What Would You Do?

Ok so let me lay out the scenario for you that I came across.

It was around 4am so still get dark out. I'm traveling west on the mass pike just east of Springfield. Two lane road and I come up on a YRC truck pulling doubles. I notice right away something wrong. His rear trailer has no lights. No brake lights, no markers, nothing. I make my pass quickly because we're going uphill and in always ten times faster than doubles going up. I wanted to warn him but I didn't want to lose momentum plus I had a line of cars behind me. I also have no cb in the truck. So I have my head set and called YRC dispatch to let them know to call that driver.

Now I pose a couple questions. First. How would you have handled it or would you even bother? Also this eats at me, do you think I got that driver in trouble by calling dispatch? I don't want that but I also didn't want him to get a ticket. That was the only way I could think of to help him out.

Thoughts?

You did the right thing. Always err on the side of safety, I say. Personally, I always let a driver know if there's a problem with his/her equipment when possible.

Heavy C, this actually happened to me once, only I was the driver who had his trailer lights out. Somehow my pig tail had gotten strained in a sharp turn or something and pulled loose, but was still in the socket. It was just getting dark and I had not noticed it yet. Another driver pulled up next to me on the highway and stayed there even with me until I looked over at him. As soon as we made eye contact he started making hand signals to me, and remarkably I understood his sign language - so I pulled over just as quick as I could safely do so and corrected the problem.

I always had a cb on when driving and turned it off after i parked.

Problem with a cb is our trucks don't have them and we rotate trucks so I'm certainly not buying one to keep switching which truck it's in.

I always had a cb on when driving and turned it off after i parked.

not everyone has them, some drivers in day cabs dont have em either especially tho's that slip seat or bounce from trucks.

Heavy, I'd have done the same.

You might consider getting a little hand-held CB or something. Let me tell ya.....it's only a matter of time before you wind up in a situation where you desperately need a CB. There might be something dangerously wrong with your equipment one day that you're not aware of and a 10 second warning over the CB could be a life saver.

Problem with a cb is our trucks don't have them and we rotate trucks so I'm certainly not buying one to keep switching which truck it's in.

I've got a Cobra 29LX (with both pigtail & cig lighter power cords), and Wilson W1000 mag-mount antenna that I can install in a vehicle in under 5 minutes.

I don't think you're a snitch - you were tying to be a friend and help another driver out. And by helping him get the situation resolved - in addition to perhaps preventing him from getting pulled over - you may have prevented some drunk/inattentive driver from ending up as part of his ICC Bumper.

Rick

I work for YRC and doubt that you got anyone in trouble. Doesn't matter how many times drivers check them those darn pig tails between the trailers can find a way to work loose.

To add another level of learning to this thread for new drivers I'll add that he may have known the lights were out. I say this because I've had it happen a couple times but in one case I did not immediately pull over. I was going from Indianapolis to charleston WV traveling on US35. I was on the section that is two lanes and winding road with no shoulder. Now there are a couple of places that I could stop but I decided it was actually more safe to keep going and wait until it was back to split 4 lane. At either of the available places I would have had to come to a very slow speed before pulling off. This on a road where most trucks are doing sixty and no where for them to go if they did not notice me with my lights out.

I HATE driving with no lights on a trailer but in this case there was no way i was going to take the chance of pulling over. Sometimes you have to weigh the risks and do something you normally would not do because it is actually the safer action.

BTW Heavy most drivers would appreciate you going out of your way to try and keep people safe.

Woody