Truck Driving Jobs

Mr. Ford95 · #21 12-18-2011, 08:30 PM

Dad had a friend running with Wal-Mart up in Maine empty who had a truck behind him call on the CB to check his trailer. When he looked out his left mirror he saw nothing, he looked out his right and saw the big Wal-Mart logo. The wind had blown the trailer out from behind him in the left lane clean onto the shoulder on the right while on a snow covered highway. He said he just kept going at the same pace and hoped nothing solid got in the way until the wind dropped off and allowed him to pull it back straight.

MichiganDriver · #22 12-18-2011, 09:20 PM

That's the thing. If the trailer swinging to the side loses sideways momentum somehow it should settle back in behind the trailer nicely. Too bad that's about all you can do in a truck. In a car you could speed up and coerce a trailer to get back in line.

Mr. Ford95 · #23 12-18-2011, 11:24 PM

Obviously the worst thing you can do is hit your brakes in that situation, trailer blown out from behind you, but that is exactly what a lot of people would do out of instinct. Even seasoned drivers who have never experienced that would fall for hitting the brakes, not all of them but some would.

golfhobo · #24 12-19-2011, 12:56 AM

Wow... so many misconceptions.

The voices DO sound Slavic to me, but aren't there MANY of those in this country? MANY of them driving our trucks?

The oncoming cars all looked American (or foreign but bought in America) to me... including the last one with the emergency lights on. (and none of THEM slowed for the snowplow.)

I saw no evidence of WIND. No snow blowing across the road.

The camera vehicle DID "peak" his nose out and retreat to his lane. And he was at a pretty safe distance behind the truck in front of him... which didn't appear to have its LIGHTS on!

The snowplow was STOPPED on the side of the road, but next to a guardrail... meaning he hadn't enough shoulder to BE stopped on.

The roads weren't ALL that slick, cuz the box truck was able to pull right and stop without "losing it." And the camera vehicle stopped in his lane without skidding.

The oncoming truck apparently had to make a quick maneuver around the stopped salt truck. Notice how his wagon slid to the right BEFORE he went around the salt truck, then slid to the left. He was able to "recover" it because he kept accelerating thru the "situation." I doubt he was expecting the situation to happen.

I do believe that the oncoming truck was probably travelling too fast for conditions (and contingencies.) Typical for "local" drivers.

But, I'm not sure that he could have done better by trying to STOP behind the snowplow. Applying the tractor brakes would have made the "box" come completely around taking out the box truck while the tractor was pushed into the snowplow.

If he had a "Johnny bar," applying short bursts of braking to the rear tandems would have brought the trailer in line sooner! (but, of course, RockyMtnPro disagrees with me.)

The important thing is... this can happen in front of ANY of us at any time during the winter months. I didn't see ANYONE put their flashers on to warn other drivers of a situation.

The camera car had the BEST chance to slow down sooner, but didn't. EVERYONE was driving too fast for conditions... the most prevalent of those conditions being the presence of a snowplow.

The only reason the oncoming truck "lost" his trailer, was that he let off the gas and decelerated his rig from the POWER source. Given that mistake, and the situation as it was, I believe HE controlled the situation better than anyone else BUT the straight truck.

Mr. Ford95 · #25 12-19-2011, 09:49 AM

Hobo, watch it again man. First off, it was in Europe, that van the camera vehicle was passing is commonly seen in Britain. The other clue that it wasn't anywhere near the US, the speed all the vehicles were moving.

Second, the snowplow did nothing wrong. It only stopped because the idiot in the semi was overtaking him and lost control which forced him towards the guardrail on the right and to a stop. Nobody said anything about wind being involved, just discussing other ways for something like that to happen due to wind.

MichiganDriver · #26 12-19-2011, 10:57 AM

Stopping the video at the 20 second mark shows the oncoming truck's trailer is behind the snowplow and slides all the way across the road until it hits the guardrail. It looks like the roads were at least a little slick. I can't tell how fast the vehicles were moving.

Note to self - don't stop being lucky.

GrandCountyColoradoBoy · #27 12-19-2011, 01:57 PM

According to my wife, they were definitely Russian. From what she said, the drivers were basically calling the other driver an "a**hole", and they were also saying something to the effect of, "It's a wonder". Also Hobo to answer your question/ statement, I know the two guys that delivered my four wheeler to Virginia were both Russian. No, I don't know how many there are around, but they're there.

golfhobo · #28 12-19-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Ford95

that van the camera vehicle was passing is commonly seen in Britain.

Maybe... but, not on THAT side of the road. :lol:

golfhobo · #29 12-20-2011, 02:53 AM

After further review:

I can see the snow spray coming from the plow just before the incident. He was, in fact, plowing the shoulder. Probably came to a stop to allow the bucket truck room to pass given the situation.

The powdery nature of the snow left after the truck passes the camera, shows that the temp was well below freezing. The road was "clear," but some residual water in the grainy surface would have been ice. But, the road was not "icy" or the van and the camera vehicle couldn't have stopped without sliding.

Obviously, the truck shouldn't have tried to pass the plow, but I don't think he intended to. Had he "planned" to pass the plow, he would have edged around him to his left, and no reason to initially lose the trailer to the right. I believe he was probably TEXTING (or otherwise distracted) and ran up on the plow without totally realizing it. His first impulse would be to decelerate and swerve to the left. This would cause the trailer to slide to the right as it did. Knowing he couldn't stop... he chose to complete the pass and hope for the best. Once he got out there, he saw the van and tried to get back in front of the plow quickly. This "overcorrection" snapped the trailer to the left and across the road. He was definitely accelerating as he tried to pull it back onto the right side of the road in time.

I even think I see evidence that the trailer may have struck the back of the plow as it stopped (which would have helped "kick" it to the left side of the road.)

I don't know where this happened (other than it was not in Britain.) But, I don't see even the representation of a small "european" style vehicle in all the oncoming cars that passed the camera. The VAN cab looks more American than the "mitsubishi" types commonly seen in Europe. [Sure do miss ole WOT!]

I do believe the trucker was able to "save" his trailer. But... I think that SUV with the flashing lights was on his way to give him a ticket. Probably for speeding (too fast for conditions.)

Anyway.... none of my comments are important. I just like trying to analyze these kinds of videos. I don't claim to be right! I just claim that my theory is plausible. :lol:

MichiganDriver · #30 12-20-2011, 11:12 PM

Good observations Hobo but... hehe There's always a but.

Is North America the only place on the planet where we drive on the right side of the road? I'm too lazy to do searches like "What side of the road do they drive on in Russia?". Is the whole rest of the world driving on the wrong side of the road? Also, I gave up trying to guess how fast vehicles were traveling in vids years ago. I can't tell, I simply can't tell by watching a video. A case in point is Ice Road Truckers. During the in-cab shots it looks like the truck is moving along quite nicely. But then they pan out and the truck is barely moving.