What safety item do you really like

I thought this was the best braking method for desending a grade? I know I felt more comfortable doing this rather than the "stab brake" method.

 

The Blindside Helper

 

It was a 150 truck fleet.

I do love those moto mirrors after many years of crawling across a COE to adjust that passenger side mirror!

I keep my right side mirror adjusted to where I do NOT see the trailer! Why? Because I know it's back there so why do I need to look at it? This way I have more coverage to my side. My drivers side mirror gives me a "little " view behind the trailer if I lean towards it a little as it's the same I don't need to look at something I know is back there! I've seen drivers that have a mirror adjusted to where the trailer takes up half of the view to the rear forgetting whats on their side is more important and lets not forget the saying "things that go bump on the right" Believe it or not that trailer is not important while going straight down the road as it's following you! Now If it appears in the mirrors and you're not in a curve you are having major problems, like a jack knife! That's a whole different thread! Whats on your sides is the most important things to use the mirror for. A little lean or tilt of the head to the side will bring what's behind you into view but looking at a trailer in the mirror does you no good! And before the argument starts about tires on said trailer...just lean or tilt to see them! Even drivers with half of the mirror taken up with a trailer don't think to look at tires or even his lights! Also if someone is tailgating you like a 4 wheeler you're not going to see him any way but a truck that's so close he's counting your freight for you you'll see his mirrors sticking out from behind you. Now why worry? If you have to hit your brakes hard enough the 4 wheeled is under you and that truck is in you. You probably couldn't have done anything to get them off your donkey anyway as the "slow down to make them back off" doesn't always work and truckers aren't using CB's for anything except for CB fights in the truck stops these days! Some drivers have no clue and the shallow end of the gene pool needs to be cleaned out anyway!

When blind siding I leave the mirror where it is. I actually get up and walk across the truck and look out the window and put the trailer where it needs to go! At idle the truck will go backwards at the same speed as if you were sitting in the seat. Once the truck is into the opening or past the point of contact on the passenger side then I sit back down and as the tractor comes around I find the left side of the trailer is where it needs to be!

Doing this is the exact same as if you are doing a drivers side maneuver! If you are 6" from the front of a truck or trailer on the right side of your truck then there is more than enough room on the left if the spot is the usual 9.5 to 11 foot wide hole size. You don't need a freaking whole foot or 3 feet to clear whats on the side of your trailer!

I had a Stevens "just turned loose driver" hit my truck at the J in Sullivan Mo one night. He actually hit me 3 times before I got his attention! His problem while doing a drivers side backing maneuver was he had a good 3 feet of clearance on his left side! He was afraid he was going to hit the trucks fender on his side and forgot about not hitting what was on his blind side! After getting the accident reports done I helped him back up but I made him get about 6" off of the fender of the truck on his left and he was having a problem doing it untill I drug his butt back to the corner of the truck and asked him if he had hit it yet? I've had drivers come unglued at me for getting 6" from them and want to "fight" because I "ALMOST" hit them! If no paint was swapped sit back down, take a deep breath and freaking relax! If there is no screeching noises then there is no problem! I could care less how close you got to me just don't swap paint or fiberglass! I've been doing this longer than most and backing is natural for me and when I was instructing I had them get close if they had to but do GOAL if needed