Profile For Frito

I did not ask, nor do I feel I need your permission nor anyone else's to disagree, but thank you. I tried to do it as politely as possible but got the initial response I expected in the same short order I expected.

I hesitated to even respond because I know just how quickly people with different opinions or even the slightest subtle suggestion of a complaint are immediately excoriated or become suspect on here. I haven't visited for well over a year for this very reason and the only reason I have recently is a renewed interest in the training materials (which are great) for a friend I'm helping get into the business.

I've done lots of things. As an airline pilot I was compensated for canceled flights, down time and maintenance delays. As an RN on the night shift once the patients were medicated and asleep I was paid to "sit and watch TV" at times. This is what businesses/professions that value and want to retain good employees do. I'm an accident free, on time, generally non complaining, self motivated, self reliant, trustworthy 600+ mile per day driver that is respected by both my company and my coworkers. I know at least a tiny bit about "how it works". If I'm delayed, I value my time and expect to be compensated. I make no excuses for that nor do I feel it reflects negatively upon me. I'm not even close to being bent out of shape over the 3 hours of detention I was paid fairly, on time, without hesitation or argument last week that pushed the take home to over $1000. Ive made my point and have no plans to visit the subject again nor argue further about it.

I respectfully but strongly disagree with Brett's assertion that detention pay should be dismissed or that expecting it somehow potentially makes you look bad. As an OTR driver out for weeks at the time there are numerous instances of uncompensated work associated with this profession. HHG miles, for example, rarely if ever seems to work in my favor. I have been allotted an unknown number of minutes in my lifetime and have chosen to sell some of them to a trucking company in exchange for money to provide for myself and family. Hundreds of miles from home, sitting alone in a vehicle I'm expected to operate safely and on time on behalf of the company, I don't think it's out of bounds to expect compensation for delays out of my control that affect my income, especially at locations that have poorly motivated and unsupervised staff that through their inefficiencies and incompetence are perpetuating my delay. Any assertion otherwise I believe diminishes the worth of both the driving profession in general and the driver specifically.

Hey Terri. I'm encouraging a friend of mine to look into the same school you are planning to attend. He lives in Cary. We are considering teaming. I've been driving a bit over a year. Might you know the typical class size and if there are slots in the October session? We will be researching the school more in depth the first of the week. Can't beat the tuition. The training materials here will certainly help you pass all required testing. Best of luck.

My company starts you at .37/mile, max at year 5 would be 45.5/mile I believe. Obviously an 8.5 cent difference. We are all driving the same average miles per month so the math is easy. I must admit I've never worked in a field where they increase your pay by 1 cent and expect you to feel like something important has happened.

Averitt has a large operation in the Dallas metro. No pet policy but an above average company IMHO worth considering.

I feel confident I've got this figured out even to the point of being able to explain it. Throw the mathematical equation out. It's not necessary as the chart in the atlas makes it very simple. First realize the word/term bridge has two meanings here. The first, which probably most readily comes to mind, is a structural man made bridge, for instance, the Golden Gate. The law was inacted to protect these man made structures from damage potentially caused by excessive concentrated weight. The amount of concentrated force exerted to the man made structural bridge as you drive across it varies with the span of distance between you axels. Axels close together equals lots of concentrated weight, axels spread apart equals lesser concentrated weight and therefore less potential for damage to the man made structural bridge below. The second meaning of the word "bridge" applies to the truck. The standard semi-truck has 3 bridges, two internal and one external. The "truck" bridge is defined as the span between any two sets of consecutive axels. As suggested, a standard semi has 3 bridges. The external bridge is from the centerline of the steer axel to the centerline of the rear most trailer tandem. The two inner bridges are A)from the centerline of the steer to the centerline of the rear drives and B) from the centerline of the front drives to the centerline of the rear most tandem. So, to " bridge out " your truck you need to know the distances between these three separate "truck bridges". Let's say the distance of inner bridge A) (the centerline of the steers to the centerline of the rear drives) is 16 feet. You enter the atlas chart and go down to 16 feet then across to "three axels" because that's the number of axels within this bridge ( the steers, the front drives and the rear drives). With this distance and number of axels we see that 48000 pounds is allowed on this one of three "truck bridges". You would look at your CAT scale ticket and add together your steer weight and your drive weight and need to be less than 48k to be legal. The next bridge to check is inner bridge "B", the distance between the centerline of the front drives and the centerline of the rear most tandem. Let's say that distance is 40 feet. Enter the chart at 40 feet, go over to "4" axels because that's what's in this bridge ( front drive, rear drive, front trailer tandem, rear trailer tandem) and we see that in this case 68500 is allowed. You would look at your CAT scale ticket, add together the weights of the drives and the weights of the trailer tandems, and need to be less than 68500 to be legal. Obviously since our max on these axes is 34k each for a total of 68k, we better be good. The last "truck bridge" to check is the external bridge... The long one between the centerline of the front steers and the centerline of the rear most tandem. Let's say this distance is 51 feet. We enter the chart at 51 feet, go over to "5 axels" because that's what's in this bridge ( the steers, front drive, rear drive, front trailer tandem, rear trailer tandem) and see that at this external truck bridge length we are good for 80,000 lbs. So in other words, to have your truck at gross weight, 80k, the distance between the steers and the rear most tandem must be at least 51feet. Have I gotten out of the truck with a measuring tape yet? No. But I now feel like if a DOT officer ever engages me about the bridge law I won't simply offer him/her a blank stare.

Thanks, yes I see that... The complexity of the calculations goes far to explain the blank stares and shrugged shoulders I've been getting when asking fellow drivers. Again, thanks. Your insight provided much more clarity than some perhaps more scholarly responses.

I just figured it out and it jives with our mathematicians calculations earlier in the post...if the distance between the center of the front drive axel and the center of the rearmost tandem axel is 39 feet with that being a set of 4 axels then 68000 is allowed. Shorten that distance to say 34 feet then only 64500 is allowed. It's getting clear as mud. I wonder if the safety dude that blew me off will let me borrow a measuring tape.

I think Rand Mcnalley has tried to make it easy with the handy chart/graph in the front of the atlas. I'll figure it out eventually.

Editor's Note: We have an excellent resource that will help you understand The Bridge Law and Axle To Kingpin Spacing so check that out.

So I visited one of our company cookouts today and attended the safety meeting offered. I approached the safety guru after the meeting to gain some clarity on the bridge law versus the states kingpin spacing requirements. While asserting that they were two different concepts and seeking advice on just how to affirm that post scale I am " bridge law legal" he got short with me stating that the kingpin distance and bridge laws were the same thing and that if I wanted to give the concept so much thought perhaps I shouldn't have gotten into trucking. I'm seeking advice on how to apply the chart on page A15 of the atlas to my standard semi-trailer set up. I'm finding it a bit confusing. When I pop off the cat scale I want to be able to quickly reference this chart and my 41' mark and be able to say with confidence... Yep I'm legal. Thanks for any insight/advice.