To the fedex driver that was in the median on I-10

Bounced off the wall and hit the fed ex truck? The red car was infront of the police car, stopped for several seconds before the fed truck came along. Did the laws of physics cease to exist in the video or something? Of course it bounced off the wall, maybe after fed ex swung into it. That car was stopped before fed ex came up on it. And if you look at the video and watch it all you will see the rear of the little red car smashed in from the back. How would the wall do that, in the manner it is done in?

 

UPS is getting worse! I about ran into 2 of them the other night in KY on 71. Maybe they was old FedEx drivers?

 

I was just gonna mention that. Now that fed-ex is slowing down there's hoards of ups/overnight doubles flying past me. Though the cb did say there was a fex-ex off in the median on saturday. He must not have gotten the memo.

 

As an FedEx driver we get payed very well to drive safe,they dont force you to do anything,our pups and trl also the dollys have ABS,there's no need to shut off the air going to the rear pup,many air pups also.My truck only does 63,but I work for FedEx National LTL,on they only hire safe drivers.I can only talk about what I see.Now FedEx ground has O/O and yes they do run,by no means we are unsafe drivers,just look at the safestat,and yea you do hot dogs with every company.Every-time I pull out of the hub,I do my pretrip and if there's anything that needs to fix,its done so on the spot.Its very easy to talk about drivers/company's looking from the outside,but Iam giving you my 2 cents.

 

Yeah, that's true. All the one's I saw had "ground" on the side.

 

Guys, I am from Canada, just finish my first week of actual work by myself after 2.5 weeks of training. I am trained by and work for FEDEX biggest rival in the world... And yes, I am 1 of the guys that pull doubles!

After reading many of your posts, and that I am going to be working up north with lots of snow, please tell me how should I do my job properly and safely? Any advice?

My management always tell me to follow the flow of the traffic, so I guess I won't be the guy to drive 60 when everbody has been doing 40... But 1 of the trick that my management told me is, when your rear trailer start to wiggle, accelerate! We are driving A train with a dolly, pretty much we are driving a "train" with 4 pieces - tractor, trailer, dolly, trailer. So when you wiggle you pull it harder to straighten it out.

This week, with no snow and anything, I've been crusing to the max following the flow of the traffic all week, meaning I've been doing 105km/h and sometimes pass some slower trucks, and during my training my management seems to have no problem with that. Is that approiate? But in the snow, which I've never encounter just yet, should I do 9x km/h to 100 km/h so I get some extra room to accelerate when I wiggle? And when it get worse, of course I will go slower than that...

Currently, Canada is having test project of double 53"s by some highly experienced and elite drivers... I know my company, FEDEX biggest rival, is trying to fight for triple 28", since this is what they've been doing in the States already... I don't know, I don't have much problem in my first week doing a double, but it's given that I haven't seen the snow or even rain yet...

Please give me some advice, I certainly don't wanna be 1 of those FEDEX guys goes bottoms up in the ditch, I get paid my the hours, my management seems to have a lot of emphesis on safety, so please tell me the proper way, you guys are all experienced!

 

Wiggles are caused by constant little corrections on the steering wheel. Hold a steady wheel and you won't have the wiggles.

 

this reminded me of something that happened about a week and a half ago...i was going north on 491 in colorado...(old route 666)....headed to oregon...well i was in cortez co...just came out of the weigh station...there was a fed ex ground at the light...well he wasnt moving so i went ahead and made my right turn and went on...well a few min later..here he comes racing up behind me RIGHT on my butt....then moved out to pass me ( i was in the left lane bcuz the right was about to end)....well he moved over and started past then realized that lane was ending so back behind me he went...soon as the lane opened up again here he came...well by then it was 35 and a sharp curve to the left...well he didnt care...came on by wiggling away ( we used to pull doubles as well but not like an idiot)....anyway....long story but will shorten it up...i got back passed him cuz he wasnt even doing the speed limit once out of town...well everytime we came into town he would BLAZE by me 55+ in 35 zones...just to pass me...this went on til MOAB UT...and justice was served...see moab police didnt think it was too funny that he was speeding in the construction zone!!!!!!!!!....i laughed all the way to I 70 and as i went by said...serves ya right fed ex....serves ya right....had there been a safe place to stop i would have and told that cop just how he had been acting....not all of them are bad....but seems like more bad then good!!!!

 

Most time it's over-correction of steering, which comes from panicking when the steer tires start to slide unpredictably ... which can happen in any vehicle.

Hard breaking will amplify the effect.

This will create a whip effect in the rear trailer, cargo will shift, and tip it - or g-forces of that trailer will drag you off the road.

Small steady corrections, and driving the speed for conditions.