Remember To Set Your Brakes

i too always checked a second time. sometimes a third.......OCD kicks in

 

I'm so focused on making sure that knob is pulled out that I have been know to let the clutch out before slipping the stick to neutral.

 

I often get up out of bed, after laying down, to check it, even though I can hear it’s on fast idle, and must be set! It’s kind of like always checking to make sure it’s in neutral, before starting. At least once, I’ve found it in gear. Must have bumped it, getting out or something.

 

That's my company lol. I wonder if I'll see that on the lot.

 

When I trained for my cdl I always got yelled at by my fellow trainees who were behind the wheel after me because I always left the truck in gear.

So they would start it in gear without pushing the clutch in.

They had never driven anything but automatic personal vehicles all their lives

I grew up with always driving manuals personally and on the farm.

In gear was the brake.

When I went to work for my first job with the milk haulers I got dragged into the office my 2nd day by 2 of the Chiefs.

According to them they had checked on my truck in the lot and the brakes weren’t set.

I apologized and said it would never happen again.

Whether I set them or not that previous day that reminder of theirs was a very subtle but serious thought implanted to always double check the knobs.

I have never left a truck unset since.

But I have opened the door probably 2 dozen times and pulled the knobs again to be sure I did

They were always pulled but sometimes things become too routine when you have other things on your mind.

If I could set up my personal truck to trip the brakes anytime the door was opened up And the truck was stopped I would.

 

All this reminds me, I need to check my parking chambers, for a broken spring. My Freightliner’s only got them on 1 axle. My habit of only setting the Tractors parking brakes, can be a problem, with a heavy load, on the slightest hill, if ones broken, only leaving 1 working. I once saw a Volvo, slowly start to roll after pulling forward on the fuel island. Im pretty sure I heard him set the brakes, as he walked away, it rolled into a brand new parked Peterbilt

 

i too, (if i had to leave the truck) would leave it in gear, as added protection, should someone slam into it, at the fuel island or in a truck stop spot. which we have all seen many pics of that happening.

of course, while sleeping, or any other reason i had the engine idling, it would be in N.

this is the disdain i have for newbies to NOT HAVE any clutch experiences.

it's is ONE thing to want to drive only an automatic, but to me, it is entirely necessary to also be TRAINED on a stick.

 

My Pinnacle actually has a warning beeper that goes off if you don't set the tractor brakes and open the driver's door.