From the road...

We've all thought about it.

 

White Volvo mafia.

 

Anyone showing up to a rig lot in a ferrari is asking for trouble

 

That should be a fun one to explain to his insurance company…

 

Reminds me of couple who still have drivers in Freightliner FLD’s, pulling absolute garbage for trailers, pay crap wages, and no benefits. They built a mansion of a house, off a road their drivers use to get to/from their terminal. Talk about rubbing the drivers’ nose in how great a life the ownership are living.

 

Trucker's Prison Sentence Sparks A Trucker Boycott Of Colorado

"A trucker-led movement has exploded on social media, especially TikTok. Truckers are refusing to drive in Colorado to get Governor Jared Polis to grant Rogel Aguilera-Mederos clemency or commute part of his sentence. The videos circulating show surreal scenes of trucks stopped on the highway shoulders lined up seemingly for miles."

https://jalopnik.com/trucker-boycot...tm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_source=facebook

 

The number one rule in trucking is it is the driver's responsibility to check the truck and trailer before anything is moved in the morning. That includes brakes and all components. If the driver suspects anything is wrong, the driver has to refuse to drive.

I can't defend him.

 

He was a young , undertrained , underpaid , inexperienced driver - he wasn’t drunk or high -
He made a mistake, with a high cost . I don’t think it’s a fair sentence. He made every wrong decision all the way down here he mtn , but putting him in a cage for life is not fair Imo . He was shitting his pants coming down the mtn , he didn’t have enough experience to know how to react . Shitty deal on all ends

 

brakes could have been fine when he checked them - driver error can smoke the brakes Comin out of the tunnel towards denver

 

Agreed, and it would still be the driver's fault.

This is a crappy business. One mistake can kill others.

 

What does underpaid have to do with anything?

 

For those of us who havent gone to trucking school, how exactly do you go down long and steep grades without causing trouble? Is it just a matter of going slow? Is there some indication that your brakes are getting hot and you need to slow down more before the brakes give way altogether?

 

It goes along with undertrained
It’s less the drivers fault and more the system
There’s a driver , and a steering wheel holder . I know you know the difference .

I agree 100 percent it’s on the driver , but do you think a 23 yr old driver ( close enough to age ) knows enough about what to do in an emergency coming down one of the top 5 most dangerous descents in the us ? Your shit can be operating perfect coming down , all it takes is for a slight driver error in apply too light pressure over too much time on the brakes . There’s a reason why there’s way more co driver accidents than owners op accidents .... it’s a slippery slope, takes time to gain knowledge , tricks and experience . But , prison for a mistake .... no matter how bad ... I think is a stretch . It’s a shitty deal but he wasn’t drunk or stoned and had a legit license with insurance . Ever made a mistake while driving ? Prepared to go to prison for the next mistake ?

 

depending how heavy -
My rule is 3 seconds hard on the brakes , 6 seconds off , while dragging jakes
That’s worked fine for me up to 90k lbs in Colorado mtns
As soon as you get lazy and drag the brakes or don’t allow enough time to cool you’ll run into trouble

that’s not accounting for air leaks , bad chambers , a plethora of other brakes components while running’s heavy

 

Driving a semi is more than hop in and drive -
There’s a reason you see some guys with $300k trucks .... they can afford it because they have driven well , and gotten good cargo (because they’ve delivered on their word )
if you are smart and the top 5 percent you can make a wonderful living .
Accidents happen , but mile over mile if you drive like you should your chances decrease... knock on wood , I’m over 1.5 m miles without a serious incident . But I’ve bumped a few cars on narrow streets and wiped out my share of mailboxes . I pay those incidents in petty cash and move on . That’s residential delivery life in an 80 ft rig

 

Well said.

 

I haven't followed it too closely but didn't I see that he went by 2 runaway escape pull off 's ? If so that's inexcusable.

 

^^^

I happened to drive that very same stretch of I70 the day after the accident. There were AMPLE pull-off spots available. Miles and miles of flat clearings to the right side of the road. This was purely driver negligence.

 

It's not always right. But it is always the drivers job to do a pre trip. I was told but can't confirm. The trailer didn't have brakes. He choose to drive it?

 

i don’t know the specifics of the operational quality of the truck - I’m basing my opinion off common “truck driver “ sense .
You can get away with a lot more when your experienced....ie bad brakes , overweight , etc
I hate to say it but realistically he hasn’t seen shit - flatbed carrier based out of texas with a early 20s driver coming down i70- every driver on here knows... he was in over his head .

We can all be arm chair qbs but put yourself in his shoes , flying down the a mtn , unsure what to do , scared shitless , made every wrong decision you could .... we all could say we would have binned it into the mtn side earlier but again .... he 100 percent made the wrong choice when he came up to stopped traffic and didn’t swerve right Imo - barreling into traffic is last resort . I’ll always sacrifice every exotic car I haul over possibly ending someone’s life . Lawsuits are easier than jail.