Snitching or Civic Responsibility?
 

Do you ever call in and report other drivers?

I'm not talking about calling the number on the back of the trailer because the other driver is an a-hole or makes a little mistake. I'm talking about obvious unsafe driving or unsafe loads.


Example 1:

The other day I was in my POV. It was before dawn with a light rain and a big truck barrelled down on me hard enough that I literally flinched. I managed to get out of the lane and for the next 15 minutes I watched the Swift O/O tailgate and weave through traffic, sometimes with less than a car length between him and cars in front.

As soon as I got to work and into my truck, I e-mailed Swift via their website with the truck and trailer number, the location, time, and details.

Example 2:

A Southern Refrigerated Transport truck was ahead of me for a good while on I-45 northbound towards Dallas in the middle of a weekday. He was really pinballing it- zipper to rumble strips, jerking back straight again. This went on for a good while. We entered a construction zone and the pinballing contiued- he brushed five of the orange barrels, and clobbered one. I tried to get him on the radio a number of times -other trucks did too- to no avail. The final straw was when he drifted towards some constuction workers and their equipment. I actually backed waaaaaaaaay off and cringed, expecting the Big One. He managed to miss them- barely.

That was it, I called information and got conected and asked for the safety department. I got bounced around a couple of times and finally got someone. I told them they had a driver either falling asleep or drunk or seizing out. The safety guy kept me on the line while he got with dispatch to figure out what truck it was based on the trailer number. In the meantime, the truck continued drifting out of its lane. After 5 or 10 minutes the SRT safety guy told me they found the truck and were contacting him and telling him to get off the road ASAP.

Sure enough, the truck immediately pulled over into the northbound picnic area near Dew, which was right there. I was due for a trip-check and pulled in behind him. He curbed it parking the truck. As I passed I saw him go into the sleeper. I dunno what happened from there.

Example 3)

An Arrow O/O was easbound out of Houston on I-10 near the Beltway. He had a strip-n-stack pipe load. The load had either settled significantly or he had lost some pipe, because all ten straps were slack-flapping in the wind. I tried to get him on the CB, but he wasn't listening.

I called Arrow in Tulsa and asked for Dave Turner (safety manager). They transferred me to his line but I got the voicemail. I left a voicemail but called back and told the receptionist that they had an unsafe truck and someone needed to get Dave out of orientation ASAP and get that truck off the road. I gave her the truck number, trailer number, and mile marker and she said she'd take care of it herself.

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I know that some drivers will get in pissing matches with other drivers and will call in with BS reports on the other drivers that can ruin a career- that obviously sucks. But I have no problem with someone calling on me if I have something wrong with my truck that I don't know about.

-p.

You probably saved someones life that day. I would hope more people would do just this ... if they see someone driving as this driver was.

i say good job.....alot of people would just blow it off and pass the truck or something and be done with it...i say u may have saved some1's life...maybe even the drivers!!!!! :D :D

Yesterday heading south on I-5 in Oregon, I was in the right lane along with the other trucks doing 60-65. In my mirror I see another truck in the hammer lane coming up fast. This guy was tailgating civilians and weaving in and out of the lanes. Myself and 3 other trucks tried to catch up to get a company name but could not. He went by all of us like we were standing still. Farther down the interstate he is pulled over by 3 OSP, and was being put in the back seat of his new ride.

GOOD! i hate to see drivers drive like that!!! Im not saying i dont speed, but anything over 5-7mph is just too fast especially in oregon..isnt speed limit there 55?

I always wait a few hours and then I realize I was probably over-reacting and don"t call

I"ve called-Was going through Kentucky and there was a guy just poking along in the hammer Lane and an Ambulance was coming up behind him and this bonehead would NOT Move. He stayed in the Hammer Lane for a LONG time. The Ambulance had all their Lights and Sirens going and I don't know what this guy was going but he sure had his head up his Butt. I doubt if I'm the only one who called but I'm glad I did.

I almost called the NM state police on an O/O Peterbilt bobtail who was doing 90 mph in the hammer lane and was forcing cars out of his way.

I've been in the recruiting game for over 5 years now and with our phone number on the back of trailers, I field a lot of calls from irate 4-wheelers. Most of them are from slack-jawed idiots that are mad because they don't know what it means to "YIELD" when merging onto an interstate and they're irate because our truck wouldn't slow down on a heavy traffic interstate to let them in.

Occassionally, though, we'll get a legit call...like the hysterical lady calling to say our truck running down the highway at 65 mph on the highway outside of Miami, had a guy hanging on to the back of the trailer. :shock: Yes, at 65. That had to be a ride.

Being in the industry has made me very aware of other drivers, both truckers and 4-wheelers. And as a 4 wheeler myself, I would have to say that many of other 4-wheelers out there are complete and utter retards that should have their licenses permanently revoked. Occassionally, I'll see a trucker acting stupid, but only once have I called in on one. Couple years back, I was on I-80 in the hammer lane, following another truck that was doing the 65.1 mph pass. :) Not a biggee...I seldom let that bother me any more. But as I'm following him, I see an O/O Pete coming up very fast behind me. I ease out to the edge of the highway, ready to react in case he doesn't slow down. He doesn't. I end up in the median and he slams his brakes on moments before rear-ending the other truck. Had I not taken the median, I would have been accordianed.

Needless to say, I was P.O.'d. He never stopped, never acknowledged the fact that he nearly killed me (damn lucky I didn't have my kids with me)...he just continued tailgating the other truck until it cleared the one in the right lane, then he stomped it down again and was gone. But in the time that he was behind the other truck, I was able to get back on the road and back up behind him, where I got his company, trailer #, and phone number. Fremont Carriers got a call from me the moment I stepped into the house. I demanded, and received, a call back from the safety director the next day, informing me that the problem had been taken care of, that they do not tolerate that kind of behavior. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I could sympathize with the safety director, being in a position to have to deal with calls every day. But this guy was flat-out dangerous and was going to kill somebody if something wasn't done. Hopefully it was and the safety director wasn't just blowing smoke up my hind end.