Phone lines...

Discussion in 'LTL and Local Delivery Trucking Forum' started by MACK E-6, Jul 28, 2016.

  1. Big Don

    Big Don "Old Fart"

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    Under height for a utility is under height. Whether it is a street, parking lot, or private property. Almost every jurisdiction has building codes for utilities, as well as for structures.
    Glad your company used common sense here.
     
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  3. JReding

    JReding Road Train Member

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    FedEx Freight wouldn't hit a driver up with financial penalties, however, they did rule every incident on private property as preventable (my incident with wires was back in the Viking days, when common sense was still allowed).
     
  4. macavoy

    macavoy Road Train Member

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    Taken out a phone or cable line pulling into a jobsite with a backhoe. Called dispatch and they said it was low so not my fault. Took down another phone/cable line on a residential road. Called my dispatch at the time who was bringing an oversized load down the same road. Told me to be careful on residential roads from now on.

    However at my last company, I was doing an out of town run. Fueled up, then got a room for the night. Next morning, I get 10 minutes down the road and my truck dies, ran out of diesel. Had it in the shop the week before for a broken fuel gauge. Silly me assumed it was broken still since I just fueled up.

    Company charged me like $1000 for a service call and the fuel. Left the company and they deducted $1000 from my final pay. Well Texas law is set up for the State to get back your final paycheck if an employer doesn't give you your final check. Won the judgement, the company appealed to be pricks, didn't show up to the appeal, got my money about 9 months later.
     
  5. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    Here is some useful information for anyone who may strike an overhead utility line, per the National Electric Code the minimum clearance over land permitted is 15.5 foot. I would argue with anyone who tried to hit me with a preventable for damaging these lines, unless you should have been able to see the lines were way below spec from a prior failure, but normal circumstances should not be the fault of the driver.
    http://nyfb.org/img/topic_pdfs/file_j4dzhegksw.pdf
     
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  6. Big Don

    Big Don "Old Fart"

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    Actually this could be argued either way . Was the utility line too low ....yes. BUT a driver should be alert enough to keep his vehicle from making accidental contact with ANYTHING.
    And watching your overhead is pretty basic. That's why I said I was happy with my company's decision, but didn't necessarily agree with it.
     
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  7. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    In my case, since it was a hotel parking lot, I was too busy trying to make sure my trailer wheels would clear the parked cars to look up for possible low phone lines. :confused:
     
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  8. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    Those are the same issues we deal with with the car carriers, especially when not servicing a retail dealer. Now is model year switch over so I get a lot of fleet vehicle pickups at odd places like office parks, homes, etc. I may have never been at this location before or may only go once every year or two so it is easy to become overwhelmed looking for curb clearance, ingress and egress points, safe working location, along with overhead clearance (not just power lines but tree branches are a bigger threat to car haulers). It is easy to miss something, especially in busy office parks, shopping malls, hotels, and such.

    It can be quite nerve wracking and although I would like to say it is our job not to hit anything, sometimes it happens even when you are being diligent. I would hope any decent company would understand this and cut us some slack for things like power lines. It is actually very difficult to accurately judge vertical clearance from inside your cab, so it is easy to misjudge something that is supposed to be tall enough anyway. The difference between 15 foot and 13 foot when judged for a few hundred foot away will be almost impossible to distinguish, but the 13 foot could get you snagged.
     
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  9. bzinger

    bzinger Road Train Member

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    Other than the big bees nest a couple months ago nothing .
    Years ago in my county days while running a track hoe I went a little deep and took out a fibre optic cable going to offutt AFB ...that made me the center of attention real quik lol
     
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  10. texasbbqbest

    texasbbqbest Road Train Member

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    That had to suck!
     
  11. road_runner

    road_runner Road Train Member

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    Building codes probably vary state to state. Someone else stated 15 & ½ feet. In my state the minimum height is 14 feet for power and telephone lines that cross over public roadways.

    Alleys and private parking lots is anyone's guess. Usually they hang substantially lower there since those areas usually are not frequented by tractor trailer traffic.

    I get that some lines are prone to sagging over the years, and others were installed in areas there were never meant for big rig traffic.... But seriously... Would it really sink any utilitie/phone company if they strung their freakin lines up an extra two feet?
     
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