I hardly consider the tail of a trailer lightly bumping the tail of another trailer being "hit"...now if you are knocked out of the bunk well that's a different story.

So lightly bumping is acceptable by the drivers in the trade as a tactic to tell when you are properly backed up in a truck stop ?

drive a day cab they come with cheater windows

if u drive for sysco you should be able to drive your route backwards. if ur not backing so you can drop your ramp 1 step from the door or so you can drop the ramp in the door you are just making xtra work for yourself

While i was moving into my new truck two weeks ago, i was talking to another driver in the Phoenix terminal....for quite a while actually. And the topic of blindsiding came up. He actually saw the mirror i bought, the one i hung from my right fenders fish eye (as a joke), and he came up with a way of putting it, i never thought of before.

He said, "when you blindside, it is no different than your setup for drivers side. You set up perpendicular to your 'hole', you turn 90, then turn 90. It is exactly the same blindside. Its not like the truck dimentions change...the only thing that changes, is YOU the driver." in the back of my mind, i kinda knew this, but it took that explainatoin for the light to come on. =)

Figure,....so what....you have to get out and look 3-4 times (if not more) than if you backed drivers side....no big deal.

If it is acceptable for someone to "lightly bump" my truck...is also acceptable for me to "lightly bump" someone's noggin...with the mallet I use for the domelid dogs?? Cuz it isn't acceptable with me to "lightly bump" anything....ever.

If you can't get out and look, while you are backing...you dang well shouldn't be backing.

Unless I knew the forklift driver I would never count on one for backing. Id take my chances with another driver b4 that.

Agreed. I hate spotters. They just make it worse.:thumbsup:

I had the ultimate (worst) blindside back ever this week or some may say the dumbest thing I ever did.

I got unloaded in Riverside Ca a day early so I decided to get a motel room for the night. I called the motel and they said they had truck parking. I got to the motel and seen 2 trucks parked in the parking lot but it didn't look possible to pull in the main drive so I figured there was another way in so I drove around the block. I got to the side of the motel and there a motel sign and a driveway so I pulled into the driveway The driveway went down a hill and made a bend to the right. When I got around the bend and to the bottom the driveway USE to go to the parking lot but now their was a locked fence across the driveway.

I had to blindside back up the driveway blindsind around the corner. When I finally got back up to the busy street I had to blindside back into 3 lanes of traffic at 5pm. To make it worse there were trees where I couldn't see if any cars were coming. I got out and looked for someone who could stop traffic for me but there wasn't anyone around.

I ended up standing behind the trailer watching traffic and when I thought it was clear I ran to the truck and just started backing slow and hoped nobody would hit me. Everyone stopped and I got out of the driveway.

I went around the motel again and double parked and went in and asked how they got trucks in there. They said they pulled in and drove around the building and backed in. Doing that made it a blindside back too. It took me over a hour to get backed into the truck parking.

Lesson learned, NEVER pull into a driveway that you don't know where it goes.

I saw some dumbass almost blind side his way right into the front-end of someone's tractor twice in a Love's parking lot this morning in Jonestown, PA.

There were at least 30 available easily accessible wide open spaces that this guy could've pulled into or backed into from the driver's side. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...ilies/skep.gif

I don't know what this guy was trying to prove, but he sure did a piss poor job at trying to show off if that's what he was trying to do.

Yeah, and never pull up a hill then try to back out to turn around, I did that once with a loaded straight truck (28') and the rail at the bottom dug right into the pavement, I had to have a tow truck pick it up and slowly back it out, those guys got me out of the hills in Kentucky, a place I should have never went into in the first place.

I think it would pay for a truck driver to invest in some two way walkie talkies just in case you have a situation like you had.

One of the main reasons i got a USB internet card for my laptop....not just to be able to check my email from the road, but to look up an address on Mapquest.com. Now those maps are somewhat 'outdated'. But it gives you a good layout of a shipper or cosignee. ALTHOUGH, I was making a drop in SC, and the address was "something Railroad Ave." So i looked up on mapquest, and it showed a small enterance with what looked to be a security gate. So once i get there, at about 5am, i see the tiny driveway, and pull in. trees blocked my view till i was pretty much pulled into the driveway, but they had moved parts and other supplies against the gate, and it was clear they didnt use that as an enterance for some time. Lucky for me i didnt have to blindside back out, BUT i did have to back out onto a very narrow poorly constructed blacktop road. Not to mention I put a good share of tire tracks in their lawn close to the road.

Scott....I can relate to that story, and feel for you. I pulled into the wrong entrance at a Costco in Vancouver, and had to back out onto the street with a lot of traffic. I don't want to ever do that again:)

We'll have to see what everyone thinks, but I think learning to back with a flatbed is a good way to start (versus a van or reefer) because of the better visibility, and I truly think it is much easier with the 48' trailers.

The only positive thing I'll ever say about a flatbed company out of Tulsa is their orientation is one of the most instructive I've ever heard of or seen (at least it was). The mirror training would probably benefit the majority of drivers out there. It did me.

Everyone has their own reference points to help them while backing. I tend to focus on the wheels and their projected track, and swear it's easier to back a trailer with the wheels to the rear (maybe it's what I got used to). I always knew the trailer was where the wheels were (if they're slid forward I had to pay attention to the trailer swing, and tended to go slightly past straight requiring some correction).

Whatever you do, don't get upset about backing. I've had some days where it went so perfectly I couldn't believe it, and others where I was so tired that pulling into a spot was hard.

[QUOTE=Flying W;445705]
Everyone has their own reference points to help them while backing. I tend to focus on the wheels and their projected track, and swear it's easier to back a trailer with the wheels to the rear (maybe it's what I got used to). I always knew the trailer was where the wheels were (if they're slid forward I had to pay attention to the trailer swing, and tended to go slightly past straight requiring some correction). QUOTE]

There are a few places in LA I go to that trailers backed in the docks are so close you almost rub the doors of your trailer backing in.

When I get to one of them I will swing the back end of the trailer into the hole and stop. Then I will slide the tandems all the to the back so I get the tractor under the trailer to back straight up without hitting the trailers beside me.

The one place I go you have to drop your trailer in the door and move the tractor to a parking lot because there is not enough room to even drive by when a tractor is still hooked to the trailer. The docks were built for 45' trailers and cabovers.

That Swifty has is exactly right. 2 feet and GOAL. 2 feet and GOAL. Pull out and try it as many times as you need. Dosnt matter if it takes you a half and hour. If you get into the dock without hitting something then you've done it right.

Dude, you said a mouthful. I learned my lesson years ago when I started driving. I pulled double flats. One place I went into was kinda tight but there was road around the side of the building and it looked to me like trucks went around back and turned around then came back out and got loaded pointing towards the street so around the side I went. Got half-way around and found out I could not make it and there wasnt space to back up either. I ended up un-hitching the back trailer and a guy with a giant forklift came out, pulled the trailer back a few feet and then lifted it up to turn it around for me.

I learned right then and there to never pull into anyplace unless I stopped and looked first. I don't care if I block traffic and cause a traffic jam. I put my 4 ways on and get out and walk back and look and if the shipper or receiver says "oh yeah, everyone does it" TO ABSOLUTELY GET OUT AND LOOK.

"Oh yeah, everyone does it or guys do it all the time" Is right up there with "Hey, watch this!"

Had a Western Express do just that in the Cayce, SC Pilot. He was pulling out of the hole going right to his blindspot side and was paying attention to that and forgot about the overhang on the 53ft and took out my passenger door mirror, front quarter panel, bumper and fisheye. Not a good way to wake up at 0330. Caught him before he got out of the parking lot too.

1) There was all kinds of space for that driver to turn his truck around and avoid a blindside.

2) He never got out once and looked on his drivers side. When his truck was jacked to the blindside he must have lost sight of the back of the trailer on his drivers side and assumed he had enough space on that side. Guys that assume they have enough room wreck more equipment than anyone else.

That hero is going to run into someone in the near future because he never G.O.A.L.

The mirror is a good idea and a helpful tool as far as I can see. I'd love one but I will never stop G.O.A.L.

Well for me blindsiding is a daily chore, I deliver to grocery stores here in the North East, inc NY, NJ etc.

For me the approach is key, set up as if it a see-side situation. Though I have some stores that require me to back into the parking lot from the street and then blindside around the corner of a store. Thank god for my daycab.

Just learn to take your time and GOAL, dont worry about people heckling you. If it gets very difficult, shut your truck down and take a walk to relax.

I've never thought of LA as having difficult docks... the Bay area can sometimes be a little fun though. Nothing at least compared to NYC, NE Jersey, Boston or many other east coast cities. Not to mention that you generally don’t have to worry about low clearances just about anywhere in CA.

I wouldn’t say it’s acceptable. I reluctantly tolerate it, now that I’m not pulling an enclosed auto transport, but it shows that you’re too lazy to GOAL when backing up – it’s amateurish. I think a lot of it has to do with the driver you bump and what kind of trailer he or she has. Company driver with a cheapo trailer… I doubt they’ll care; but an O/O with an enclosed auto transport with either a stainless, polished aluminum or chrome tail end, or any flat bed, especially an all aluminum one and you may not only damage the trailer but put your life at risk.

I never pull into anyplace if I’m not sure of where it goes. That’s what cell phones are for. You should have asked the motel when you called them about room availability how you should pull into the lot. When you got there and it wasn’t obvious how you should enter the property, you probably still had the motel’s number in your phone and could have sat out on the street and called then to get advice. My wife / co-driver gets pissed at me because I’m always yelling at her to get directions from our stops if she has them on the phone. Six years of LTL to mom and pop places up and down the east coast and a couple of years pulling an enclosed auto transport definitely reinforced the old saying that “the only stupid question is the question not asked.”

That little 'fish-eye' on the right side of my hood is what I use when I have to blind-side (usually off the street or road). I do get out and look. I also set the brakes and look out the passenger's side window to look. I also look at where the trailer tires are going, but I cannot slide my axles all the way back to the ICC bumper, due to a liftgate.

blind side helper
 

Hi everybody, 1st time here.
I've seen that post last month, and decided to order that mirror.
received last week, and I have used it so far 5 times.
At first needed to GOAL as usual, but after 3 times, wow, its working fine.
the thing is , its a really large mirror, so you can see how deep is the trlr end.
With the side electric mirror, once turn all the way , you can't see in 3D(if you know what i mean).
I have to recommend it to everybody that have to backup from the blind side.
Nobody like to do that, but when you have no other choice....

Jeff

Blindside backing, SNI did not even teach us blindside backing at the STA in Fontana. When I asked my instructor about it he said "Don't do it, you should never have to". OK, the first load I ever got when out on my own, going to West Chicago, guess what, yeah blindside back to dock. So much "You should never have to do it". I got it in there, luckily there was no one else around, because it took me 30 minutes to back in there, and all I did was creep back, GOAL, creep back, GOAL......until I got in. Its amazing how many places I went to that were not set up to accomadate 53' trailers, you learn to get into places that you have to stop and look and say are you kidding me, while the dock workers are saying evrybody else gets in here with no problem, seems on the east coast they are all like that.

the best thing to do is get out and move the dock to the other side so you dont have to blind side

its not that it isnt set up to accomadate 53' trailers, it is because it was built back before the Mayflower. When the place was designed and built, they had 48' trailers with cabovers. Joe Blow could back (blind or not) in a 48' w/ cabover. Imagine your 53 long nose if you had an additional 10' of pavement to manouver....would be pretty easy. Forgot where i was, somewhere just south of chicago, and had a place like this. Me and another driver were assigned a door, i was first up, and ended up having to pull out into the roadway and almost into the drive of the business across the street to get lined up. There was no way to 45 or 90 degree back this one. Once i bumped the dock, i ended up dropping my trailer and moving my truck out of the way cause i knew the other driver was going to have a heluva time getting in with me and another guy beside him still hooked up to our trailers. (yeah, i actually will look out for another driver, and not just think i'm the only one on the road)

There is a great place in Jersey City that is like that. You have to go across the street to line up, right off the curb, in fact, luckily I had a team partner, who managed to stop traffic so I could get in. New Jersey drivers are not real courteous when you ask them to wait a second. We were called every name you can think of and saw more birds than you would believe. Even when I got to the dock, my front wheels were hanging off the curb. That is one place I was glad to never go back to, I was lost going in and going out, stopped to ask a cop for directions, and he said, no lie, "What the Hell do you want?" I said i was lost and needed some help finding a street. He then said "get out of here, you are blocking traffic." I said thanks and drove off. That whole city is so tight, that I drove on more curbs in one day than I ever have. Not a good place for trucks.

Hi , I gave my blindside helper to my buddy Mike and order another one for me.
He simply love it !!! didnt want to give it back !!

When are you guys going to install cameras on your trucks ?

You would figure as screwed up as the industry is kissing insurance companies arses that this would be standard gear on all rigs by now.

swift has installed some bumper cameras on some of the volvos in their fleet.

First time i saw one was in a truck stop near columbus, and it was on a US Express truck or something. thought it was pretty cool....gives you a good idea, but cant really judge distance very well. Would think a properly adjusted RH mirror that you can turn out electrically would be better.

Blind side backing should have been a thing of the past 20 years ago, this technology has existed for decades now.

Hell they had sensors 20 years ago too that could judge distance, think curb feelers !! :lol2:

I agree with you 100%, picking up my load yesterday I was backing to the door, nice wide open spot, all the room in the world, but I was having a little difficulty, still getting used to this long nose pete and its lack of steer radius, anyway another driver decided to hop out and spot me, THEN the dock man decides to come out and spot me, and of course both of them are giving me conflicting directions, and by the time I had the trailer lined up with the door, I had to do like 5 pull ups because of those 2 morons, and I was like, you know, if I just did it my damn self I would of been done 10 minutes ago and with much less pull ups.

I hate getting used to this truck though, makes me look like a swift rookie trying to back up :(. When I delivered this morning it was interesting, had to back in off the street and do an S Curve to get it to the dock (Where was kevin with the direct 911 link?!?!)

Actually, a newbie swift driver could have done it with just 4 pull ups. Still getting use to that long nose pete? Tell me, did you get that so you could fit in with all the 2 year drivers?? Let me know when you get that 4ft tall gear shifter, velvet ceiling installed and put more chrome than the sun knows what to do with. Then and only then will your transfer to the dark side be complete.....

Only second time I bumped to dock with it, and I have been on the dark side for a long time! Time to reveal my secret darth alter-ego and take over the empire.

Also I don't like tall gear shifters, velvet is too hard to maintain. Luckily the owner of the truck has already spent all of the money to chrome it out :) Don't worry, I will pass you with my nice shiny chrome trailer, and stay in just the right spot as to send all of that chrome reflected sun to you, then you can call 911 and ask them what to do.

And ill laugh at you as you pass me, cause you seem to put the most emphysis on the need to 'be somebody' by trying to look like something more than your typical 'hobby trucker'. And when i go O/O, i'll still drive 62-64 while you feel the need to drive 70 because you think you're better than everyone else on the road because "i got a new pete". Not to mention i will spend less on my fuel bill than you, which puts more spendable cash in my back pocket (or in my maintence account).

And again, the need to have 80% of ones truck covered in chrome just shows me a driver in desperate need for attention. Why? because his was forced to live with one of his divorced parents, and that parent didnt give him the attention he needed when he attended junior high.

have fun with that new pete, hobby trucker

LOL, they need to give both of you guys a raise !! :lol2: :clap:

I'm a company driver buddy, I don't pay fuel. It is a company truck, owner chromed it out, which I don't mind one bit. But I don't have to pay for it, so I will enjoy it.

Even better. You got a leg up on me............actually put your leg down, cause i can tell from here you need a shower. ;-)