Drivers these days!

Oldschool

Oldschool

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Is it any wonder that more guys are getting tired of street riding. What with the "me first!" and plain inattention to the task at hand. I took the following pictures with my cell phone (while stopped) on yesterdays 10 km commute home. Being a former truck driver I know what happened to the trucker and his lost trailer (middle of an intersection at rush hour). He didn't MAKE SURE the jaws on the 5th wheel were locked and the jaws opened up as he turned the corner (totally preventable). Instead of cranking down the trailer legs and backing under it (after disconnecting the air and electrical lines) he was just standing at the rear of the trailer looking like an idiot waiting for the police. It is sad to see the decline in quality of so called Professional Drivers.

truckersthesedays.jpg


The second picture shows drivers too impaitient to wait for the next light before entering the intersection. Piled in 4 abreast blocking the intersection just so they would not have to wait 1 more light cycle.

stupiddrivers.jpg


I always use a hands free when driving (it's the law here) and enjoy driving (except around fools like these) and take it seriously. I wish others would to.

Feel free to post your own horror shows
 
Lee, you're definitely correct in your assessment of the current state of drivers. It's happening all over. It's all about me, me, me and they don't think before they commit to their actions while driving. And the cell phones, iPods and other gadgets don't help.
 
Not necessarily a failure to check (Tug Test). I have seen an incident where the kingpin failed on a rig and had the same result (Thankfully not me!) The poor guy in question had towed his trailer 100km but still had other truckers calling him an idiot for not doing a "Tug Test". There is now way he could have gone that far without the hitch closed properly. In this instance it was a mechanical failure.
 
Blanchy said:
Not necessarily a failure to check (Tug Test). I have seen an incident where the kingpin failed on a rig and had the same result (Thankfully not me!) The poor guy in question had towed his trailer 100km but still had other truckers calling him an idiot for not doing a "Tug Test". There is now way he could have gone that far without the hitch closed properly. In this instance it was a mechanical failure.
Click to expand...

That is all true, but... As I drove past his back end and side (I came from the opposite direction that I shot the picture from, pulled into the parking lot opposite to photograph) I looked, and his Kinpin was intact.

We use Holland and Fontain 5th wheels in this country on 99% of all trucks on the road with Holland making up the majority of that.

Fontain 5th wheels have 2 jaws that are wedge shaped and close over each other behind the "pin" If they are not locked (the stepped handle dropped down inside the hole) they with walk open as you turn a corner(usually turning right). Holland 5th wheels have a "U" shaped locking clamp that slides back to keep the "L" shaped jaws from opening to each side. If the locking bolt on the front has not completely moved back against the front of the 5th wheel this clamp is not locked and is very easy to see (if you look). The only time these (Hollands) can fool you is if the temperature is so low (-30 C or lower) the grease can get so stiff that it will prevent a positive lock. Again though if you actually look at the jaws and at the bolt you can tell. The key here is not to just do a tug test (the jaws will stay closed during a tug test in these conditions if the clamp is almost all the way back) but to look as part of your pre-trip inspection. I always did. If a driver hooks onto a trailer too low the jaws can lock on the wider flange of the king pin (on a badly worn, or out of adjustment 5th wheel) The Kinpin can then jump up out of the locked jaws, but this has been known to happen so seldom that it is highly unlikely to happen, On a properly latched 5th wheel the tractor and trailer will stay hooked even when a combination unit rolls onto it's roof.

He might have been the victim of mechanical failure but the odds are it was failure to visually check the locking mechanism.

I only point this out because I dealt with these units for a large part of my life and still do. I don't like it when the general public jumps to conclusions about commercial drivers either, (having been one and still have a Class 1), but more and more these days I witness very poor driving skills from ALL drivers. It seems shifting gears is a lost art with today's drivers from what I see every commute. It's a wonder more drive lines aren't littering the roads as well.
 
Got to agree with all you've said. I'm paranoid about hitching. Usually back in do a tug test, hook up lines and retract legs visually check the hitch. Then I test the trailer brakes with another moving tug test to make sure the trailer brakes work and again I'm hooked up! If I ever had a trailer fall off, I think I would just resign and find another job. Agree about drivers in general.
 
and what makes it even worse is this new deal $500usd and one day, bingo you have a valid class A.
and the truck you practice and test in is just barely a class a rig.
a two axle dump (with air brakes) and a pintal towed back hoe trailer.
 
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