This afternoon I dropped off a trailer at a rail yard,* the last bit of business before taking the truck to the Atlanta terminal and myself home.
Traffic on I-285** was moderate-to-heavy, and moving well. Since I wasn't going to pick up another load, the dispatcher didn't try to find an empty for me. So this was one of those rare times when I didn't have a 53-foot tail to wag in traffic. This simplifies driving quite a bit. And in a few more miles, I would be getting into a compact car, which would simplify things even more. For some reason, I was cheerful all of a sudden.
I have to remember not to be cheerful while on the job.
About a hundred yards or two ahead of me, a car spun out and blew a tire--or blew a tire and spun out. Hard to tell when you're in a hurry. What I noticed was that he lurched, whirled, and ended up sideways in the lane, not moving. Right in front of me.
Fortunately, even when I am preoccupied with happy thoughts, I'm still paranoid about following distance. Even with the surprise of it, and the uncertainty of which lane he'd end up in, I was still on the brakes in plenty of time. There shouldn't have been any problem stopping.
Except for the fact that I was bobtail. I mentioned once, I believe, that a tractor without a trailer has practically no weight on the rear wheels. I may have even mentioned the picture I saw of one braking too hard and turning a front somersault. It makes me less enthusiastic on the subject of brake pedal pressure, for some reason.
And then there was the fully loaded tractor trailer behind me. Don't want to stop TOO quick.
And the lanes on both sides were full of cars. Cars that were now moving considerably faster than I was. Translation: Changing lanes to dodge wasn't an option.
So there I sat, trying to feel how close I was to losing traction on the back wheels. And how much luck the fellow behind me was having matching me. And watching the fellow in the car watch me (the driver's seat was right in front of my bumper--of course). It was an interesting few seconds. But at length, I came to a stop--a good three feet from the driver's door--and waited for the big fellow behind me to arrive. I wondered idly how hard he'd hit.
Two or three seconds went by, and no bump. So I stopped scrunching and looked in the mirror again. And there he was.
I'd been right--he hadn't had time to stop. So he'd started a lane change instead. Had he seen an opening? Or taken a chance that nobody was going to argue the point? Fine by me, either way--he'd come to a stop about six feet past the back of my truck, slanting across both right lanes of the Interstate. He'd missed me by a good ten inches.
Well, we were both stopped. And we were blocking all the traffic in both those lanes. So we just sat there with our flashers on until the fellow in the car got his head together, his engine started, and his car off onto the shoulder. Then we both went on our way. As the other truck passed me, he grinned and waved and shrugged. I did the same.
And I went on to the terminal. And from there home.
Scary, huh?
Um, not really.
And that scares me.
I came closer to actually hurting someone today than I have the whole time I've been driving these things, I think. But it's not that different from the kind of thing that happens to me pretty much every day. Between drivers who think they can dance with elephants, weather that makes the road invisible and untouchable at the same time, schedules that put me behind a wheel when my brain insists on dreaming, and a hundred other things, those ten seconds may have been one of the more straightforward problems I've had thrown at me from out of nowhere. Both I and (I think) the other driver were as amused as we were relieved.
Just another day on the job.
Now THAT's scary.
-----
*The reason I was thinking--hypothetically, of course--about the ethical conundrum of the previous entry.
**The Dreaded Perimeter Highway, that loops clear around metropolitan Atlanta. Said to have been built as a last line of defense in case of another Northern invasion--just let them get on it and they'd never figure out where they were. If so, it won't work--I've seen the D. C. Beltway. But it was a good try...
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Ethical conundrum
For those of you considering this career, here is a test question that won't be on any of the state tests, and probably won't come up in your interviews (assuming you interview for a position like this). Nevertheless, it is a problem that might well come up in the course of your duties. It hasn't happened to me, of course...
You drive to the shipper,* drop the empty trailer you brought with you, and pick up the trailer the shipper has thoughtfully pre-loaded for you to carry away. From previous experience with this customer (as well as the way the truck strains to move this thing), you know the load is probably heavy--perhaps as heavy as you're allowed to haul. You are therefore pleased to see that the customer has their own scale on-site.
It's a simple small-platform single scale, so you pull your steering tires up on the platform and make a note of your weight. No problem there, not that you usually have one. The steer tires mostly carry the weight of the engine and such--much of the weight of the tractor, in other words.
So you pull up further and make a note of the weight on your drive wheels. Again, no problem. A good two or three thousand pounds light, in fact
Not so good--that weight has to be somewhere.
So you pull up further and make a note of the weight on the trailer's tandem wheels. And sure enough. You're WAY over.
Far enough over, you decide after a few moments of calculating, that you can't adjust the wheel spacing enough to make the thing legal for Georgia roads. You'll either be half a ton too heavy on the tandem wheels, or the distance between the drive wheels and the tandems will be a foot or two past the legal limits.** And the DOT will come after you for either one.
At this point, the problem would be simple enough. Give the customer the bad news and let them glare at you as they take the trailer back and rearrange the load. You won't be popular, but you won't (technically) be in trouble with the customer, or your employer. And you GUARANTEED won't be in trouble with the DOT. The others might get you fired. The DOT will fine you***--and if you do this too often you might lose your license. And then where'll you be?
Like I said. Simple, if not painless. But no, you have to be thorough. And, technically, you're not really taking this load through much of Georgia. You're taking it to a rail yard, where the nice people will put it on a special flatcar and haul it to Chicago. From whence some other driver will take it the rest of the way to its destination. Which, you notice, is still in Illinois. So you pull out your handy "trucker's road atlas"--the one with the section on weight restrictions from various states. And sure enough--Illinois has different "bridge laws" than Georgia does. The wheels can be a good foot and a half further back there.
Quick calculation. Yep. That is enough to get the back wheels down to a legal weight. You won't be legal in Georgia, but the other guy will be legal in Illinois.
Additional information: There are no government scale houses between you and the rail yard. Unless somebody has a brainstorm and sets up a portable scale on the way, nobody will ever notice that your back wheels are overweight. On the other hand, a sufficiently alert state trooper MIGHT notice that the wheels are too far back. Not likely, but possible. And you are, after all, knowingly breaking the law.
So. Do you---
a)
Tick off the customer?
Go back to the manager and tell him you can't take the load unless they completely rearrange the 20-plus tons of stuff they've already loaded and sealed inside the trailer?
b)
Split the risk?
If you set the wheels to Georgia's legal limits, you'll be way overweight on the trailer wheels. But the chances of your getting caught are real close to zero. And if the guy in Illinois takes it past a scale without weighing it first, that's his problem, right?****
c)
Pick up the bomb?
If you set your wheels so it'll be legal in Illinois, you're breaking the law in Georgia. The chances of getting caught are bigger than in option b) (a policeman with a sharp set of eyes would be enough), but they're still small. And the guy in Chicago will be just fine.
Please answer a), b), or c). Then turn the page...
This question will not be graded--now. But I can just about guarantee you'll run into things like this at least once a week.
Don't you hate word problems?
-----
*We will not, at this time, discuss the turn you missed on the way, or the "no trucks allowed" road you were forced to follow to find a place to get back to the main highway, or how odd it was that the "no trucks allowed" sign was a good half mile past the last possible side road that would have allowed you to escape this necessity.
**I think I've mentioned that the "bridge laws" that regulate weight and balance on these trucks also regulates wheelbase. I'm not sure why having the back wheels too far from the drive wheels threatens a bridge, but there it is...
***Technically, the DOT fines the company you work for. If you can persuade the company you had no way of knowing about the problem, they MIGHT not dock your pay to cover the fine. But we've already eliminated that option here, haven't we?
****Adding to the complications here is the nature of the guy picking up the load in Chicago. On the one hand, it may be a local driver. They have a tendency (or so I've been told--by some of THEM) to simply go around the scales and ignore any possible weight problems. After all, they know where all of the scales are--and the good detours. On the other hand, it might not be a local driver. I've been sent to pick up trailers at rail yards myself--just because I happened to be handy when the local drivers were already spoken for. And if it were me on the other end...
You drive to the shipper,* drop the empty trailer you brought with you, and pick up the trailer the shipper has thoughtfully pre-loaded for you to carry away. From previous experience with this customer (as well as the way the truck strains to move this thing), you know the load is probably heavy--perhaps as heavy as you're allowed to haul. You are therefore pleased to see that the customer has their own scale on-site.
It's a simple small-platform single scale, so you pull your steering tires up on the platform and make a note of your weight. No problem there, not that you usually have one. The steer tires mostly carry the weight of the engine and such--much of the weight of the tractor, in other words.
So you pull up further and make a note of the weight on your drive wheels. Again, no problem. A good two or three thousand pounds light, in fact
Not so good--that weight has to be somewhere.
So you pull up further and make a note of the weight on the trailer's tandem wheels. And sure enough. You're WAY over.
Far enough over, you decide after a few moments of calculating, that you can't adjust the wheel spacing enough to make the thing legal for Georgia roads. You'll either be half a ton too heavy on the tandem wheels, or the distance between the drive wheels and the tandems will be a foot or two past the legal limits.** And the DOT will come after you for either one.
At this point, the problem would be simple enough. Give the customer the bad news and let them glare at you as they take the trailer back and rearrange the load. You won't be popular, but you won't (technically) be in trouble with the customer, or your employer. And you GUARANTEED won't be in trouble with the DOT. The others might get you fired. The DOT will fine you***--and if you do this too often you might lose your license. And then where'll you be?
Like I said. Simple, if not painless. But no, you have to be thorough. And, technically, you're not really taking this load through much of Georgia. You're taking it to a rail yard, where the nice people will put it on a special flatcar and haul it to Chicago. From whence some other driver will take it the rest of the way to its destination. Which, you notice, is still in Illinois. So you pull out your handy "trucker's road atlas"--the one with the section on weight restrictions from various states. And sure enough--Illinois has different "bridge laws" than Georgia does. The wheels can be a good foot and a half further back there.
Quick calculation. Yep. That is enough to get the back wheels down to a legal weight. You won't be legal in Georgia, but the other guy will be legal in Illinois.
Additional information: There are no government scale houses between you and the rail yard. Unless somebody has a brainstorm and sets up a portable scale on the way, nobody will ever notice that your back wheels are overweight. On the other hand, a sufficiently alert state trooper MIGHT notice that the wheels are too far back. Not likely, but possible. And you are, after all, knowingly breaking the law.
So. Do you---
a)
Tick off the customer?
Go back to the manager and tell him you can't take the load unless they completely rearrange the 20-plus tons of stuff they've already loaded and sealed inside the trailer?
b)
Split the risk?
If you set the wheels to Georgia's legal limits, you'll be way overweight on the trailer wheels. But the chances of your getting caught are real close to zero. And if the guy in Illinois takes it past a scale without weighing it first, that's his problem, right?****
c)
Pick up the bomb?
If you set your wheels so it'll be legal in Illinois, you're breaking the law in Georgia. The chances of getting caught are bigger than in option b) (a policeman with a sharp set of eyes would be enough), but they're still small. And the guy in Chicago will be just fine.
Please answer a), b), or c). Then turn the page...
This question will not be graded--now. But I can just about guarantee you'll run into things like this at least once a week.
Don't you hate word problems?
-----
*We will not, at this time, discuss the turn you missed on the way, or the "no trucks allowed" road you were forced to follow to find a place to get back to the main highway, or how odd it was that the "no trucks allowed" sign was a good half mile past the last possible side road that would have allowed you to escape this necessity.
**I think I've mentioned that the "bridge laws" that regulate weight and balance on these trucks also regulates wheelbase. I'm not sure why having the back wheels too far from the drive wheels threatens a bridge, but there it is...
***Technically, the DOT fines the company you work for. If you can persuade the company you had no way of knowing about the problem, they MIGHT not dock your pay to cover the fine. But we've already eliminated that option here, haven't we?
****Adding to the complications here is the nature of the guy picking up the load in Chicago. On the one hand, it may be a local driver. They have a tendency (or so I've been told--by some of THEM) to simply go around the scales and ignore any possible weight problems. After all, they know where all of the scales are--and the good detours. On the other hand, it might not be a local driver. I've been sent to pick up trailers at rail yards myself--just because I happened to be handy when the local drivers were already spoken for. And if it were me on the other end...
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