It happens to all of us sooner or later.

[Uturn2001]

Ok experienced drivers, let us show the newbies that things happen to all of us, that none of us are perfect by sharing a mistake or an embarrassing moment since we started driving.

An here is mine:

I was picking up at an SC Johnson plant one time and what was suppose to be a simple drop and hook turned into a nightmare. Normally when I pick up there I drop my trailer in a designated lot, grab the loaded one, get the bills and I am gone, but this one time they asked me to spot the trailer in one of their indoor docks.

As with most of these docks it was poorly lit and the interior was heavily shadowed due to the daylight. As is my habit I walked the dock area first to check for potential hazards and I even got out an looked many times while backing in. Through all of this I never seen an overhead valve used to flush the fire sprinkler system for that particular warehouse. It stuck out about a foot from the roof beam it ran along and just low enough for a trailer to hit it, and yep I hit it.

At first, through my mirror, it looked like there was sand or something pouring down from the ceiling, but when I got out to look at what it was I soon realized it was water.

I quickly pulled my truck out of the bay and went inside to report the flood but was unable to find anyone. When I left that warehouse to go and try to find someone in the next building I was met at the door by a plant firefighting team in full haz mat gear. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Apparently when I hit the valve it caused a loss of pressure in the system and sounded the fire alarm, and not just for the plant but for every fire department in a 20 mile radius. :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: I felt about 2 inches tall at that moment.

I did feel a little better, about a foot tall, when I was told by the maintence department they have to replace that valve about once a month because it is always getting hit, usually by the yard drivers who know it is there.

[The_Governor]

I did the same thing to an Daily Express driver that Werner did to the Capt.

All because I did'nt GOAL..................I've never been to proud or too stupid to get out of my truck and takke a look since.

[Big_Dave]

Ok experienced drivers, let us show the newbies that things happen to all of us, that none of us are perfect by sharing a mistake or an embarrassing moment since we started driving.
Where do ya want me to start? :yikes: :rofl:

I've.........

1. Ripped a trailer door off. :wtf:

2. Clipped a El-track in Chicago, successfully doing about $7K in damages to the trailer. :wtf:

3. Dropped a trailer....after doing 3 tug tests, successfully bending 7 crossmembers the landing gear was attached to. :wtf:

4. Forgot to unhook the pigtail and gladhands before pulling out from under a trailer, scaring the crap outta me when all 3 smacked the back of the sleeper. :wtf:
5. Got stuck making a u-turn. I successfully and unwillingly lightened my wallet by $200 :wtf:
I'm not perfect by any means, but I do learn from my mistakes as the above mentioned screw-ups have NOT been repeated.................yet. ;) :rofl:

[Capt._Chaos]

I parked on the shoulder of an entrance ramp in Louisiana to "answer that call to nature" (I-49 had NO rest areas & very few truck stops 10 years ago).

As I walked back to my truck, I saw my right steer tire was sunk in deep & I wasn't going anywhere. I ended up eating a $165 tow truck bill.

I was in a situation where I accidentally pulled into the wrong driveway to a customer in Fargo, ND at 4:00 A.M. I backed out & didn't pay close enough attention. Before I knew it, my trailer tandems were in a ditch, off a sharp drop. :yikes: I had to eat another tow truck bill due to my own ignorance at the time.

Like Dave, I've unhooked from a few trailers & forgot to disconnect the air lines & light cord- OOPS! :rofl:

Just over a year ago, I put together a set of doubles at a U.P.S. yard in San Antonio and after I backed up the dolly under the rear trailer & hooked up the air lines & light cord, was trying to figure out why in the hell I couldn't move. Come to find out I forgot to open the air supply valves on the lead trailer. :wow:

[the_wolf]

I'll add something to this but Ive got an excuse :rofl: :rofl:

As you know Ive been around trucking all my life. A year back my dad worked with a company out of town and there was a drop lot right by our house that my dad took care of for them. He had a fellow driver at the same company that lived with us and became good friends. The friend brought in his truck and was heading out the gate when he saw me coming in because my dad was coming in with his trailer. This friend stopped his truck in the middle of the driveway and came over to me. My dad happend to be on the phone and I gave it to the friend because my dad had been trying to reach him for a couple of days.

I start thinking... my dad is coming down the road and the truck is in the middle of the driveway. The friend is on the phone so I ask him "You want me to move your truck?" Ive driven a truck before on private property so I figured hell I could at least move it out of the way on my own now. He said yeah go ahead because he knew the same thing. I jump in the truck and the plus was it was already turned around so i didnt have to back it up. All i had to do was pull it over to the side a little bit.

I jump in the truck and look around. I push the clutch down and put it in gear. Then I slowly let go of the clutch, the truck jumps and stalls. So I take it out of gear, push the clutch down and start it again. I put it back into gear and it does the same thing again I repeated with no results. By this time my dad had already squeezed by the semi in the driveway so I said well I guess theres no need to move it. I went over to my dad and told him what happend.

He laughed a little and looked at me for a sec and said "Did you release the parking brake?" I sat quiet and looked at the ground. LOL. Now i remember to release the parking brake before I move a truck!! LOL :rofl: :rofl:

[Rev.Vassago]

Back in my grain hauling days, I was loading chaff (a by broduct from the cleaning of the grain) down in Milwaukee. They ran out in their front bin, and wanted me to go around back to load the rest. This required driving over a bunch of railroad tracks, right where the splitters were. Got over just fine, but there was one problem - to get out, i had to back over these same sharp track selectors.

You guessed it - I popped 2 trailer tires, a drive, and a steer. Why I didn't stop after the first one, I don't know. But the bossman was awfully pizzed with the $1200 bill from the company that came out (especially on a load that paid a few hundred bucks).

[The_Governor]

Oh and before I forget...........................I ran over(really just barely clipped with my passenger side mirror)a porto-potty...............only thing was it was occupied by an un-documented Julio from south of the Rio Grande.

Can you say MUCHO STINKO :wow: :rofl:

[Jack5]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: .Now that's funny. No wonder I never cared to use them. I still don't. As far as my mishaps go,see Big Dave's post. They're pretty much similar to his.

[Randy]

Hope it's alright for a non-driver to post something! Here are a couple of things I have seen that I'm sure the driver's didn't feel to good about informing anyone.

North bound I-5 driver trying to make a U-turn in the center medium only problem was he tried it in Jan. affter having recieved a fair amount of rain and the section was a dirt center divider...burried the front end and both drives were also in the mud ...good news is he managed to keep the trailer from sticking out in the fast lane.

While attempting to deliver a single pallet to Fry's electronic here in Palo Alto a driver became lodged up against a cyclone fence while trying to make a turn from the narrow street he was on to get into the S/R docks ...how he did this I'm not sure but when I arrived I saw the intire lenght of the trailer right up against the fence and just back of the cab he had bent down that corner section. A construction crew was also working in the area and the backhoe driver came over and said he could lift up the rear of his trailer and slide him over ...it worked!

Had another driver try to take a ramp that is rough for a pick up and inpossible for a tractor trailer ...the tractor made it but not the trailer couldn't ...they had to close the ramp along with one lane of the road he was pulling off on the city had ...two police cars diverting traffic until the tow truck could get there ...on top it all the road is posted ...no truck route.

We have real bad access for those driver's delivering with anthing other then straight truck's but even they can run into problems on the campus. A driver caught a section of cyclone fence when he cut the turn to tight he pulled out about 20" of fencing ...two weeks later a driver for the same company caught another section and pulled out 30' of fencing then ran it over some employees cars before he stopped.


:cheers:
Randy

[LSMR]

I had to turn around and drive 100 miles to retrieve the dealers plate I left on a sold trailer I had delivered. :yikes:

[tommy]

I became a truck driver and a truck owner in the same day!!! :zzz:

[FannBlade]

Where do ya want me to start? :yikes: :rofl:

4. Forgot to unhook the pigtail and gladhands before pulling out from under a trailer, scaring the crap outta me when all 3 smacked the back of the sleeper. :wtf:


Damn I forgot that one......Same thing pulled out and scared HELL out of me, thought I hit something then saw about 8" of blue and red air hose hanging off of trailer.

I used to run oversize concrete wall panels . When I went to backed up under crane I ran over one on the bolt pads that was full of water.
When my trailer tire hit it the tire blew all the water out of it like a BOMB drenching couple buddies of mine :wacko:
Then after calling boss he said grab diff. trailer and stack that one....Good idea just happen to be another loaded trailer there,dropped empty back under loaded one pull forward and DROPPED it on the ground in the mud,not only was gear up all the way,it fell just past boards and sunk an extra foot!!

Just wasn't my day.

[crazycracker]

i have locked my keys in the truck so many times that it is not funny. But some of these are funny. I stopped on an entrance ramp south of T or C in NM. Walked back around and the door was locked all the doors were locked. So cell phone that was also in the truck. I broke a window to get in. I learned that if you break a window go for the big window. Its the same price as the small one but you save alot of money on labor. i have also locked them in the back of my trailer about 4 times. I locked my keys in the truck and a guy helping me to get into the truck broke the vent window.


I now have a t 600 and you can not lock your keys in the truck

[FannBlade]

That's it?

No more good stories????????

[Uturn2001]

That's it?

No more good stories????????

Looks like there are many who are too shy.

[scubadiver]

UT probably because we all done at least one of these over time.

[banditocincoocho]

Well....
1. Missed a turn in KY, took 70 miles (round trip) to make a u-turn!
No damage done, still delivered an hour or so early!
2. Made a turn -earlier that same day- gut told me NO, pride
(I guess) kept me from asking at the truck stop the night before!
First sign I saw said NO VEHICLES OVER 12K!
With some help from a not too happy resident of Sadieville,
we got the rig turned around! Again, no damage done!
3. Covington, KY (totally different time/trip!)
Missed another turn to
a customer.
Found a place to turn around, only to bury the tractor in not-so- frozen-ground!
Damage? The grass was tore up bad!! My pride!
A $175.00 tow bill and the tow was only about 75 feet!
Luckily the business I did the damage to was very understanding about it, and my company paid the tow bill!
I believe my honesty paid off that time!
.................and to think, I really don't mind Kentucky!! ;)

[shewolf]

So far (knock on wood) I don't have anything to add but its been a short 7 months and I have Hubby to help me with all the hard stuff like backing. :D And I'm driving a straight truck so no dont have to worry about trailers. :D


On the other hand Hubbys are numerous. He had a couple times where he failed to GOAL in the first year or so and it resulted in preventable accidents on his DAC report. I have to say he only barely clipped whatever he hit, didn't "deadcenter" it like happened to CC's truck. :yikes:

He also had a "not funny" DOT recordable accident his first 2 months of driving, this and the backing accidents still haunt him 6 years later when he goes to apply for a job.

He also forgot to unhook his airlines and light cord once.

One of the funniest things (remember the days of Park N View). We had the cables run under the bunk and out the side box door and he forgot to unhook "em before pulling out. Those things stretched for a ways before breaking, we were almost out of the lot, then TWANG! Bet that was funny for anyone watching! :D

Once when he was pulling a new trailer (pins for tandems locked in differently than the old wore out ones he was used to pulling). He didn't get the tandems locked back in properly, we went about 15 miles down the road and all was well until the first time we had to get on the brakes hard for a light. Then WHAM! He realized immediately what it was and luckily we didnt lose the tandems. He always doublechecked after that and I always reminded him. :D

Another time he went to deliver in a place where they were doing construction on the docks. They were building a new dock beside the one he had to back into so lots of hard-packed dirt. The lot was very small and surrounded by a fence. He had to back in from the street and then blindside into the dock. As soon as we arrived the guy says I hope you are ready for a challenge.

The dock was one of those that slopes back and had a high cement wall on each side. Somehow he got in there crooked and got the DOT bumper up on top of the wall so had to pull back out. There wasnt enough room to get the nose of his tractor around to straighten out. So he got the bright idea to unhook from the trailer, straighten the tractor and push the trailer around straight. Good idea, right? Except the hardpacked ground wasnt so hard after all and before he could get under the trailer again one side of the landing gear started sinking. Luckily he got the slides under the front of the trailer to keep it from going down further but he couldnt get back under it.

Sooo, the guy from the warehouse who had been directing him in conveniently disappeared about this time. :D Another guy came out who said he knew someone nearby who had a BIG forklift. He called this guy to bring the forklift over, they used it to lift one side of the trailer so Hubby could get back under it and all was well. Nobody even called Swift. :D Good thing 'cause I'm sure they would have called it a preventable accident like this next one.

Here's a good one to show newbies why you need to CYA. Never trust anyone when they say a minor thing is OK, get them to sign a statement showing no damage or stating you were not at fault.

During Hubby's first week solo (I was with him) we took a wrong turn near Columbus, OH. About the time we realized we were heading OUT of town, we saw a sign that said "No Trucks". The road is a country road, nothing on it and it was too far to back up. So we kept going, the first place we see that would have been possible to turn around was a fire station with a NO TRUCKS sign and a roped off lot. Beside it is another business with the same sign and a roped lot. It was about 9 pm and everything was closed up so nobody to ask for a good way out either.

So, right ahead is a stop light and a T intersection, neither way looks promising. We turn right and are still hoping for a turnaround. It is apparent we are on the main street of a little historic town, with cobblestone type streets.

First thing we see is a post office that might have enough room to use the lot to pull up into, then back out into the street and turn around. While Hubby is backing up a guy walks up and asks Whats up? Hubby tells him he's trying to get turned around and get the hell out of there and he offers to help guide him back into the street.

There are houses on the other side of the street and soon several other people come to watch and direct.

At one point, Hubby stops and asks if he's still OK back there and another man says Yeah you're OK, you are backing on the edge of my lawn but it's OK. Come on back.

He backs up another few inches and gets turned around. He then opens the door again and yells back to the guy and asks if all is OK. The guys repeats that everything is fine. Then the first guy who started helping gets in this car and leads us out of town.

A couple days later we get a Qualcomm message saying to call Safety about your accident of such and such date. Hubby calls and finds the homeowner called Swift and said Hubby backed onto his lawn and just took off without saying anything. :yikes: His word against ours so Swift ended up paying him $125 for his lawn for two sunken places in the grass about 6-9 inches long and Hubby ended up with a preventable accident on his DAC report.

[BANANA Unit #1]

I bumped a set of powerlines after getting a blizzard at DQ.