Driving In New York

And what's the 2nd toughest city in the country to drive through? This is more up for debate but I would vote Pittsburgh. There are three rivers that converge in the middle of the mountains, creating the need for a maze of steep hills, tight streets, and bridges going in every which direction, many of which are restricted to trucks, that are a nightmare to navigate.

Eeek, I drove through Pittsburgh I think the second month into my career, a tiny little place called Chris' Candies. If any of you Central drivers have been there, or any other drivers, you know how narrow the streets are to get there. The place is down one of the narrowest streets imaginable, right in the heart of a school area, park, church, and old historic buildings. I should have known something was up when I made a wrong turn going there, turned left when my gps told me to go right (clearly couldn't make a right turn or I would have taken out a bunch of cars) so I turned left onto an overpass. Well in my fluster of trying to get to my appointment on time, I didn't realize there was a median on the overpass. Didn't turn wide enough, things were going well when I heard a crrrraaaacccckkkk. Not good. Damn trailer was stuck on the median!

Well after the first 30 seconds of that awful realization and seeing my trucking career flash before my eyes, I did what any rookie would do...I kept driving forward and made it worse! Well after about five minutes and I don't know how many gawkers and people laughing and pointing at me, I somehow got the truck loose. (THANK YOU trucking God's!) Went back on the freeway and got off on the same exit and got lost again because my gps told me to turn right again even though I couldn't. Somehow I managed to get on the correct street, get to my delivery (by this time I am literally shaking and sweating like crazy, all the windows down even though it's 45 degrees outside) and I get to the office. They give me a door and I think ok, this shouldn't be a hard back. Another rookie mistake. I am literally backing for 30 minutes, I didn't realize that because of how the dock is set up, you have to pivot the truck at about a 45 degree angle so the trailer is straight. Every time I was straight backing, there was a gap in the trailer and dock about 15 degrees. Or whatever the degrees are.

A local driver comes down the street and sees how much trouble I'm having (by this time I've got about four dock workers and a supervisor outside shouting directions all at once about how to turn the trailer) and the local driver walks up to me and asks if I need help. Well by this time it's about an hour in and all I want to do is get the truck parked so I can unload and sleep. I say yes, he jumps in the truck and wouldn't you know, less than five minutes and a 45 degree angle parked truck later, we're in the door.

Oh but it's not over yet! Well as I am leaving, since the local driver needs to get into the door I'm at, I move my truck and back up. Well people, lets just say they don't say GOAL for nothing. I am backing up and looking in my mirrors and thinking, "I've got room." Rookie. Well as I'm backing up, I see a red car start to shift a few feet to the side. I look up and say "surely that wasn't me!" Get out and investigate, well the damage is done now. I just punched a dent in someone's car in my haste to back up and get out of the way. I am literally livid with myself as I rush to the dock doors and tell one of the workers I hit someone's car. (Hey if it were my car that got hit, I'd want someone to tell me, wouldn't you. No hit and run, and plus, you never know who's watching) They track the guy down and I told him I hit his car, how sorry I am and I am literally prepared to take a punch because this guy looks ****ed. He looks me up and down, and says "This is the third time this has happened, truck drivers always hit my car." I resist the urge to make a smart remark, like "If you know this happens, why in the flying f--k would you continue to park you're car there???" We exchange information, I contact safety and I go into my truck and sit there for about a half hour, wondering if I'm going to have a job when I get back to Salt Lake City for safety training.

Well the moral of the story is that things will happen in trucking, and no matter WHAT kind of day you are having, who is rushing you, the weather, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS get out of your truck and look when you are having second thoughts. Even when you are having good thoughts, it's better to check first and remove all doubts. Since it wasn't a serious accident, I still got to drive a truck, but after that incident, I vowed to always get out and look no matter what the circumstances were, and to never go to Chris' Candies again!

Brett, I know you were not trying to be funny but your story was hilarious

Well I was trying to tell it in a fun way. I mean, at the time it's happening there's nothing funny about it! But that's one thing I became aware of very early in my career. As long as you don't hit anything, everything dramatic that happens will eventually become a great story to share with everyone. So that became the mantra that I would use to keep myself relaxed during stressful times. All I would focus on is not hitting anything. Everything else that happened was only temporary. Soon enough it would be over and you have another notch in your belt and some crazy memories!

Schneider Bulk training was in Coraopolis, PA. Right next to Pittsburgh. Was a lot of fun driving through Pittsburgh learning to deal with liquid surging in the tanker. Definitely good training climbing all those hills and dealing with those super narrow streets. I think you may be right about it being 2nd worst city to truck in Brett.

Weehawken NJ from Jersey City NJ anyone? taking only surface streets? Forgot about it. Now throw in a full sized OTR truck with a 53' trailer and now you are a situation that you are 2 secs from a serious traffic mess up at anytime.....Yeah done that.

Pittsburgh PA is in my opinion the worst. At least for me. To me NY is very easy. Why? Because I mentally prepare my self and make up my mind that I will get through it. I KNOW the traffic will suck and I KNOW the streets are narrow and I expect the worst there.

Its call mental preparedness. The mind is a very funny thing. If you are mentally prepared for a situation then its not as bad as it really seems.

When i first started driving everything was new so not only did I have to deal with the reality still, learning how to drive the truck,almost like the shock you would feel if was one came out of no where and hit ya with 9 lbs hammer to the face, but i also had to take in and watch for traffic,not hitting stuff, angry people wanting to pound my face in for having the nerve to slow them down, and all that was going down roads that on 30 foot trucks were supposed to be on.

But being mentally prepared and accepting this before hand changes the way your brain processes everything that is in that area. Your brain processes the traffic instead of focusing on it which allows you to move onto more important factors you need to be watching for.

I think you get the point. Being prepared mentally for ANY challenge will get you through 90% of anything that will happen while your in a truck.

Right on guyjax!