Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Turn signals and you

We've all heard the joke. A blond has her boyfriend change a turn signal light bulb because her turn signals stopped working. He changed the bulb and then asked her to go to the back of the car to see if it was working. He hit the signal, asked her if it was working and she said "yes, no, yes, no, yes, no...." Funny when I was fourteen. Now.....not so much.

We all have seen a "seasoned driver" driving down the road, with the left turn signal blinking and blinking and blinking. I am sure they will make a left turn eventually, just maybe not today.

For those of you who have ever visited Chicago, or live there, you know that turn signals do not work there. Drivers in Chicago use ESP (Extra Scary Possibilities) This means that the possibility of the person in front of you making a erratic turn or lane change to the right or left is at any time possible, and if you are not alert, it will scare the bejesus out of you. If you have never experienced this, I highly recommend it. It will give you a new appreciation for life, liberty, and the pursuit of clean underwear. (A little known line in the bill of rights)

Turn signals are a necessary tool for safe driving. So easy to use, and yet so under utilized. I know it is a lot of work to push that little lever up or down. Thank God they return to a neutral position most of the time, or they would NEVER get used.

But don't let them scare you. They can be our friend. You have probably seen a truck driver going down the highway with a line of traffic next to them and their turn signal on like one of those "seasoned drivers" There is a reason for that. Wanna know what it is? Well, I am going to tell you anyways!

Truck drivers not only use them to let you know what they are planning on doing, we use them as a clearing device. Let me explain.

As I have written before, the sight lines of a truck are limited. Even with all the mirrors we have, there are still several blind spots. There are tricks to seeing these vehicles, such as looking for shadows, or reflections of light under our trailers at night. But these blind spots make changing lanes an especially dangerous task. So many drivers use the ten second rule.

First you turn on the turn signal. for the next 3 seconds, we look in our mirrors and "clear" them. All this means is we make sure that there are no vehicles next to us. Then we take 7 seconds to change lanes. At least the considerate drivers do. 18 wheelers have a very high center of gravity, and changing lanes too quickly could cause the trailer to flex and force the truck into a very undesirable position. That is also why we take exit and entrance ramps slower than a car. Rollovers are never good and can put a crimp in an otherwise really good day.

So, while we are making this lane change, we are looking in our mirrors, 90% of the time, glancing forward occasionally to make sure traffic is still moving in front of us. We do this because many times, impatient drivers will try to scoot around us even though we have clearly stated our intentions with the use of that pesky little turn signal. We need to be ready to change lanes back at the drop of a hat AND make sure we do not do it too quickly because of that whole rollover thingy.

So, if you are next to a truck and you see that turn signal on, don't panic and think he is coming over right away (Although some drivers do because they are only worried about themselves). Just accelerate and get out of his way, or if there are too many cars in front of you to accomplish this, slow down and let him over. Remember, he may not see you, and that few seconds you may save by getting in front of him is not worth the risk of being run over.

You may have noticed a theme in some of my posts. Give trucks plenty of space. Most truck drivers try to manage their space safely. Some do not. I do not want to see anybody stuck next to one of those drivers when he decides to change lanes.

And if there are any of "those" drivers reading my little ole blog.......CHECK YOUR MIRRORS AND SLOW YOUR BUTT DOWN. THAT MIGHT BE MY FAMILY OR FRIENDS NEXT TO YOU. I WATCH OUT FOR YOUR FAMILY, PLEASE WATCH OUT FOR MINE! (yes, I was yelling there!)

Drive safe ya'll. See ya out there.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

WHAT THE?!.......Did I just see that?

There are 2 ways to "See" things in my way of thinking? You can actually take in a sight with your own eyes and have that image embedded onto your brain OR someone can describe what they have seen and create the image in your mind for you.

The first one is, of course, the easiest to take in. The second one is sort of what I try to do in my own little way with this blog.

So today I am going to tell you some things I have seen. Not all of them from the seat of my truck, but all with my own little near sighted, contact lens wearing, slightly astigmatized , blue eyeballs.

The most beautiful and at the same time disturbing thing I have EVER seen was the birth of my son. For the first time, I actually saw this little dude I had been having conversations with and dreaming of meeting for the last 9 months. As all parents think, but I actually know for a fact, Jack was the most perfect baby ever born! I know, I know, you guys all think your children were the most perfect, but I am here to tell you that YOU ARE WRONG! =-) He had a perfect head, perfect little mouth, perfect hands and feet and a perfect little body. Sure, there was some kinda gunk all over this specimen of perfection, but we will blame that on his mommy, cause I know I didn't put it there!

However, while a beautiful thing, it was also "kinda" gross. I do not need to go into the details here. Joanne was a trooper through the whole ordeal even before MR. Epidural came to help out with the event. As this event was going on, after this event was finished, and even to this day, her beauty comes in at #2. How she does all that she does and still remains upright and breathing amazes me every day.

I have seen a 10 foot snow bank next to me in the Rocky Mountains, even as I was taking off my sweat jacket because it was getting too hot.

I have seen the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, and set over the fields of Kansas with a rainbow of colors painting the sky.

I have seen the Northern Lights in Alaska. They were so vivid it almost seemed like someone had taken a can of translucent green spray paint and covered the sky with it. They were so intense, I did not realize for a minute or so what i was actually looking at. They moved and shimmered like they were alive.

While in Alaska, I watched Bald Eagles perched on a light post on Douglas bridge for days on end. They were watching the waters of the inside passage, waiting for the right fish I guess. I saw Cruise ships with thousands of people come to see the beauty I had the privilege of seeing everyday.

I have seen numerous car accidents, truck accidents and one bus accident. Many with fatalities, most with just damaged sheet metal and rising insurance premiums.

In Northern Indiana, I got to see an Amish teenagers buggy! How do I know it was a teenager's? Well, I drive through Amish country every day. At night, since they are all painted black, they have flashing lights on them so people will see them BEFORE they hit them. Some of them have only 2 amber lights on front, and 2 red lights on the back. Others put "running" lights on them to make them a little more visible. The teenagers buggy however, also had NEON lights underneath. I kid you not! If I had a camera with me, I would show you the proof now, but alas, I did not, so you will just have to take my word for it.

But there is one thing I saw with my own little 2 eyes that have made one big change in the way I drive, whether in my car or truck. Hopefully, I can paint this picture so you might make the same decision.

On the Indiana toll road, about the 28 mile marker, traffic came to a stop. It was backed up on both lanes as far as I could see and it did not make me happy. Some idiot had undoubtedly caused an accident and had the road shut down, making me and everyone else on their way to wherever late! I was ticked.

I jumped on my CB trying to find out where the accident was and what had happened so I could let my dispatcher know what was going on and when I might be expected at my destination. My load was HOT, you know. But nobody was talking. Lots of people were asking the same thing, but nobody ahead of us, and nobody coming from the other direction was responding. This was making me even angrier. I was becoming more impatient as the minutes rolled by. We were moving, but at a snails pace, and I am only allowed to be on the clock 14 hours in a day. This was going to ruin my weekend! All because some IDIOT DRIVER WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION!!

Finally, I could see some flashing lights up ahead. There sure were a lot of them. But there were no tow trucks, only ambulance lights and firetruck lights. "A truck must have caught fire" or something like that I thought. "Some dumb driver probably let a seal go without repairing it and caught his truck on fire. Great, Just great!"

Once I got to the scene of the accident though, I realized why everyone was so quiet. There, on the side of the road, was a body covered in a blood soaked, white sheet. A young man leaned against a car parked on the side of the road, obviously distraught. Another car was parked behind that one with the flashers on. State troopers were taking measurements. One officer was talking to a car that was parked about 500 feet in front of the other 2. I made the rest of my journey in deep thought.

Coming back through that area the next day, I found out what had happened on the local radio station. A car had a tire go flat as it travelled down the road. The young man driving the car pulled off the side of the road and called home to ask his father for help. As most fathers would, this man went to help his son.

As the father worked to get the tire off his son's car, his hands slipped off of the tire iron, and he fell back into the roadway. At that very moment, a car crossed the line and hit him, killing him instantly.

How many lives were changed at that second? A father, husband and son would never come home again. A son, would never get to talk to his father about anything. A driver who had no idea his life would change that day, was suddenly responsible for taking the life of a man, whether he was being negligent or not. I am sure he is still haunted to this day.

Why did I feel the need to share this "Feel Good" Story? Simple. When you are driving down the highway, and you see a vehicle, pulled off to the side, please safely move into the other lane. If you can not do that, at least slow down. It is the law in most states, but besides that, I would not want any of you do have to deal with ANY of what those individuals had to deal with on that day and will deal with for the reat of their lives.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Ten Bolts

Ten Bolts. Hardened steel, approximately 2 inches long 3/4 of an inch wide.


Ten Bolts, running through 4 holes on 2 pieces of steel.


Ten Bolts with a nut on the end, holding the 2 pieces of steel together.


Ten Bolts, day in and day out, doing their job.


Ten Bolts that handle an extreme amount of pressure.

Ten Bolts, that demand my attention every day, several times a day.

Ten bolts that I hope YOU will pay attention to as well.


I check these ten bolts every day. I inspect them closely, looking for cracks or any part of them that might be shiny, for shiny metal means newly exposed metal, and THAT is one thing I NEVER want to see from these ten bolts.


Ten bolts that stand between you, me and a potentially really bad day.


Why do I obsess about these ten bolts? Well, let me tell you why I care so much about these ten little bolts.


Ever seen a truck without a trailer driving down the road? See that big Horseshoe looking plate on the back of it. That is called a 5th Wheel, and that is what holds a trailer onto a truck. This 5th wheel is attached to the frame of the truck using just ten little bolts.


An empty trailer weighs around 17,000 lbs. Fully loaded, it can weight 63,000 lbs. Imagine if that fell off the back of the truck while the truck was traveling down the highway at 65 miles per hour. It happens, I have seen it happen , and it scared the poop out of me.


The first thing that happens is the brakes lock up. When the trailer disconnects from the tractor, it rips the airlines off. This releases the air from the brakes and they immediately lock up. So not only has the trailer decided to go for a ride, but it has done it while screeching to an out-of-control stop.

And guess what. IT does not stay in a straight line. It will slip, slide and bounce every which way! Never good at highway speeds!

Now if this trailer is fully loaded, the momentum that this thing has will carry it quite a way in whatever direction it has decided to travel. Hopefully, straight into a ditch and not into a family on their way to Wally World!

That is why before I start my day, and periodically throughout the day, I check not only these ten bolts but also my tires, my brakes and anything else that I feel may affect my ability to drive safely down the road and protect the motoring public. The list of things I am mandated to check before I start my day is fairly long, but I do it every day to help assure the days safe completion. But even the closest inspection does not mean a disaster will never happen.

Let me tell you what happened to my one evening in Des Moines, Iowa. I hooked up to another trailer after dropping my load in the specified dock. I performed what is called a tug test, where once the trailer and the tractor are connected you put the truck in gear and PULL against the pin that holds the trailer to the tractor. I also visually inspected the connection, and those pesky ten bolts.

After performing a few other tests which I will not bore you with, I began my journey to the gate leading out to the main road. I reached the gate, made my right hand turn, and watched my mirrors in horror as the trailer STILL came off the 5th wheel. The cause was probably the rough parking lot I had to travel through to get to the gate. Who knows? It was secure when I pulled from the dock and it was NOT when I hit the street. Fortunately I was moving slow and saw the trailer coming off before it was all the way off. Tragedy and a long, long day were averted.

So I have said all that to make this point. The next time you are passing a truck, and you decide to take your time, or maybe even just hang out there for a while, think of this.....

Ten Bolts........how comfortable am I with my life in the hands of this truck driver I do not know, and those ten little bolts?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Those Dag Gum Truckers

So....you are driving down the road, stressed out because the kids were rowdy this morning, you spilled coffee on the only shirt you had ironed for work, and you forgot your cell phone at home and had to turn around and get it, making you extremely late for work.

Then you see it.....a big, ole, dirty 18 wheeler lumbering down the road, using the lane you need to get to work on time. He is driving next to another slow moving truck so there is no way around him. "He's doing that on purpose, just playing around up there, probably smoking cigs and talking on the CB to the guy next to him, laughing at me" you say to yourself.

So you tailgate this guy. "That will get him outta my way. He knows I am back here! He can't be that rude" A couple of miles down the road you are still behind this jerk. Now he is just being an A-hole, right?

Maybe, maybe not! As a truck driver with a lot of "4-wheeler" friends and family, I find that a lot of people just don't understand how a truck driver thinks OR the things we need to deal with while we are just "Cruising" down the road.

Things aren't all that peaceful up there in the cab of that truck. Did you know that if you are less than 100 feet or so behind us, WE CAN"T SEE YOU! The old saying if you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you is very true. In fact, sometimes when you can see our mirrors we still can't see you.

"OK" you say, "then why is he just sitting next to that truck. Why doesn't he just hit the gas and go around?"

Well, there are a couple of things going on that may keep this guy from passing.

1. Many companies govern their trucks top speed. The company I drive for sets our maximum at 63. That means that the only time I can go any faster is if I am going downhill.

2. The heavier a truck is, the longer it takes to accelerate. (example-compare me doing a hundred yard dash now, compared to when I was 16. I am heavier AND slower)

3. Most truck drivers look half a mile or so down the road and manage their "Space"accordingly. Most of us try to maintain a safe following distance so we don't have to slam on our brakes just in case someone is tailgating us.

So, if the truck is loaded heavier than the one he is trying to pass, and there is a slight incline, the heavier truck may end up slower than the one he is trying to pass,

OR, the truck has topped out his speed and the truck next to him is set at a similar speed and is too selfish to slow down just a tick,

OR, the driver IS an A-hole and you will be stuck there until traffic clears out.

No matter what the reason is, riding that guys tail is not gonna get you where you are going any faster, and it may end up costing you your life.

Now I am not saying all truck drivers are perfect. There are many of them out there who are rude and unsafe. I see them everyday. However, the majority of us are safe and courteous and not only want to see our families again, but we also want you to see yours.

So I am writing this blog to let you know what is going on up here behind the steering wheel of this truck. I just want all of us to get along on the roads of this great nation of ours. There is room enough, I promise.

So if you ever wondered why that truck turned on his turn signal a half mile before he changes lanes, or why he didn't signal at all, I will try and cover it.

If you have anything you wanted to know, just ask. I will try to answer it to the best of my ability, which ain't all that. I'm just saying......