The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

Better hope the choo choo dont come or he aint gonna be pullin doubles no More

 

I saw a western express driiver today up here in illinois just west of chicago. He blew past me at about 10 over the speed limit while traffic was slowing down up ahead.. But that was only the first thing i noticed. Once i got up closer to him . he had about 4 maybe 5 bobcat skid steers and every single one of his ratchet binders look like they hadnt even been tightened 1 turn.. All his chains was moving like some flapping straps. There was so much slack in his ratchets. It was like when u first put the ratchet binder on the chain and the hooks are laying against the chain , thats how much slack he had. Idk if he just picked them up or what , ive never haulded skid steers but i couldnt imagine they would settle down any and create that much slack once u start moving like most steel loads do? I think he was just lazy..All i could do was shake my head and say only western would do that

 

Gonna be expensive when one of them falls off.

 

Were they tracked or wheeled? Every time i haul anything on wheels the chains loosen up real fast so i always pull over after 10 miles or so and tighten them all back up. Not excusing the guy cause he should have seen the loose chains in his mirror and stopped to tighten them.

 

Yeah they were all tracked. Like i said i never pulled them before so i have no idea if he just picked them up and they loosened up like most loads or not.. Just a scary site to see rolling down the highway getting ur doors blown off lol

 

He was likely going for the alternate method of retightening the chains...

...slam on the brakes!!!

"Seeeee??? Dem chains tightened RIGHT up!"

 

He may not have known how to use the ratchet binders. Twice last year Ive helped Western Express drivers tie down their coils with ratchet binders. They said they've always used the lever binders. They had no concept on how ratchets worked.

 

What concept do they have to learn? If it's not tightening one way it needs to be turn the other way. Not rocket science.

Pretty scary we have people like this out here driving next to us...

 

Man that is scary to even think about , nothing surprises me with western express tho