What Would A Pro Driver Do?

Hey guys ive searched and i have seen nothing like this topic so here it goes. I want ALL you guys to share your most challenging experiences as a trucker and what you did to make it. These experiences can be anything from your most horrible thing that happened to you while driving or your difficulty adjusting to the road etc. If its on your mind and you have some advice, say it! My hope is that someone who reads this thread will see a situation that pertains to them , or may happen to them in the future (driving experiences etc.) and they remember the advice on this thread or can come back and read it at anytime. Thanks guys ! Please share. Keep on trucking, keep on posting !

Recently in upstate New York I was traveling on a truck route and came up to a spot where I was going to have to pass under an overpass that was marked as 12'-8" high. Well, my truck is 13' tall.

What to do?

I had a C.R. England driver riding right on my tail for the past thirty minutes. We were on a two lane state highway and he just couldn't get a break to pass me, but he sure was keeping right on me. So in a quick decision making process on how to deal with this low clearance ahead I pulled over to the shoulder and let the other driver get past me. His truck had a condo sleeper like mine, and I figured if he tore his truck up while going under that overpass I would know to turn it around and take a different route. I watched him sail right through that thing with just enough clearance to make it, so I figured I was good to go. I figured that as hard as he was pushing on my back side, he must have been familiar with the road and knew that it was okay. It was a new route for me to travel.

In New York often times the bridge heights are not correct, because they are designed to be more accurate when there is some snow pack on the road. I figured it's better to let someone else go through that thing first, and then I'd have a much better idea of what that height actually was.

Early in my career I was driving back empty from Fort Bragg, CA down us 20. (A very curvy 2 lane road with few passing lanes) Well I had another truck riding my ass much like six string. I came up to curve with some extra room on the dirt shoulder so I decided to grab the shoulder and let the jag off pass. Well he passed me so I started to get back on the road but only my left side tires were on the pavement and I started spinning out not moving.

I was going uphill and couldn't drive forward so I decided to try and back up on the pavement and get my right side tires on the pavement as well. But since I was on a left hand corner my 45 ft trailer began going over the lane I was traveling but I still couldn't get traction to move forward. I even tried engaging my inter axle and that wasn't helping.

Next a CHP officer stopped behind me and turned his disco lights on and began directing traffic since I was blocking a lane. I told him I was only able to roll backwards but I may be able to get all tires back on pavement and get going. He said "go ahead and try," so I did. BAD IDEA!! All I did was jacknife more and now was blocking both lanes with no more room to back up and still not able to move forward.

For the next two hours I sat in my truck completely blocking us 20 with cars backed up miles in each direction and some very angry people.

A wrecker finally got to me and pulled me back onto the road. I asked the chp officer if I needed to sign a ticket and he just shook his head and said, "no just get your ass moving and don't pull off the pavement again!". To this day some 15 years later I've never made the same mistake.

The moral of the story. Don't let some jag off in a hurry behind you dictate your driving. And keep your wheels on the pavement.

Recently in upstate New York I was traveling on a truck route and came up to a spot where I was going to have to pass under an overpass that was marked as 12'-8" high. Well, my truck is 13' tall.

What to do?

I had a C.R. England driver riding right on my tail for the past thirty minutes. We were on a two lane state highway and he just couldn't get a break to pass me, but he sure was keeping right on me. So in a quick decision making process on how to deal with this low clearance ahead I pulled over to the shoulder and let the other driver get past me. His truck had a condo sleeper like mine, and I figured if he tore his truck up while going under that overpass I would know to turn it around and take a different route. I watched him sail right through that thing with just enough clearance to make it, so I figured I was good to go. I figured that as hard as he was pushing on my back side, he must have been familiar with the road and knew that it was okay. It was a new route for me to travel.

In New York often times the bridge heights are not correct, because they are designed to be more accurate when there is some snow pack on the road. I figured it's better to let someone else go through that thing first, and then I'd have a much better idea of what that height actually was.

Recently in upstate New York I was traveling on a truck route and came up to a spot where I was going to have to pass under an overpass that was marked as 12'-8" high. Well, my truck is 13' tall.

What to do?

I had a C.R. England driver riding right on my tail for the past thirty minutes. We were on a two lane state highway and he just couldn't get a break to pass me, but he sure was keeping right on me. So in a quick decision making process on how to deal with this low clearance ahead I pulled over to the shoulder and let the other driver get past me. His truck had a condo sleeper like mine, and I figured if he tore his truck up while going under that overpass I would know to turn it around and take a different route. I watched him sail right through that thing with just enough clearance to make it, so I figured I was good to go. I figured that as hard as he was pushing on my back side, he must have been familiar with the road and knew that it was okay. It was a new route for me to travel.

In New York often times the bridge heights are not correct, because they are designed to be more accurate when there is some snow pack on the road. I figured it's better to let someone else go through that thing first, and then I'd have a much better idea of what that height actually was.

Excellent idea! Better to watch someone else make the mistake huh? Thats kind of the point of this thread! Ill remember this one for sure!

Early in my career I was driving back empty from Fort Bragg, CA down us 20. (A very curvy 2 lane road with few passing lanes) Well I had another truck riding my ass much like six string. I came up to curve with some extra room on the dirt shoulder so I decided to grab the shoulder and let the jag off pass. Well he passed me so I started to get back on the road but only my left side tires were on the pavement and I started spinning out not moving.

I was going uphill and couldn't drive forward so I decided to try and back up on the pavement and get my right side tires on the pavement as well. But since I was on a left hand corner my 45 ft trailer began going over the lane I was traveling but I still couldn't get traction to move forward. I even tried engaging my inter axle and that wasn't helping.

Next a CHP officer stopped behind me and turned his disco lights on and began directing traffic since I was blocking a lane. I told him I was only able to roll backwards but I may be able to get all tires back on pavement and get going. He said "go ahead and try," so I did. BAD IDEA!! All I did was jacknife more and now was blocking both lanes with no more room to back up and still not able to move forward.

For the next two hours I sat in my truck completely blocking us 20 with cars backed up miles in each direction and some very angry people.

A wrecker finally got to me and pulled me back onto the road. I asked the chp officer if I needed to sign a ticket and he just shook his head and said, "no just get your ass moving and don't pull off the pavement again!". To this day some 15 years later I've never made the same mistake.

The moral of the story. Don't let some jag off in a hurry behind you dictate your driving. And keep your wheels on the pavement.

When I was with my trainer he solely relied on his GPS. We were looking for a distribution center in Pennsylvania. His GPS told me make a right turn. I'm looking at a narrow two lane road heading into a wooded area. I say "Hey man, I don't think I should turn here" he said go ahead. A few miles later he was taking over due to VERY tight turns on a back country road. Miraculously, we stopped at a stop sign and a truck driver on home time told us how to safely get where we were heading. I pretty much rely on my GPS but if it looks like a bad idea, I won't follow it. Thank goodness mine hadn't done that to me. So I ALWAYS check my addresses on Google maps for a little recon and so far so good. That saved me a couple days ago. Tipped in the address for a truck stop ahs the address was in the middle of a neighborhood. Turned out I left out North on the North 7th street.

This is great information, thanks. I'm a psd LEAVING Campus Inn hopefully by Friday, so any advice is welcome.

Hey really appreciate you guys' feed back!

Dont let anyone run you off the road , got it!

and to the fellow about gps quick tip they make gps for trucks that shows truck routes only!

Hey really appreciate you guys' feed back!

Dont let anyone run you off the road , got it!

and to the fellow about gps quick tip they make gps for trucks that shows truck routes only!

His was specifically for trucks. It was a rand McNally. Mine is the commercial Garmin Dezl .so far, I love it.

Early in my career I was driving back empty from Fort Bragg, CA down us 20. (A very curvy 2 lane road with few passing lanes) Well I had another truck riding my ass much like six string. I came up to curve with some extra room on the dirt shoulder so I decided to grab the shoulder and let the jag off pass. Well he passed me so I started to get back on the road but only my left side tires were on the pavement and I started spinning out not moving.

I was going uphill and couldn't drive forward so I decided to try and back up on the pavement and get my right side tires on the pavement as well. But since I was on a left hand corner my 45 ft trailer began going over the lane I was traveling but I still couldn't get traction to move forward. I even tried engaging my inter axle and that wasn't helping.

Next a CHP officer stopped behind me and turned his disco lights on and began directing traffic since I was blocking a lane. I told him I was only able to roll backwards but I may be able to get all tires back on pavement and get going. He said "go ahead and try," so I did. BAD IDEA!! All I did was jacknife more and now was blocking both lanes with no more room to back up and still not able to move forward.

For the next two hours I sat in my truck completely blocking us 20 with cars backed up miles in each direction and some very angry people.

A wrecker finally got to me and pulled me back onto the road. I asked the chp officer if I needed to sign a ticket and he just shook his head and said, "no just get your ass moving and don't pull off the pavement again!". To this day some 15 years later I've never made the same mistake.

The moral of the story. Don't let some jag off in a hurry behind you dictate your driving. And keep your wheels on the pavement.

Good Lord, I felt pain reading this. That had to be such a bad experience. I've done a lot of really stupid and embarrassing things in front of people in my career so far and have lived many days in shame, but if I had the misfortune of having this happen to me, I think I'd just flat out die of embarrassment.

I do nice courteous things and I end up getting yelled at. Like today, this cop is making a left out of WAWA and he's blocking the one lane and has his nose in my lane so I stop my School Bus giving him 10 feet of clearance to complete his turn and he's yelling at me. Seriously?! He had his nose in my lane and he's yelling at me because I stopped to give him space to complete his turn?! Welcome to Jersey I suppose!