Trailer Graveyard

So I'm halfway through an 8 week trucking school program and we are doing out on the road driving, usually only a couple hundred miles in a day split with another student (two students plus teacher observing and giving directions. Yesterday we were down in Hannibal, mo. practicing shifting on the ridiculous hills and nontrucker friendly roads of Hannibal, when we passed through an eerie trucking graveyard. A local tow truck service nearby stores damaged trailers until company's come to reclaim them. Quite a few smashed and torn open trailers, about half of them swift. Our instructor told us to not be one of those guys lol.

So I'm halfway through an 8 week trucking school program and we are doing out on the road driving, usually only a couple hundred miles in a day split with another student (two students plus teacher observing and giving directions. Yesterday we were down in Hannibal, mo. practicing shifting on the ridiculous hills and nontrucker friendly roads of Hannibal, when we passed through an eerie trucking graveyard. A local tow truck service nearby stores damaged trailers until company's come to reclaim them. Quite a few smashed and torn open trailers, about half of them swift. Our instructor told us to not be one of those guys lol.

All the roads that you might train on, and they chose that one. I'd say it's probably not an accident :)

Yeah, when you see smashed up cabs and trailers it makes the risks seem very real all of a sudden. I can still remember being at a company terminal one time when a tow truck brought in what remained of a tractor that had rolled. It was just shredded and torn open like a tin can. It had bungee cords and duct tape holding the pieces together so they could get it back to the terminal. The driver had been killed in the wreck. That kind of stuff will certainly make you stop and think for a moment.

Yeah, when you see smashed up cabs and trailers it makes the risks seem very real all of a sudden. I can still remember being at a company terminal one time when a tow truck brought in what remained of a tractor that had rolled. It was just shredded and torn open like a tin can. It had bungee cords and duct tape holding the pieces together so they could get it back to the terminal. The driver had been killed in the wreck. That kind of stuff will certainly make you stop and think for a moment.

That reminds me of the picture they showed us when I had to take extra training after my accident/incident. They were telling us to never out-drive our field of vision. In other words, if it's dark and you can only see 300 ft in front of you, drive slowly enough that you can stop fast enough by the time you see an upcoming obstruction. Anyways, they showed us a picture of a Swift cab that was demolished. The driver had been going too fast in a sandstorm and crashed into the truck in front of him. The Swift driver didn't make it either. It definitely made an impression on me.