More Bad Luck...I just Can't Win
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
This afternoon I was making my way through Southern IL, through the rain, when some dimwit decided to pull off the shoulder directly in front of me. As I had traffic on my left I had no way to swerve to miss this idiot so the only choice I had was to slam on the brakes. Slamming on the brakes while hauling a 50,000lbs fire truck is not a good thing but it's preferable to running over a car even if the driver is dead from the neck up.
The rear chains snapped and the fire truck skidded forward on the trailer and slammed into the top deck. There was some damage. The pump access door on the front of the fire truck was torn off and the steel around the door opening was dented. Damn!
I'd been proud of the fact that I have hauled a good many of these $1,000,000+ fire trucks without so much as a scratch. Now I had one with some serious damage. I had to call the boss even though I already knew what his reaction was going to be. He was understandably upset. So was I.
After he ranted for a couple of minutes he calmed down to get to the specifics of what happened. He told me not to take it personally, that he knew it wasn't my fault and all that garbage. I knew all of that but it still reflects on me and on the company. Both the shipper and the receiver are going to be less than happy.
Needless to say I was pretty stressed out over the whole thing, and still am to some extent. I take my job seriously and this is in no way a good thing to have happen. The boss has always had the highest confidence in me. He knew that he could count on me to get the load delivered in one piece. So much for that.
I am going to test the parking brake on this thing when I deliver it. Even with hitting the brakes that hard it should not have been able to move forward that much. I suspect that the parking brakes may possibly be defective. But that's an assumption. It could also be that due to the deck being wet from the rain the tires simply skidded across the wet wood and steel But it would help our case with the factory a bit if the parking brakes are faulty. I couldn't get that lucky.
I am parked in Paducah, KY for the night. I had planned to stop at the other end of KY, in Oak Creek, but due to the delay caused by the aforementioned incident I am a bit behind schedule.
I could use a cold beer. No bar here. Such is life..
The rear chains snapped and the fire truck skidded forward on the trailer and slammed into the top deck. There was some damage. The pump access door on the front of the fire truck was torn off and the steel around the door opening was dented. Damn!
I'd been proud of the fact that I have hauled a good many of these $1,000,000+ fire trucks without so much as a scratch. Now I had one with some serious damage. I had to call the boss even though I already knew what his reaction was going to be. He was understandably upset. So was I.
After he ranted for a couple of minutes he calmed down to get to the specifics of what happened. He told me not to take it personally, that he knew it wasn't my fault and all that garbage. I knew all of that but it still reflects on me and on the company. Both the shipper and the receiver are going to be less than happy.
Needless to say I was pretty stressed out over the whole thing, and still am to some extent. I take my job seriously and this is in no way a good thing to have happen. The boss has always had the highest confidence in me. He knew that he could count on me to get the load delivered in one piece. So much for that.
I am going to test the parking brake on this thing when I deliver it. Even with hitting the brakes that hard it should not have been able to move forward that much. I suspect that the parking brakes may possibly be defective. But that's an assumption. It could also be that due to the deck being wet from the rain the tires simply skidded across the wet wood and steel But it would help our case with the factory a bit if the parking brakes are faulty. I couldn't get that lucky.
I am parked in Paducah, KY for the night. I had planned to stop at the other end of KY, in Oak Creek, but due to the delay caused by the aforementioned incident I am a bit behind schedule.
I could use a cold beer. No bar here. Such is life..
