"Never do a buttonhook after you pass your CDL test"

I think that this topic is worthy of its own thread because it is a digression from the topic "What important skills of truck driving did you learn after your first year of truck driving". I would like to discuss this further.

On my "What important skills of truck driving did you learn after your first year of truck driving" thread, Knightcrawler wrote the following: "7# don't buttonhook. That's something that they have to teach you in school that you should never do after you pass the test."

I strongly disagree with Knightcrawler on this. Knightcrawler says that he 40+ years of experience. I'm shocked that Knightcrawler thinks that a truck driver should never buttonhook after he passes his test to get his CDL.

The post that Knightcrawler made that I am referring to on this thread is post #188 on the "What important skills of truck driving did you learn after your first year of trucking thread." Here is a link to Knightcrawler's post:

What important skills of truck driving did you learn after your first year of trucking? | Page 19 | TruckersReport.com Trucking Forum | #1 CDL Truck Driver Message Board

If you are pulling a 53' trailer, and if you need to make a right hand turn onto a narrow street, there are only two options if you do not buttonhook the turn:

1# Jug handle the turn----If you jug handle a right hand turn, a car might think that you are changing lanes into the left lane, and the car might try to pass you on the right when you are turning to the right. You could wind up smashing your truck into the car. You can try to keep the rear of your trailer in the right lane when you jug handle, but if you do that, you're frequently not going to open up enough space to make the turn without going over a curb or hitting a utility poll or stop sign or something else.

2# Make the right hand turn without buttonhooking it and without jug handling the turn.---- Just run the rear end of the trailer off the road and go over the curb with the trailer tires and hit a light pole, a utility pole, a stop sign, a yield sign, or a guard rail or a sign that tells pedestrians when to walk or something else.

I've rode with numerous other drivers, many with as much experience as Knightcrawler claims to have. And ALL of the other drivers and trainers I have rode with would buttonhook right hand turns.

 

@Knightcrawler I am going to ping Knightcrawler. Maybe he will.join the thread and give us some pithy information about why we should never buttonhook.