Question:
Hello there!
I don't usually post in here very often, but to help those of you who are new feel a little less stressed out, and probably make you laugh while learning something, I'll share some of the more common mistakes that many of us have made. Regardless of how much experience any driver has, there WILL be times when we all overlook something- sometimes, it can be funny, but other times, WELL..........
About a month ago, I was doing a "drop and hook" (switching trailers) while at a shipper one night. After I hooked up to the pre-loaded trailer, I noticed the brakes were not releasing. I stood there scratching my head for a few minutes, then realized..............DUH! I HOOKED UP THE AIR LINES BACKWARDS (red on blue, and vice versa) !
About a year after I started driving, I was dropping an empty dry van at the yard, and when pulling out from under it.......THUNK! Come to find out, yep, I did everything........except lower the landing gear on the trailer !
On the serious side, there are a lot of things we learn about in the real world that can't be stressed enough, especially when it comes to the safety of yourself, and that of other motorists on the road.
OK, Veteran Road Dogs, let's share some of our BLOOPERS with the new guys & gals that could laugh & learn from it at the same time !
BE SAFE out there, folks!Not liable for any information posted.

Answer:
Been driving for 17 years myself...
Yes, have hooked the trailer lines backwards
Yes, have dropped the trailer
6 months ago on asphalt pavement, pavement collasped under the steer tire, truck had to pulled out of a sinkhole. This was at a regular customer that I delivered to twice a week.
Most embarrassed moment..
2 months ago, pulling away from the dock, did not check to make sure the doors were secured to side of trailer, door swung away from trailer, smacked the trailer in the next door, and the door fell to the ground.
Moral: You may be having a great day and then sh*t will hit the fan, when least expected, or taking things for granted.

Answer:

Oh Man! You aren't kidding on that one!
There's been a couple times that I forget to dump my suspension air when I uncouple the trailer. Lemme just say, that after buying 2 new rear cross members (at the very back end of the frame), for about $175 a piece , one learns to look for stupid stuff like that.
Ripping parts up with the trailer Kingpin, is NOT fun and it's darn sure embarrassing.

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I'm sure I'll hear it for this one....... I was hooking up to a trailer in a drop lot a couple years ago, and must have gotten a little to the right while backing under the trailer. I felt the tractor pick up the trailer and then.....BAM I squashed my satellite dish..... it EXPLODED into several pieces. If it hadn't have been there, I might have been replacing a pair of cab extenders, and that wouldn't have been cheap!! Seems I put the kingpin up on TOP of my 5th wheel and over the front it went.
The moral of the story?????????? I didn't need to be watching that much TV any way.

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Talk about a funny feeling, about 15 years or so ago I picked up a sealed trailer at my company terminal.supposed to be foam rubber for car seats going from Dayton Oh to Detroit Mi.well I pulled up to back in,got out and opened the doors and no freight, thats right empty trailer. (trailer load of foam was about 4000lbs) Dispatcher was fired for giving me wrong trl#. but I can still hear the dock workers laughing.

Answer:
Yes it has happened to me too.
Tore off a trailer door in a narrow dock Tore off a fender off another truck and knocked out or off a marker light or three hit dear birds and wild life off other kinds. Yet dodged the bullet many times and avoided disaster by stepping on the brake and slowing down at the first sign of something unusual.
No matter how careful you are or how well you drive you share the road with others who may not be as alert or careful as you are. Every driver I know has had or will have a bout of temporary stupidly that causes damage and embarrassment just be a stand up driver; take responsibility for you own mistakes and fill out the paper work and try to be more careful as you continue your journey. God willing no one will be hurt.
OTR driving is inherently dangerous and risky; good driving behavior will help eliminate some of the risk. You can not eliminate all risk of life so you do what you can and trust God with the rest.Do the VI maintain your following distance maintain your lane position observe the speed limit observe the things around you and keep good records
Safe driving to you.
Joe


Answer:
I've been driving local and OTR since 1981. I started out driving local, then, a number of years later, OTR.
My list is a long one. I'll have to get back to this later when I have more time.

Answer:
NJ Turnpike, running a day cab up toward the GWB, I did this run almost every day, I knew the traffic patterns and where the back ups usually happen,
Anyway, I wasn't paying attention to the road ahead as well as I should have,
the SUV in front of me changed lanes to the left quickly with no signal.
You guessed it, Traffic in my lane was STOPPED in front of him!!!
Luckily for me the left was clear cause when I SLAMMED on the BRAKES and BRACED FOR IMPACT, I was able to Turn Slightly left while skidding to a stop.
If that lane hadn't been clear I would have definitely smacked the pick up in front of me. I think I was shaking a bit more than that daycab ever did for a few minutes at least.
Now, Let's keep this one to ourselves, as my driving record and DAC are Still Spotless... Needless to say, I make sure that I pay attention to everything 100% of the time
Answer:
Capt.Chaos, Hooking the hoses backward ain't so bad.or forgetting to hook them could be worse. Driving a daycab when I dropped a trailerat a hipper. Forgot to unhook the hoses and the pigtail. Pulled away from the trailer. The next thing I heard was a gladhand coming thru the back window. Boss not to happy about it.

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Sounds scary! I've heard of that happening to others myself, and I'd be concerned about glass cuts and what not !Not liable for any information posted.

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Before I started driving, when I used to work as a mechanic, a team in a Freightliner Cabover (double-bunk) came to the shop one night to get their air conditioner fixed. I had one truck I was working on already, and their dispatcher gave them the OK to get a motel room. I told them "There's a phone book and phone over there in the office- when you guys find a room, let me know, and I'll get one of our fuel island guys to give you a ride over there". No clue where they went afterwards.
Keep in mind that I wasn't responsible for looking in the sleeper before raising the cab- it's that of the driver(s).
About three hours later, I got to their truck and after I started raising the cab......"TH--THUNK!", followed by screaming noises ! Come to find out, those morons were sleeping IN THE TRUCK while I raised the cab !Not liable for any information posted.

Answer:
Screw ups....Never made one in my entire life.
I have made many. Learned more from my mistakes than I ever did from my successes.
Lets see:
Forgot to unhook the air lines when dropping a trailer.
Forgot to pull the king pin when dropping.
Have jumped the 5th wheel a few times while hooking up.
Spent 40 mintues backing into a space in a drop lot only to get in there and look up and see a HUGE pull through hole right in front of me.
Forgot to lock the tandems while axleing out.
Forgot to strap down a rolled tarp one time. Thank God I seen it hit the ground before I got out of the lot.
And the list goes on and on.
Answer:
Sure many of us have done this one:
Difficult dock - bad spot to hit - slid in there without a pull-up - strutted into the dock to check in only to be informed that I had forgotten to open my doors!
Sometimes you have to dig through a lot horsesh#t to find the pony.

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BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! Not liable for any information posted.

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thanks all for sharing your less than perfect selves,had a challenging day today and left feeling like a complete idiot, the harder i tried the worse it got.
maybe the cones grew legs or were feeling suicidal?