Orange truck crunch

[wolfie]

No, a certain Wisconsin-based company wasn't involved. The orange truck in question belonged to a small company, and was parked at the time.

I'm at the TA (one where the parking lot was laid out before 53 foot trailers came into use), and "other trucking company that shares a name with a meat packing company" is trying to park. I offer to relay clearances for him (since he can't see the space on his right side). He gets partway into a space, but is close to the truck on his left. I tell him (he's a fairly new driver) that he needs to "undo" and set up again. He ignores my advice, and tries to salvage the situation.

Several back-and-forth moves later, he's now aimed to the right of his trailer (was aimed to the left of it when I suggested he re-start). He wants to pull out to the right, but I warn him that if he does, the tail of his trailer will swing left and hit the mirrors of the parked truck. He does it anyway, but instead of the mirrors he hits the side of the sleeper.

If you're inexperienced, and someone gives you advice, there's a fair chance that they know what they're doing. If he'd re-started his approach from scratch, he would have been in the space in less time than his salvage attempt took.

[eltf177]

Where I work the CDL drivers are _required_ to have someone spot for them when they're backing up, whether it's a co-worker or somebody at the dump site.

If you have a backing accident and it's determined you had no spotter you're going to have a LOT of 'splaining to do...

[bhskittykatt]

At a recent event Hubby was assigned to, a fellow guard's wife's vehicle (that he had borrowed) was torn up pretty good from a big rig's front lugs. The rig was backing up too close to the car and, according to Hubs, it "opened his car up like a can opener".

[IT Grunt]

We had an incident like that between a truck and an employee's car at the plant I used to work at. The plant had two entrances. The north entrance was employee parking and a gate for small deliveries, like vans and box trucks for shipping/receiving (non-production). Trucks delivering metal or taking metal out went to the south gate which is where the guard house was and the main gate big enough for trucks. This guy doesn't read the sign which clearly says 'All visitors and trucks to south gate', and pulls in to the north gate.

Naturally, the guard doesn't open the gate, and repeatedly tells the driver to come to the south gate where he's supposed to be. This parking lot is small, by no means a place for an 18 wheeler to turn around. So he backs up and attempts it, and in the process, peels the rear bumper right off an employee's Nissan Altima. It's on tape, naturally, and when he gets to the guard house, he at first answers 'Yes' to the question of 'Did you hit that lady's car?'. Apparently after a call to his dispatcher the answer changed to 'No' and he began to adamantly deny hitting it. I never heard the outcome but I do know they went after his company for damages.

[mathnerd]

Once while I was working for MajorBank, I watched a truck driver attempt to get out of the loading docks and wind up hitting one of my coworker's cars. (I worked in a back shop area, not at a branch, and this was in a large office complex, so trucks did deliver things on a regular basis). Anyway, this was in the middle of a particularly snowy winter, and significant chunks of the parking lot were covered in the snow that the plow drivers had just piled into random corners. This made it nearly impossible for a sleeper cab with a 53 foot trailer to make the necessary turn if the parking lot was full. So, the guy did the rock back and forth thing for a while, and finally thought he had enough space, but didn't by just a hair, and wound up crunching the back end of the car that was parked in the end spot. I don't know what happened to the driver, but the company's insurance guy was out there even before the cops got there and wrote a check to the owner of the car that not only was more than enough to fix the damage, but enough to buy a completely new (well, same make, model and year) car.

[sms001]

torn up pretty good from a big rig's front lugs.... like a can opener.

I am SO glad you brought this up. I was gonna ask wolfie about these and completely forgot.

A few weeks ago my wife and I were sitting at a light. We turned our heads as a semi approaching from the left started its right hand turn, and both Whoa! at once. Said tractor had very very shiny chrome wheels, with SIX INCH SPIKES as lugs!!!


(Like these, but longer.)




Now, I'm gonna assume these are plastic covers for regular lug nuts and as such would break right off, but still...

[otakuneko]

Sounds like somebody was....compensating.

[BearLeeBadenaugh]

Lol, I lost my Hayabusa to the trailer wheels of a screaming pumpkin a few years back. Buddy borrowed the bike, ran from the cops and laid it down on 894. The trailer wheels caught the bike, buddy managed to ride his leathers under the trailer and into the guardrail.

[wolfie]

Those are plastic covers. The actual lugs are an oversized version of what you'll find on most cars (VW uses bolts instead of fixed studs with nuts). I hate the spikes (and the "teeth" bug screens for the grille) - they add an aggressive look, which doesn't help with the public's image of trucks. Any lug covers (even the round-top ones that barely cover the end of the stud) are a bad idea - dirt and water get under them, and you get corrosion on your wheel studs.

Having a spotter doesn't do much good when the driver ignores the spotter's instructions.