The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

It's much like teaching backing, those who have good spatial intelligence grasp the concepts and rapidly shift to just driving the rear of the trailer.

Securement is the same, those who can grasp the concepts rapidly see what will work and what won't, and won't need to call their trainer every time they run into something that requires a different method of securement.

 

Carhaul has gotten just as bad. Especially when I see partial loads on a stinger, it's patently obvious the driver has zero clue what he's doing to axle weights loaded the way they are. 2 units on the truck and 1 all the way at the back of the trailer, it's like they're intentionally loading to see how heavy one can get the steers. SMDH

 

A trainer can train. Can the trainer teach WHY?
I hate to hear an experienced driver say, “I WAS TAUGHT TO DO IT THIS WAY.” Your trainer failed you.

 

Yeah man. I really hate it when I hear a driver say that "I was taught this way". All I hear is that I haven't evolved in my time on the road and I haven't been open to learning new things or new ways to be safe. Blah!

 

I trained a guy recently who had an annoying habit of asking me, "how would you do it?" every time he went to load a trailer. I would always respond with, "you tell me."

 

Someone better tell Prime that. They still charge new flatbedders at least $3500 for securement supplies.

 

Prime is the Rent A Center of trucking. Pay 3X for everything.

 

Good one, forcing them to think outside the box.
If you are still training, I would suggest Extreme Ownership.
It’s applied to corporate America, but I use the principles for the motorcycle club, personal training in a gym and trucking.

 

As to "I do it this way because I was taught to do it this way":

One of the topics for the first morning I have my guys is "intro to scaling". I start with asking them "what are maximum axle limits for a vehicle such as ours?". Invariably I get one of two answers - 12/34/34 or incomprehensible stumbling and stammering. If I get the second I know exactly what type of trainee I have, but usually I get the first answer. When I get the first answer, I respond with:

"Good, that's what you've been taught, but you haven't been taught quite right. You were taught that because that's what your trainer was taught. And your trainer was taught that because that's what HIS trainer was taught, and his trainer was taught that because that's what most vehicle were spec'd out as, it's not the law. Legally, a person can haul up to 20,000 on the steer axle, provided the axle is rated for it and it has the appropriate tires. Back in the day, tractors were lighter so most major companies didn't want to pay for a big front axle. Thus most equipment had 12,000 lb steer axles, so everyone got taught that was the legal max. Most of our equipment has a 12,500 lb rating, and we run "H" tires which are good for 13,000 lbs, so for MOST of our trucks you can run up to 12,500. MOST, but not all. Some of the Internationals have a 12,300, a few of the old IC trucks that got brought into fleet use still have a 12,000 limit, so check the door sticker."

It's never enough to know the answer, it's important to know WHY the answer is correct.