View Full Version : For all my fellow truck drivers out there
Amateurs and trucks: a bad combination!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PkS6LnirRI
suddenseer
10-30-2010, 04:10 PM
Used to have one of those close to where I live. Is a railroad bridge. The state finally replaced it last year after 50 years of crunches. The county traffic coordinator told me the tracks were 8 inches north of where they were originally. I hope those folks opted for the extra rental insurance.:lol:
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 04:39 PM
Call that bridge the shaver, of course it's all the railroad's fault which was probably there since 1870.
WA4TM
10-30-2010, 05:05 PM
We have one here that is 10 ft. 10in. warning signs out the wazoo, NOT on a truck route.. BUT, it gets bruised quite regularly. People just have their mind on something besides their driving I guess.
Some semis have been jammed so bad they had to be cut apart to remove them...
kb2vxa
10-30-2010, 06:02 PM
Amateurs, meaning amateur truck drivers. Professionals are known as truckers, truckies in Australia know their height and watch the signs. Yeah, blame it on the railroad! Sure, the bridge is mounted on hydraulic jacks activated by sensors specifically designed to attack trucks and eats AC units atop RVs. There's a lesson to be learned here, sacrifice your AC to the bridge before passing. It needs to be fed, a hungry bridge is an angry bridge.
N5RLR
10-30-2010, 06:52 PM
"...The sign said 'clearance to the 12-foot line'
But them chickens was stacked to 13-9
Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten
Like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen
We took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp..."
-- C.W. McCall, "Wolf Creek Pass"
I just couldn't resist. :mrgreen:
KG4CGC
10-30-2010, 07:11 PM
That's great fun. Noticed a lot of rentals. Local truck renters should warn of that pass. LOL!
Came within a half inch of wrecking a hi-cube through a bank drive through once when I drove delivery rigs.
KA5PIU
10-30-2010, 07:24 PM
Hello.
13' 6" 102" 80,000,.
Hello.
13' 6" 102" 80,000,.
14'0" in most western states, including Tejas, Rudy. You should know that.
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 07:41 PM
Had a Wilson 1000 mag mount on my roof that plucked at least 2 long fluorescent tubes from a light fixture in the bank drive through once. This woman comes running out all excited, I said, I'm sorry. She says "It's NO problem." She was happy it was only the tubes and I was OK.
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 07:47 PM
Hello.
13' 6" 102" 80,000,.
forgot 53'.
I used to get on ch 19 while an 18 wheeler or 2 and I were driving next to a piggy back train. I'd say "See that trailer train over there? That's 150 of you Sumza Biches off the road."
Was driving through SE Louisiana once and was listening to a driver saying how wonderful that area was. He kept on and on, then he said the women there looked better than anywhere else in the country. I grabbed the mike and said that's because they're all your cousins. The guy went blank and stayed there.
Same thing driving through WV once. The guy wouldn't shut up. I grabbed the mike and said WV broke away from Virginia to side with the Yankees back during the war...Same thing, like the cat ate his tongue.
"...The sign said 'clearance to the 12-foot line'
But them chickens was stacked to 13-9
Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten
Like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen
We took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp..."
"Me and Earl was haulin' chickens
on a flatbed outta Wiggins
and we'd spent all night on the uphill side of 37 miles of hell called Wolf Creek Pass, which is up on the Great Divide.
We sat there suckin' toothpicks
drinkin' Nehi and onion soup mix
and I said 'Earl, let's mail a card to mother then send them chickens down the other side'"
As I recall, being able recite the entire lyrics to that song was a requirement for a commercial drivers license...
KA5PIU
10-30-2010, 07:59 PM
14'0" in most western states, including Tejas, Rudy. You should know that.
Hello.
But as soon as bubba decides to be sent to the Northeast. ;)
N5RLR
10-30-2010, 08:03 PM
Had a Wilson 1000 mag mount on my roof that plucked at least 2 long fluorescent tubes from a light fixture in the bank drive through once. This woman comes running out all excited, I said, I'm sorry. She says "It's NO problem." She was happy it was only the tubes and I was OK.
Back in the day, my good friend Roy [rest his soul] ran a 102" whip centered in the roof of his van. It'd take out a couple of fluorescent tubes a week, in drive-thrus. :yes:
Hello.
But as soon as bubba decides to be sent to the Northeast. ;)
No kidding. ¿Estupido, si?
You know, I managed to get out of a couple trips to the Northeast because I happened to be hooked to a hi-cube trailer at the time a dispatch came in over the Qualcomm. I was fine with that; it's hard to drive a truck up there. Expensive, too--$30 toll to cross the George Washington bridge!
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 10:23 PM
Back in the day, my good friend Roy [rest his soul] ran a 102" whip centered in the roof of his van. It'd take out a couple of fluorescent tubes a week, in drive-thrus. :yes:
Sounds like the enjoyment stage was probably reached over it with him.
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 10:29 PM
Expensive, too--$30 toll to cross the George Washington bridge!
I was bragging on 19 about driving cross country once and not paying any tolls. It was a few miles up I-95 from the Balto beltway. Darn if this driver didn't come on and call me a cheap sob. I really let him have it, and said too bad they don't raise the tolls just for people like him.
(over the Conowingo dam & up rt. 1 to miss the Susky river bridge toll)
We had a bus driver try to pull a school bus under the awning at a motel 6 (he turned down the wrong street cause he was on a new route). Tore down the awning, and peeled the roof of the bus back about 3 feet.
Had another braniac try to take one into underground parking....we lost that bus.
KA5PIU
10-30-2010, 11:04 PM
Hello.
A lot of people have no idea of how hard it really is to drive a big truck.
For the most part just going down the road is easy but that is not all of it.
Blindside backing and other things are something that takes time to learn.
I learned to run heavy equipment as a kid so I was already able to take care of the mechanics of driving but will flat out tell you that I am always learning something new.
I was bragging on 19 about driving cross country once and not paying any tolls.
Yeah, I've done it too--taking US 30 across Indiana and Ohio to beat the tolls on I-80 and stuff like that. It can be a real pain in the butt, though, and it takes a lot longer.
No kidding. ¿Estupido, si?
You know, I managed to get out of a couple trips to the Northeast because I happened to be hooked to a hi-cube trailer at the time a dispatch came in over the Qualcomm. I was fine with that; it's hard to drive a truck up there. Expensive, too--$30 toll to cross the George Washington bridge!
Carl.... Swift has gotten rid of most of their 14' trailers. Although I have actually seen one in the Harrisburg, PA terminal!!!! Now dispatch is SUPPOSED to catch that... but once in a while, shippers west of the Mississippi that pre-load trailers don't know their ass from a hole in the ground, and load 14' high trailers to
the Northeast, and even Canada!!! (if I remember right, the ONLY Canadian province that allows 14' trailers is Alberta) Same with 57' trailers; quite a few are loaded in Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas/Colorado for California, which only allows 57' trailers to be pulled by cabovers, due to overall length laws. Drivers that don't know any better, once they get far from the origin, then realise that they have a no-no trailer, resort to the back roads to sneak them to the destination(s).
Yeah, I've done it too--taking US 30 across Indiana and Ohio to beat the tolls on I-80 and stuff like that. It can be a real pain in the butt, though, and it takes a lot longer.
And is now a GUARANTEED DOT inspection at the minimum in Ohio; that is if you avoid all the local truck restrictions that are now there to force trucks onto the toll roads.
kc7jty
10-30-2010, 11:49 PM
Yeah, I've done it too--taking US 30 across Indiana and Ohio to beat the tolls on I-80 and stuff like that. It can be a real pain in the butt, though, and it takes a lot longer.
Rt 30 through Indiana is a ball buster. Drove it often. Always see at least 1 pulled over with the blinky lights.
That Rt 80/90 toll road was sold to some foreign entity a few years back.
I'll have to dig up the newspaper story from last week and add it to this.
Interstate 70 was closed in both directions for a day. Seems a trucker didn't pay attention to his instructions that at a certain intersection, he had to exit the road via the off-ramp, and then re-enter via the on-ramp straight across, because the bridge carrying the crossroad over the interstate was too low (it was the original bridge built before the minimum clearance height was raised). The "lead" car ahead of him claimed that they tried to raise the truck driver on the radio to remind him, but couldn't.
Truck slammed into the overpass, severely damaging it, and kept on going. State Police caught up with him at a rest stop down the road, and he is facing numerous citations including leaving the scene of an accident.
The damage was so severe that the interstate had to be closed while the bridge was removed. 9 months to replace it, and at a cost of at least $8 million.
Bet the truck company's insurer is happy with the driver right now.
Bet the truck company's insurer is happy with the driver right now.
You can bet that driver is out of work, too, with a mark on this DAC that's gonna keep him from working for anything but the smallest Mom & Pop trucking company for years.
And is now a GUARANTEED DOT inspection at the minimum in Ohio; that is if you avoid all the local truck restrictions that are now there to force trucks onto the toll roads.
Last time I went that way was 2003; things have changed since then?
KA5PIU
10-31-2010, 12:04 PM
You can bet that driver is out of work, too, with a mark on this DAC that's gonna keep him from working for anything but the smallest Mom & Pop trucking company for years.
Hello.
With the economy as it is and insurance carriers he might not be able to work for even the tiny carriers.
Ah! Here's the links:
Truck Damages Bridge over I-70 (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10292/1096426-100.stm)
Charges Filed (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10293/1096557-147.stm)
Driver Had Similar Crash Before (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10294/1096832-147.stm)
New Bridge Slated for July (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10300/1098262-147.stm)
You can bet that driver is out of work, too, with a mark on this DAC that's gonna keep him from working for anything but the smallest Mom & Pop trucking company for years.
That's the least of his problems.
That's the least of his problems.
Man, what a jerk. It's guys like that that give truck drivers a bad name. And Coastal Carriers--what's up with them? How the hell could they allow the guy to continue to drive for them if he had outstanding warrants? Every trucking company I've ever driven for--including the tiny ones--has done annual checks of my DMV record. Coastal must be a pretty crappy outfit that no one wants to drive for; there are a lot of those out there and they end up with the dregs of the driver pool.
kc7jty
10-31-2010, 01:53 PM
Interstate 70 was closed in both directions for a day.
Heard our illustrious PA wants to make I-80 a toll road.
kb2vxa
10-31-2010, 05:19 PM
Speaking of getting 150 SOBs off the road, sometimes a dispatcher sends a stack train down the wrong sub with the expected results.
W3MIV
10-31-2010, 06:47 PM
Gee, the driver was from Texas. Why am I not surprised?
I'll have to dig up the newspaper story from last week and add it to this.
Interstate 70 was closed in both directions for a day. Seems a trucker didn't pay attention to his instructions that at a certain intersection, he had to exit the road via the off-ramp, and then re-enter via the on-ramp straight across, because the bridge carrying the crossroad over the interstate was too low (it was the original bridge built before the minimum clearance height was raised). The "lead" car ahead of him claimed that they tried to raise the truck driver on the radio to remind him, but couldn't.
Truck slammed into the overpass, severely damaging it, and kept on going. State Police caught up with him at a rest stop down the road, and he is facing numerous citations including leaving the scene of an accident.
The damage was so severe that the interstate had to be closed while the bridge was removed. 9 months to replace it, and at a cost of at least $8 million.
Bet the truck company's insurer is happy with the driver right now.
kc7jty
10-31-2010, 08:44 PM
Speaking of getting 150 SOBs off the road, sometimes a dispatcher sends a stack train down the wrong sub with the expected results.
ouch
Heard our illustrious PA wants to make I-80 a toll road.
Smilin' Ed Rendell (would you buy a used car from that man) balanced the state transit budget and promised the urban mass transit systems (including SEPTA & PAT) a huge budget increase, on the assumption that the US DOT would permit the state to make I-80 a toll road.
He didn't bother to check with the feds first to see if they'd go along with the idea.
They didn't.
I don't know about SEPTA, but now PAT is facing a budget crisis that may result in fares doubling and service being cut significantly -- by 2/3 or more.
Smilin' Ed? His term is expiring. This is now the next governor's problem.
W4RLR
11-01-2010, 02:37 AM
Yes, the feds take a dim view of slapping tolls on a road that has been already paid for by the feds and the state. Now if a state government wants to add additional lanes or other improvements, they can toll the individual lanes. California Highway 91 and I-95 in Miami come to mind when I think of this new form of toll collection.
kc7jty
11-01-2010, 03:18 AM
good
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