Blocking Traffic, Or: The Story Of The Steel Shipper I Went To Yesterday

Hi Brett,

I'm really glad you weighed in here, at the time I felt like I did what I had to do and it was just an interesting road story to tell, then with some of the responses here I was starting to doubt myself. When it comes down to it that was the place they manufacture the greasy bars and they move them by crane so they really had no way of getting them out to me anywhere else.

I have to say Joe's being a bit reactionary. You wouldn't quit your job any more than any of the other thousands of drivers that have had to back into that place have quit theirs. You find the safest solution possible and get the job done. I normally wouldn't have responded to that but since almost everyone on this website is brand new to trucking I don't want thousands of new drivers quitting their job every time they have to block traffic or blind-side into a spot. If your former boss didn't like blind-side backing, how did he feel about snow, heavy traffic, high winds, steep mountain grades, and the countless dangers you come across every day of your life out there? Seems kinda silly to pick blind-side backing as being entirely too dangerous when every day you do things things ten times more dangerous out there.

Listen, there's nothing easy about trucking and sometimes it requires some difficult decision making. But there is no way to take the risk out of it completely. It's a risky job. A great driver knows how to minimize the risk and make safe, prudent decisions out there.

Daniel has an excellent point. If you get in a spot where you really have no idea what to do, call the safety department and see if they can be of some assistance.

The company I worked for was more or less a delivery service. Three states. OH, WV, and KY. Usually. Once in a great while we would go into PA. But not often. Not many hills or other dangerous terrain around. And as far as the weather. If it was bad, I mean road closing bad, when you got to work, if you made it in, you sat in the shop all day or went back home.

I wasn't there long enough to be involved in that. That is what other drivers told me.

A few years ago, I got my "hands on" the report the FMCSA had done concerning cell phone usage. The original, final draft was online for anyone to read. Which I did. However in my searching, I also came across the original rough draft that wasn't made public through FMCSA's website. It was over 250 pages. It took almost 3 hours but I did download it.

It was interesting reading. I finally got it read after about a month. While I didn't understand all of it, there were several things I thought very interesting. Not only was the company investigating cell phone usage. It was looking into statistics of several issues.

The 34 hour rule was one of them. It got changed due to this study. The study also suggested to change the 30 minute rest break to 15 minutes every 3 to 4 hours. The FMCSA is still looking into that. The bus industry has gone to 15 minutes every 3 1/2 hours.

The study also looked at night driving. Winter driving. Looked at length of drive time again vs. down time.

A few of the recommendations by the study were: (Recommendations don't mean they will ever be put into effect. Just what they recommend due to their findings)

1. Winter driving. Shutdown all trucking if a winter storm warning is in effect. Not just an advisory or a watch, but an actual warning.

2. Limit driving time from 5am to midnight. Their conclusion, with medical advice, was that human's by nature are not nocturnal creatures. By nature, we, humans, are not meant to be awake during the night time hours. So it would be safer to limit to only "daytime" driving.

3. The 34 hr rule. We all know how that has changed.

4. Driving hours. If the 15 minute break were instituted, then drive time could be increased to 12 hours, but further study needed done.

There were many other issues discussed in that study. Redesigning the dash board so a driver would not have to look down and take his/her eyes off the road so much. They found that cell phone usage and looking at your dashboard were equal as far as distractions go. But you can't drive without keeping an eye on your gauges.

I deleted the download off my computer because it took up too much space on my laptop. But I did keep the web site I went too. However, the site is no longer there. It has been taken down. I can't find anything about the study at all now.

As far as the backing. You mention calling the police for help. The way I read the post, the police would be no help. The driver had to hurry because if he were caught, he would be given a ticket. So no help there.

And I didn't mean quit a job. I meant being fired because you didn't want to do something unsafe.

I agree. There are 1,000s of docks out there in the real world. And many are not the safest in the world. But to completely block a 55MPH 4 lane. Without stopping traffic. Which, I didn't read that anyone stopped traffic. That is insane to me.

It is one thing to block a city street. Or a two lane road with a slow speed limit. But a 4 lane highway at 55MPH.

Oh well.

I would have Safety on speed dial if I had docks like that to back into.

Keep it safe out here, the life you save might be your own. Joe S.