Manslaughter phobia, and driving a truck.

Heavy's Manslaughter school.

This link is not mine. It is just a plain english website among many chosen at random.

Vehicular manslaughter is what we are dealing with here in the roll scenario

Vehicular Manslaughter: Sentencing, Laws and Penalties

Trucking is larger than you and me. Trucking is America. Without trucks, America starves. America freezes. America cannot stay healthy or alive without medicines. (This is what I generally focus on for myself in McKesson of Memphis) America will not be America without trucks. We will not be a Nation. But a third world cesspool overflowing with the rule of jungle. Until another powerful Nation state should invade and attempt to annex us permanently.

Trucking is awesome. It's a journey.

Not everyone will make it 90 days. Not everyone will be here 1 year from today. OR 3 years. Or 5. We constantly need more people to hire on and drive that truck.

VERY FEW get to 10 years. And beyond, even fewer. Those with like 30 to 50 years trucking alive today are national treasures in living memory. To sit and listen to these old ones talk and teach trucking is to enjoy a good dinner with wife. Not necessarily the wife part but you get the idea.

Death has come for me 8 times in trucking. Excluding the other three prior to trucking. The situations presented therin for me that I was going to be killed was VERY ORDINARY BREAKFAST AND COFFEE. That. Morning. ORDINARY. Same as any other new day.

This will be your last day potentially. You would never know it.

Now.

If you cannot stop in time because you have a lead foot Then your truck rams a minivan killing a family and injuring a few more you are arrested. Then charged. Then held up to oh.... a year and change before trial. This will be the trial that decides what to do with your life. You killer you... bad evil killer. SO horrible.

PRison? Certainly. Death Penalty? Possibly. A few years in a camp then out on parole? Probably? (Don't stay in that state no more, they would want to lynch you...)

Now. I am trying hard not to be a fuddy duddy. I will not preach. So listen for a moment Sir.

23 is good. You are young in life, you LOVE to live this life that God gave you. You probably love other people and they love you very much. This is awesome.

In any serious work bigger than just yourself. There is a chance that a future day will not go well. You could be killed. You could be hurt real bad or arrested? Tickets? Hounded? Stalked? 12 babies suing you in court for support... or whatever life offers. There are a thousand ways to die. Maybe ten times that many.

We all have to go sometime.

When I was 21 and get into a tractor trailer my instructor with a very big mouth leaned on me and said this:

Boy. Get this started. Drive that way.

So I start engine and in gear and drive.... 200 feet. Instructor rams the truck to a stalling stop and grabbed my collar and roared....

LISTEN PUP. There is 4 of us here with you. DRIVE GOOD. NEVER HIT NOBODY. OR I WILL FRY YOU IN THE CHAIR. IF you fixing to HIT someone, DONT EVER. HIT. NOBODY. I Don't give a #### what you do hit. But do not hit anyone.

Got it?"

I don't feel very good right now and maybe I don't wanna do this driving this. Im scared.

The three students with me in the bunk bust out laughing and teased me like a kid in elementry school.

Eventually I had to laugh and settle down.

I tell you this. I #### came close to hitting people or having them hit me. (I am not talking hitting a car in a ordinary bumper fender bender accident...) I thank god it did not hurt them or kill them. Scared them maybe something awful.

But I am sitting here in my 50's thinking about my misspent life as a trucker. #### it was awesome.

My very first truck accident? A little rubbing of my right steer tire vs a car with one ATF Federal Agent on the Long Island Expressway when it was totally gridlocked during morning rush. 800 dollars in damage. How would I like to pay that out of my check?

ATF was professional enough. But it was very painful as it was my first public accident away from private or industrial property that involved a strangers car.

 

Ok, hold on now. In light of those events, I wouldn't let that deter you, only make you more cautious. If I thought that way, I never would have gotten out of bed to go trucking. Believe it or not, that fear could be your biggest asset. I know, whenever I saw a crash, it sure made me think, I didn't want that happening to me. And another thing, drivers today rack up MILLIONS of accident free miles, you only hear about the tragedies. It's natural to be apprehensive, but a little common sense goes a long way, we need good drivers, you'll be fine.

 

It can be, depending on the circumstances.

I am glad you have some fear. Fearless truck drivers kill people.

If you can not learn to be confident over time in the truck, while still remaining cautious and a bit fearful in some road and traffic conditions, then this industry is not for you.

Caution in this industry is a GOOD thing.

 

(OP, you could learn a lot by searching and reading X1 Heavy posts. Every subject. He nails “perspective” continually .)

The successful day is the one that goes according to plan.

Planning seems simple (fill in the blank) and its how we start.

Truck driving has an an accompanying bible called,

The 10,000 Details

It takes time to RECOGNIZE what is important and what is not. It’s not always obvious.

1). First is your health. If the truck, you, and your gear is ALWAYS clean & well-sorted, you may be getting adequate rest and food. Sufficient QUALITY not just quantity.

Run-down, and “I’ll do it once I’m home” is putting off what should be a daily baseline.

2). It’s harder to achieve the emotional maturity necessary. Why I wouldn’t hire anyone under 26. That’s about the point a guy is more interested in his elders than his peers and juniors.

It correlates with KNOWING we aren’t the center of the world. Not just saying it. ACTING it. Being in the world, but not of it.

Numbers 3,4,5 continue in this vein.

As to an accident: I long ago decided I wasn’t going to turn over the truck onto an innocent because the guilty cut in front of me. I’m going home. To a family that need & wants me.

This is sobriety: acceptance of consequences. My fault or not.

It also causes me to pay better attention to what I’m doing.

IMO, the easiest way to stay out of trouble on the road is to maintain maximum distance from other vehicles.

If there is ever a situation outside a metro area where I am surrounded by others, I have seriously screwed up.

The reasons WHY don’t count for anything.

There’s a spot between the crowds. And there are those who will pass you and slow.

So what? Back down 10-15/mph until they are more than a half-mile ahead. Do it all day if necessary.

Rarely will passing get you anything.

The heavier the traffic, get below the flow.

Slow pass around you? Let them get up next to you and REALLY back off. Don’t let a crowd build behind him. Ever.

Good posture, clean glass & a radio will help. Same for regular breaks. Plan them. Look like a man: collared shirt, leather belt and leather shoes. NEVER go into a customers shop otherwise. Good haircut. Etc.

I’d say the biggest problem facing a new guy is finding the right job description THEN the right company. For him.

Another .06/mile won’t cause you to wake up happy.

A man is best off in having a goal. A trucking SKILL that not many possess. Hauling plastic in a pneumatic, or HazMat liquid tanker are a pair of those. Specialized heavy haul another. There are more.

Your daily plan is key. When you are on the money as to time/distance (NEVER allowing safety to suffer) you’re closer.

A truck driver, versus a guy who gets paid to drive a truck.

Besides, they don’t pay us to drive. They pay us to BACK (Ha!)

After a really long, tiring day and you have to blindside into the last parking spot — bad light & rain — your parked rig should be as well-centered and out of the way as if you had pulled into a deserted truckstop at high noon. Your trainer video-recording it for Safety.

You are the same man from start to finish. Every day.

Ask your savior for what you feel you lack.

Good luck.
.

 

life in general is a crap shoot.

live it daily and enjoy it.

if your number is going to come up it will, can't do anything about it, so just keep on strolling along.

 

Some good advise from Slowmover1.

Having the unfortunate experience of 5 fatal accidents cross my desk in the past 15 years, your need to be responsible and develop a professional manor is everything. None of the drivers were charged though I think the first one was someone going way too fast. The next three were all 'wrong place/wrong time' situations way beyond the driver's control.

Imagine being the front end of a line of trucks climbing a hill while a sporty 4 wheeler weaving through screws up and bounces off your fuel tank steps and front wheel end on her way to flying up and off into the woods. finally getting stopped and bailing out to find out the hard way you no longer have steps...by landing on your tailbone on the pavement...having the cops and EMT's driving you back to the scene to show them where she went into the woods.....getting home the next morning only to have the CAT loss tream from the insurance take you directly to the hospital then on a plane back to the scene to re-live it again for the reconstruction guys...

CAT loss = Catistrophic loss...this is a true story.

The experience will be devastating but not criminal unless you drive like the guy last week in the mid-west who 'flew' through stopped traffic.

Every driver continued driving.

The latest one was in NJ and the state attempted to suspend his CDL for 14 months, WAY beyond the FCMSA regulations after conviction [he wasn't charged!!!!!}...the lawyers from our insurance did everything at that hearing to prevent the suspension...That one was combined with the suit of the guy who lived cost 1.8 million to settle. There was video showing the killed and injured were someplace they weren't supposed to be. I had to watch that video see one guy tackle his buddy before watching our bare chassis rise up...bump....bump....I will never forget it.

Always remember the insurance will provide your legal council should the stuff hit the fan.

The old SAW about bold pilots/old pilots but no OLD BOLD Pilots applies to trucking too.

 

Fear presents an opportunity that the fearless never know. What’s the difference between being Fearless and being Courageous?

In order to be Courageous, you must be afraid first, and then overcome fear. Running from fear is cowardice and being a coward is a fate worse than Death. So, do you choose Cowardice or Courage?

So let’s talk courage (no one really wants to talk to cowards...not even other cowards.

You’re worried about screwing up. Great! What can you do to put the odds in your favor?

1. Be teachable, always willing and ready to learn.
2. Develop good habits. See, the guys that screw up big time usually do so and say that they were just doing what they normally do. Like speeding through construction zones, going too fast down mountains, tailgating, overeating, not getting proper rest, becoming slaves to electronic devices, inconsiderate, self centered and displaying the Crab Mentality.

So which path do you take... courage or cowardice?

 

FYI..... here’s a picture of a manslauth.....

 

I used to butcher bay blue crabs for our Tavern by the hundred out of basket in the kill chute.

They are kept in baskets in about 40 degrees reefer Divco Truck body, which is more efficient than a freezer. They cannot hardly move.

Set basket on end of kill chute. Open lid. Pull one out in kitchen. Careful of claws. He's warming up. Stick icepick into back left flipper from under where it joints the shell. Slide tip of icepick along the underside top shell to his right eyeball, Force the icepick straight down, chop beating heart in two. He deflates in my hand and loses strength as he dies. Takes about a period of 18 seconds give or take 5. He knows he is dead. Toss crab down chute.

Grab crab number two. They are showing more movement, a little wriggle of one leg or two here and there through the entire basket rapidly warming up. Kill that one in one smooth motion, After he deflates and limps throw him down the kill chute. I like to hold them gently while they do this because it's a lords blessing to norishment to our bodies that is given for us to enjoy at the end of their useful lives. And to give thanks and respect for that fine developed crab's life. Without abusing it. It does not know anything but sometimes it's afraid. They don't always just deflate, they will wriggle and fight losing strength. Those take a little longer. 32 seconds. It's unnecessary. That means I did not quite slice the heart in half.

The time loss is a problem. Crab number three. Latches onto a crap here and latches onto a crab there. Pull three out along with two more. Loosen everyone up and disconnect them. Kill crab three, four and five 1.2.3 and slide down chute. Start picking up the pace of the kill drill process and get moving with that pick. 6,7,8,9 and 10 are dead and spend their time deflating at the end of the chute. 11 has gotten out of basket and escapes down chute kill him halfway 12,13,14,15,16,17,18 all latch onto two more inside that basket creating a solid mass Pick one crabby crab out, they are all now getting angry and fiesty. Start punching icepick and twist heart fast. It lights em up and they die with legs straight out in pain. No deflating. Straight dead. half the basket is now escaping down the chute. Fortnately it's pretty much empty by then.

Double check them all. Any more moveing, enter icepick through right flipper towards left eye scraping the underside of top shell. Kill.

Get the old bay seasoning. Fill the gas pot. Toss crabs by count to orders into each of three pots. Light off the gas lines to them (One inch under 10PSI) click click and click. Two heartbeats between clicks, They must light on the third, if they fail to light, shut line off kill main flat stove and evac kitchen pronto.

Return to finishing the cooking by steam. That's why they must be dead. (Lobsters are steamed alive)

Got about three months of killing. Go to my Boss and say to him, I am sorry but I cannot do any more killing.

He finds another person to take over my position and I wash the dishes.

IF you do work, whatever it is in your life try to do it well. (That's the moral of the story above from my experience. It was a minor but defining period in my working early jobs that changed my life a little bit. By the way the Boss had no problems with me walking away from killing. He called me a Good Boy and set the dishes to be done. No harm done. A worse boss would just fire and be wasteful with people. (If not also abusive etc.)

Listen to Triple 6 and what he has to say. He knows really well what trucking will require of you.