one even if you go HH.

HH training is great. It exposes you to loads and conditions 99% of your peers will never know. Not all loads within the division are heavy, especially the back hauls. Just keep in mind that crashing heavy is crashing harder . . it might keep you out of trouble. If you're going to fill a newbie head, like mine, with anything, why not 80k +?

And, just for the heck of it, to the mix, I will add my recollection of the Olympia fatal: SB HH, heavy and fresh from the Costco depot, at night and in the pouring rain, trainee driving and trainer survived. It was discussed extensively on another board and the conclusion was "SPEED TOO FAST FOR CONDITIONS" regardless of who was driving.

 

Piper, did you get a new mentor? Is he heavy haul? Looking forward to your update.

 

Julian is a idiot and lazy, don't ever count in him for anything other than scarfing down a jumbo sized bag of chips. most of the HH mentors are good, some better than others but count on 8-10 weeks of being a student before you get your own truck.

 

Yeah, I'd gotten some reports recently that he'd gone downhill. Didn't include them due to hearsay. Sorry, but he was ok/green when I worked with him.