What are some mistakes or blunders you've made as a newbie?

I seen this over in the truckstop in western , ia,, wasnt me , i was walking on the sidewalk , there was a refer parked next too the curb , then i turn around seen the refueler tanker come in drive, a full load , got it straighten out, just then the refer decide too leave , no lights no nuthen just pulls right out in front this tanker , i saw the tanker tadems bouncing -sliding as he was trying too stop, slid right under the landing gear, and got refer fuel tank, tore the heck outa that hood of tanker, meanwhile i got sprayed with desel and they threw me down on the ground, the fuel island people who runs the registers and gave me a cold shower , it was quite a mess for awhile , shut everything down , no goin in or our for fear that tanker blowing up, the sherif said so, i had no burns from fuel and they paid for my ride too hosptial and mr refer , had lots of paying too do , was not a good day for him,

 

I once ran out of Fuel.

 

I'd post all the blunders I've made as a student OTR driver but there are only so many hours in a day!

 

My third month driving, I was backing into a dock at W/S terminal in Las Vegas. It's on a slight incline. While paying close attention to my mirrors, I let off the brake but not the clutch. The truck rolled forward about a foot into a yellow post (7" pipe filled with concrete sunk into the ground to protect the underground utility boxes) and it went through the hood. I tried to back up and I was hooked like a fish! Thank goodness, the body damage was the only thing, and a scuff on the fuel filter housing. They just changed out the hood of my truck, but left the crunched one with the truck number on it, right where all the students practice dock backing, as if to say, "Don't let this be YOU!"

I pulled a rookie bonehead move last December. I was dropping and hooking at the Walmart DC in Clarksville AR, I was so happy! I got under my empty, hooked lines and jumped back in the truck. It was a reefer, that has an air suspention that takes a while to air up. I released the trailer brakes and then got up, closed the curtain and proceded to change my shirt to long sleeves. Oh, HELL NO! I hadn't set the tractor brake and by the time I realised the truck was moving, I had rolled about 50' and I was in a water filled ditch. I rolled right between two spotted trailers! Humiliation! Shame! Self loathing! I needed a wrecker to pull me out. Over $3k body damage to my tractor. HB was very gracious to me, I have collision insurance, paid my $1k deductable and was reminded to NOT TO FORGET TO SET MY TRACTOR BRAKE!!!!!

(I can't believe I just posted that, it's taken this long to live it down and I hope I can help someone else out with my sad story!)

 

Used to haul garbage and yard trash (sticks, branches, grass clippings, etc.) in a trailer with a live floor.


I'd plan out my first morning run to dump the yard trash. I could get into the landfill before they opened, dump in an area all by myself, and the ground was level enough that the dumping would push my truck forward as it emptied, so all I had to do was sit in the cab and drink my coffee.

I had a pretty good routine, which involved my wife calling me at the exact minute I'd get back into the cab so I could talk with her while I was dumping. One morning she called me about a minute early and it threw off my routine.

Got off the phone with her and noticed that there wasn't the pile of trash behind my trailer like there should have been, despite the fact that the PTO had been running for a few minutes. Seems that I had forgotten to hit the air switch to unlatch the trailer doors, and the past few minutes had resulted in nothing more than 40,000 pounds being pushed into the latched door.

Bent the hell out of the door, to the point I had to ram the trailer into the pile behind me to get it closed just enough to get the safety chain to hold it. At this point, getting the door to hit the latch was nothing more than fantasy. This little oversight downed the trailer for two weeks.


Another time I had just finished dumping a load of garbage, and hit the button to turn off the PTO before I pulled up to get out of the way. Seems that I didn't hit the button hard enough, because it didn't actually disengage, but I was pulled up next to a running truck and couldn't hear it bogging down the motor.

Hopped on the catwalk to unhook the lines, and was met with a face full of pressurized hydraulic fluid when I pulled the first hose. Luckily I was wearing sunglasses, which protected my eyes, but at this point I'm still in shock. Took a swan dive off the truck into some roll, like I was some action movie star, and it must have looked #### impressive to anyone looking.

Took a second to regain my head and figured it was over, until I turned around and looked at the truck. Hydraulic hose is sorta flopping around looking like one of those snakes under control of a snake charmer with a flute, and it's spraying a fountain up over my truck covering everything in a thick layer of fluid (including whatever it could get to through my open drivers window).

Once I got it shut off, the truck was dripping with this stuff (as was I). As dust blew around the landfill, it was then starting to stick to that and make this thick gummy mess. Managed to get it cleaned off the windshield well enough that I made it the main road, but once I got up to speed it just started blowing off the hood (and out of every nook and cranny on the truck) and covered the windshield in no time. For anyone wondering, windshield wipers are pretty much worthless in clearing hydraulic fluid off of glass.

Limped it the 15 miles to a wash bay, and sorta got it cleaned off some, but it still leaked from odd cracks, joints, and seams for a couple weeks after that.

 

NEVER trust that trucker software either. I have it and it tried to route me over a bridge with 12'6" overhead in New Jersey. Tight street and I had to get it turned around in a small parking lot and backtrack.

 

Went under a bridge today sign says 13'6". It was an arched bridge luckily. As I saw the sign and I'm going about 55 it didn't register in my head til it was too late. I quickly centered the rig in the road and there is traffic coming at me from the other lane and hoped for the best. Got thru OK but I think I po'd the pickup truck driver coming at me, literally lol

 

I did that a few weeks ago. I caught it half way back and had to turn around and go back. Couldn't make it all the way so they sent a driver up to meet me. I won't lie though, when I split my set in the fuel island at a busy truckstop and backed my lead and dolly under my "new" kite in front of the fuel island without pulling up once it was almost worth it..lol.. I felt like a dumb ### for pulling the wrong box but the nods I got from clearly experienced drivers almost made it alright - till the next night when my 23 year old supervisor asked me if he should come outside with me to insure I had the right wagons..lol.. He just had his first child Saturday and is a good dude though.. His comments as I'm sure your co-workers were are all in good fun..

 

Thank you for sharing that. Incredibly important yet basic we're all taught not to neglect... But it DOES happen. It helps me and everyone else to remind ourselves to double check everything critical to safety.

 

what software do you have?