why do drivers cut corners

That's all good!!! But what if he rolls up onto your steel toes then decides to stop?

 

Part of the situation, that may or may not have been covered in the earlier parts of this thread.
Yes, that is not a hard turn. There should be plenty of room. But, the drivers going over this are in road tractors, not in the yard jockey trucks that this gentleman is use too.
The wheelbase is at least double, and the steering does not go as far. So to safely navigate the turn in a road truck the driver may have to crowd the yellow line some before he turns, or if it is tighter than it looks he may have to button hook and take up part of the second lane too his left.
I know as a fact that I could get any trailer around that turn, if I used all the available space. I would be using several lanes to do it, and it would be slow. But it can be done. Even with that 70 foot load. It would take a massive button hook though, set up way in advance to get the trailer over far enough to the left. And you would have to be extremely carefully to make sure that some idiot did not try to pass on the right making the turn.
Since you cannot see the back of the trailer by the time you get mid turn.
But heck. I need some money. Get me a load of 70' I beams going down there on a stretch trailer and we can try it out. He can even stand there and let his toes get cut off in his steel toes if I do not make it.

 

The only thing I have to say after reading all these posts is: I wonder how all the "experianced " truckers acted when they were newbies.?

Did the old hands back then have to take 'em down a notch?

We were all newbies at one time, and all the newbies will eventually have experiance as well. (if they last)

The only reason there are as many posts here, is because the fire keeps getting fed.

 

Yes they sure the hell did!

We get bored!

 

Well; for one when I started I did not cop an attitude and run my mouth off to older hands....

 

Good way to get BAD JUJU!!

 

hey there... Well, I am a newbie, in fact I am still in school and have learned enough to pass my cdl, which means I have basically learned how to make right turns without hitting the curb and a few other things needed to get my cdl.
But, because I am just over 40 I have enough life experience and brains to know that I have only learned enough to begin to train and learn to be a trucker.
Freebird, experience takes time and miles. My instructor has over a million miles. Just because I may be able to make that turn without going over the curb means nothing, it just means I can make that turn without going over the curb.
The two guys in my class annoy me, they come in everyday and start yakking about every thing they saw some trucker do wrong and I guess it makes them feel big or something.
We aren't even driving trucks yet, I mean really driving, like making that turn after 9 1/2 hours behind the wheel, and all the other stuff.
The other day I got to watch a long nose Pete with a flat bed in the yard, we were working on our alley dock backing, when the beautiful long nose pulled in and backed into a spot. Well I was standing with the instructor and asked him all about it and he pointed out several things, especially the wheel base and how it maneuvered compared to the Volvo we were using. Well, my idiot class mates came over and started critiquing his set up and how he needed to do this and that, and bla, bla, bla
There was twice that my instructor had me go over the curb intentionally, once when a motorcycle was behind me showing signs of wanting to cut in duing my turn, the other was because of the cars in front, now, I know he would not have had me go over the curb just for fun. So there are valid reason for going over the curb at times.
take care
Bren

 

Hey Bren, you got the right attitude. Keep the outlook you have and you'll do just fine. I have been out here 10 years and still learn things all the time. The minute we think we know it all and can do it all is when this 80,000 lb beast will bite us in the arse. Keep your eyes and your brain open. Common sense goes a long way. Good luck.

 

Heck, I am agreeing with you.
I saw the pic you posted of the intersection. I am simply saying that if I can drive a 68 foot long trailer, with a 50 foot kingpin setting around that turn, and not hit the curb, then any 53 foot trailer should be able to make it.
They just are not paying enough attention. Or, are turning when there is a 4 wheeler coming from the other direction turning the same way, and crowding them into the right lane.

Actually I am kind of full of it with taking that particular load and trailer around that turn. Yes I could do it without hitting the curb, but it would be a pain.
To butten hook that thing you can only move the trailer tandoms over half the distance that you have the tractor over, after rolling a full truck length.

So to get the trailer over to split the lanes, as would be needed to make the turn, I would have to take up both lanes completely for about 100 feet before the intersection just to set up.
Then to actually make the turn I would have to hold the tractor in that lane till I was 3.4 of the way past the lanes I am turning too.
By the time the turn was compleated the trailer tandoms would be right next to the curb in the lanes I had come out of, the load overhanging into the second lane I used, and going backwards.
Yes, the tandoms would be rolling backwards by the time the turn was completed.
But I would not hit the curb.

If there were any idiots around the area I would have had one hit me on the right, and another speared by I beams when they tried to go around the back as I finished the turn.
This is why you do not want to pull that kind of load in towns lol.

This is why oversize pays well.