Why does it seem like no one Pretrips?

I highly doubt no one is gonna admit that they don't to a PTI....especially here on TTR. If you take a survey, everyone here on the internet does not do anything wrong.

 

I even checked the valve lash this morning.

 

My companies philosophy is that if the truck runs it ain't broke. If I were to get the problem in the picture looked at, it would take 2 hours for road service to acknowledge my qualcomm msg, another 4 hours for them to approve service and another 8 hours taking pictures of the problem and explaining why someone should do something about it. It is better to just run the truck until #### explodes. Is it the way things should be? No, but it is the situation I am in. As soon as I can afford it I am going to buy my own truck and then I will do proper pretrips. As it is in my company no one really gives a darn; not my dm, not corporate, not the guy making 7.50 an hour to ensure all our trucks are in tip top condition, and not me. A company driver is not a safe driver.

 

Cigarettes and coffee... duh

 

Irregardless of who's name is on the side of the truck its your life dependent on driving a safe truck. I think the drivers that realize this do daily pretrips, those that dont pretrip, its only a matter of time until something happens somewhere and you find yourself in a situation wishing you had pretripped.

 

It's not the name on the side of the truck that motivates me to pretrip, It's the name on my CDL.

 

...and some companies give a #### and some companies just want to bust a driver's balls. My company actually fixes crap so I do a morning pretrip which includes:

-Make sure tires aren't bald or flat.
-Lights work.
-Fifth wheel isn't pulled... I saw this happen to a guy once and don't want it to be me (more of a superstitious thing)/
-Air hoses are attached
-Brakes work.
-Mudflaps are OK.
-Check dash for trouble codes.

Takes about one minute. Once a week I check oil, drain fuel-water seperator and purge air tank (usually before I go home- takes three minutes)

Now I also worked for a company that didn't care and would actually try to get me to fix things out of pocket. A headlight was out for example and I got asked why I overused my headlights. Its that type of crap that makes people not care. They even tried to get me to take a trailer with a missing door and then asked me why the door was missing like it was my fault (mind you I didn't even hook to the trailer yet) so yeah I totally get the ##' it side too. God forbid doing a pre-trip makes you late on a delivery.

 

Very well said Lepton!

Overused your headlights? Thats hilarious!

 

Anti-authoritarian response by free-spirited truckers to the insane emphasis placed on the PTI during the DMV practical exam?

I've noticed there seems to be a basket of things in trucking that everyone knows should be done one way but is actually done the exact opposite way out in the functional world. Kind like folks that go to church on Sunday, nod and agree to obey and be good, then go out every day the rest of the week to strip clubs, casinos, bars, and etc., hoping the odds (or their wives and husbands or the minister) don't catch up to them.

Pretrip? Yup, always do it!
Hours? Yup, always "log it legal!"
Weight? Nope, never run around scales!
Speed limits? Never exceed them!
Always eat healthy and exercise!
Nobody ever buys that beer at the Peelot!

What else...

 

GTFO.

YOU'RE not a safe driver.