Archive for the ‘Safe Driving’ Category

If you’re one of those people who believe things happen in threes you’re not alone. I personally don’t believe in it, but things tend to happen to me in threes anyway.

It started last Thursday in Calgary when I got a speeding ticket. In the first place, I never speed. I’m not saying I never exceed the speed limit. When one averages a thousand kilometers a day, speeds tend to fluctuate due to conditions. It can be over or under the posted speed limit by 5 or 10 kms. at any given time.

What I mean is, I never knowingly or purposely exceed the limit by any great amount for any length of time. Usually I just set the cruise at or about the limit and leave it there.

What happened Thursday was, I was late for an appointment, I was on a road I’d never been on before, I hadn’t seen a speed limit sign, and I was matching the speed of the vehicles around me. Some of the 4-wheelers were actually passing me.

Of course the nice policeman targeted the biggest vehicle in the herd and awarded me the prize. Aren’t I lucky?

Number two incident happened in Manitoba on Saturday. On Highway 5 a few kilometers north of Neepawa, a car going the other way threw a rock at me and took a divot out of my windshield. To put it another way, I’ve got a hole in one.

Number three happened after midnight, my time, Sunday night in Alberta, on Highway 1 west of Medicine Hat. I blew a drive tire with a bang loud enough to wake the dead. Well it sure woke me up anyway, right in the middle of a Green Hornet episode on Oldies Radio.

I proceeded to make a couple of life long friends by waking, first the duty night dispatcher, and then the duty maintenance manager. Aren’t cell phones wonderful? They make it so much easier to tick people off. Sorry Barb and Gordie.

I then got to meet another nice young fellow, Rylee from Kirk’s Midway Tire in Redcliff. We had a lovely little tire changing party on the side of Highway 1, and I was soon on my way again looking for another great adventure. Of course I get the dubious honor of footing the bill for the party.

I don’t know if things happen in three’s.  Maybe we just stop counting there and start on a new batch, because it would be much too depressing to think that they happen in tens.

Recently I’ve been thinking about the level of respect for truck drivers and the trucking industry in general.

In Europe and other parts of the world, trucking is an honorable profession and drivers are looked up to and respected. While this was the case in North America 30 or 40 years ago, not so much today.

In fact I get the impression some days that those of us who hold onto a steering wheel for a living are considered to be 3rd or even 4th class citizens.

Oh sure, family members and close friends, and other members of the trucking community still tolerate us and even give us a grudging degree of respect. But the majority of the population at large look down their noses and give short shrift to this once noble profession.

I’d like to suggest a few possible reasons for this change in public opinion and attitudes.

First off, we have become a much faster paced and self absorbed society. Everyone is in a hurry. Common courtesy has all but disappeared. People, especially city dwellers and commuters have no time to waste behind heavily laden, slower moving vehicles. In fact they’re in such a hurry, common sense is a thing of the past. Tailgating, cutting others off and ignoring the use of turn signals are becoming common occurrences.

Of course some truck drivers have brought a lot of this disrespect on themselves. There are those who throw their pee bottles and garbage out in parking lots and ditches never giving a thought to the person who has to clean up after them.

They park in places they shouldn’t with total disregard for other motorists. Some are unkempt, unwashed, loud and obnoxious. Of course many others in society are those things too, but they don’t all drive 70 to 120 foot long, noisy, smelly,  obstructions to draw attention to themselves. .

Years ago truck drivers were kings of the highway. They were the  ones you could depend upon to stop and give assistance if you ran out of gas, had a flat tire or were involved in an accident. Truckers have been known to stop crimes, save lives, and even give their lives to avoid harming others.

While that remains true to a very small extent today, in this day and age stopping to give assistance could just as easily result in having a gun or a knife stuck in your face and your wallet lightened or your truck and load hijacked.

There is one truth that folks who resent or despise truckers and trucks need to keep uppermost in their minds though.

There is not an article of food in their kitchens or restaurants, nor a stitch of clothing on their bodies, nor any component of their homes, cars, or leisure equipment that hasn’t spent considerable time in the back of a truck. If you even have such an insignificant item as a tissue in your possession with which to blow your nose…… thank a trucker.

Wow I can’t believe a whole month has passed since my last post.  It seems like only a few weeks. 

Well it has been a few weeks and very busy ones at that.  I am happy to report that my move to Fastrax Transportation may just be the smartest move I ever made.  It’s just too bad I didn’t get smart sooner.

As they say, better late than never, unless of course you’re talking about the big three; war, death, and taxes.  In those cases never is definitely preferable.

The downside, if there is a downside to employment with Fastrax, is I’ve only been home three days in the last month and even worse than that, I wasn’t home for Marilyn’s birthday this month.  It was an important milestone too.  I won’t tell you how old she is but it rhymes with “fix tea”. Groan.

The upsides to the new job, and there are several, is that I have been able to run a legal logbook, I’ve been able to do the majority of my sleeping at night, and my work days have been spent 10% waiting and 90% driving.  A huge difference from my last employer.

Another big bonus has been the chance to see some of my relatives who I haven’t seen in years.  I had breakfast with my Uncle David Gray in Winnipeg. 89 years young, still the same guy I remember from the last time I saw him 23 years ago.  Then my Aunt Maisie and Uncle Oliver Benson now semi-retired from the farm and living in Ste. Rose du Lac made the hours drive down to meet me for supper at Neepawa.  By the way, the Brahma Restaurant just east of Neepawa on Highway 16 is a pretty good place to eat.  And if you’re in the market for western wear they have a shop for that too.

In Edmonton my brother Allan and his wife Pat who live in Beaumont, made the hour drive through rush hour traffic to join me at the Yellowhead truck stop for pie and coffee and a long chat to catch up on things.  My cousin Hazel and her husband Dave drove in from Spruce Grove to join in the party and to catch up on the family news.  I’m looking forward to many more trips to Manitoba and Alberta as I have a hockey sock full of relatives I haven’t seen in a very long time.

As of this writing I’m back in Winnipeg, having delivered a big load of beer this morning.  I’m sitting at the Flying-J writing this post as my logbook resets so I can pick up a load in Brandon tomorrow and head down to Laredo, TX over the weekend.  Sure beats Jersey and Hunt’s Point any day.

It has been quite some time since my last post to this blog and if I had such a thing as regular readers I apologize. Between a lot of pressures on the job and a lot of other things going on, this blog got sadly neglected. None of it was really a good reason but most certainly a good excuse.
Hopefully, all that will change however, as I have moved my truck to a new company. As of Friday the 19th of February I am officially a driver/broker with Fastrax Transportation out of Hartland, New Brunswick, a division of Day & Ross.
I owe a deep vote of gratitude to Fastrax Broker Manager, Gerry Betts and his very capable assistant Andrea Grant for making the transition painless, if not downright enjoyable.
My previous employer, while acceptable in many aspects and even above average in a few, just didn’t seem capable of allowing me to meet their expectations without breaking the hours of service regulations on a daily basis. To be honest my last few months with them had me almost to the point of burnout.  As an example, I got a $488 logbook fine on my last trip with the previous employer. I hadn’t had a logbook violation in the past 16 years. This one totally attributable to lack of sleep and exhaustion.
Today is Sunday the 21st of February and I’m in Northern Ontario on my way to Portage la Prairie, Manitoba with a load of McCains frozen french fries and pizzas. I had almost forgotten what it was like to drive mostly daylight hours and get a good nights sleep.
Now I’m not one bit afraid of a good days work or a good nights work for that matter. But when I’m expected to do both on a continual basis I’m forced to draw the line, for other people’s safety if not my own.
I truly hope if there are other drivers out there whose employers play fast and loose with their safety and well being that they too will have the common sense and ability to make a change.
Marilyn has been very supportive throughout this transition and is every bit as relieved as I am at the prospect of running legally once more. She doesn’t see me often but when she does she prefers it when I’m not quite so uptight.
Stay tuned to this blog and I’ll keep you posted on how Fastrax proves out on this and other factors. Who knows this may be the company to fit your needs as well.

If any of your decide to put in an application at Fastrax please tell them the GrumpyOlTrucker sent you.

PS. I’ll be posting pics of the truck with the new decal package whenever the weather allows it to be clean again for five minutes.

Greetings all!

In this post I’m going to give the North American equivalent to the points Ian made in his first article about trucking in England.

Of course many things about trucking are similar all over the world. When we learn some of the differences, however, we sometimes realize, “Maybe we don’t have things quite so bad after all.”

The first thing Ian mentioned was truck makes. We do have many Volvos on the roads here in North America but that’s where similarities end. The majority of trucks in Canada and US are, Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, International, Western Star and of course Volvo. Cabovers which once were quite popular here are much rarer now, although there are still a few around. They are mostly used to haul trains (multiple trailer units) on main routes between major cities.

I believe the “artics” Ian refers to is an abbreviation or slang for “articulated lorries”. He doesn’t use the term lorry, but I believe its still the standard British term for truck.
Although many different sizes of semi trailer combinations are allowed on various North American roads the most common trailers hauled now are 53 footers although there are still a number of 48 footers in use especially in the US, where their maximum gross weight is lower than in Canada.

That seems to be one of our greatest difficulties in North America, is the differences in regulations, especially for those of us who cross the border on a regular basis. We are constantly battling differences in weight allowances, hours of service regulations, as well as other rules which even vary from state to state and province to province. One may be perfectly legal in one jurisdiction and suddenly find ourselves on the wrong side of the law as soon as we cross that invisible line.

While most trucks in North America as yet, don’t have Tacographs as they once did, there is a push to bring in black box recorders to report every move made by truck and driver. This is seen by many as invasion of privacy but eventually I think the powers that be will win out in the end. Especially as more and more less scrupulous operators push the limits and get involved in needless, sleep related accidents.

Both Canada and US have passed new hours of service regulations within the past couple of years, but as usual they are not the same in both countries and even DOT officials interpret them differently from one jurisdiction to the next.

Some companies have gone over to electronic logs, but similar to what Ian was saying, they offer absolutely no flexibility and require some very stringent planning to avoid being in violation.

Because of less need for length restriction in North America, most long haul trucks at least, have fairly roomy sleeper accommodations. The average sleeper length being from 60 to 72 inches usually with TV/DVD, power inverters, microwave ovens and fridges. Some trucks that haul lighter commodities on a regular basis have 10 to 14 foot living accommodations complete with toilets, showers and washer/dryers. These are becoming more and more a necessity as many drivers stay out for two or more weeks at a time and some for months.

Ian mentioned speed limiters and those have just recently become mandatory in Ontario and Quebec. This was brought on by the various lobby groups and trucking associations. One would think that would mean the majority of drivers are for them, but not so. The primary membership and governing bodies of the trucking associations in this country are the owners of trucking companies. We really have no organization that truly represents only drivers.

I personally, as an owner operator, have no problem with speed limiters, as I pay my own fuel bills and need to conserve in every way possible. My company requires them anyway, so its not an issue for me.
While I welcome hours of service regulations and speed restrictions many drivers, especially from the old school, see it as an invasion of personal choice. I figure if it helps to keep them alive and out of the hospital it can’t be all bad. Many companies though, still book their loads as if they have 100 mph trucks, and while they purport to want their drivers to run legally, their dispatching policies force drivers to constantly be pushing and extending the limits. Of course trucking companies are subject to audit at any time from any jurisdiction, and fines are stiff for blatant violations. Sadly, it often takes a severe accident or incident to prompt such audits, and by then it is too late.

While many differences occur from country to country in the trucking industry, a bad week is still a bad week and for me anyway, there seem to be more of those than the good kind. Keep on Truckin!