Batman Vs. Iron Man IV

Batman Vs. Iron Man IV

Crazy Pix: 08/20/08

You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog…

Thank ya… thank ya very much.

Ask A Trucker: Name That Truck, Lady’s Luck, Swerving Fuck!

The following questions made it into my ? A Trucker mail bag on June 18th, 2008, and all from one curious writer. Yeah, I’m way behind again, but I’m catching up once again. Sorry for the wait folks. Let’s get this show on the road:

• Q #1:

How do you refer to your truck: as your rig? as your truck? as your semi? as your home-away-from-home?

• A:

We (Bunny and I) refer to our truck as “our truck” and sometimes as “the truck”. Sorry, no pet names or anything like that.

• Q #2:

Do women get trucking jobs as easily as men assuming they are qualified? Is it harder for women because of general size and strength or doesn’t that matter?

• A:

When we got hired the economy was doing better and men and women were both getting jobs just the same. Now that the economy isn’t doing as good it’s hard to get a job trucking period. With a saturated market employers are looking for drivers with more experience. This may lean in favor of men, but not necessarily.

If anyone had an advantage in this day and age it would be married couples with experience driving as a team. Two drivers can go further, faster, than a solo driver. It’s hard for employers to find team drivers that can stand each other. Married team drivers show up to the job already working as a team, so it’s one less thing the employer has to worry about.

So, whether you are a man or a woman, now really isn’t the time to get into trucking, because it’s just bad all over. Unless like I said you have experience to back you up. As far as general size and strength go, they really don’t play a factor in the hiring process.

• Q #3:
  

I’ve seen truckers driving as if they are falling asleep (at least I hope that’s why they’re weaving). Do you as a trucker report them or is there a way to talk that trucker off the road in such a case when you see it? They scare me!

• A:

A trucker may weave for many reasons: eating, drinking (hopefully nothing intoxicating), sneezing, shifting position in seat, and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately that list could include falling asleep at the wheel or driving under the influence of a foreign substance.

Things to take into consideration: when driving in the right lane many drivers will stay closer to the right side of the lane (the same can be said for drivers in the left lane, only the other way around). Any weaving could give off the appearance of riding or going over the solid white line. Drivers stay to the side to give a wide berth to other vehicles, especially other big rigs.

Some weaving is to be expected, as all vehicles on the road weave a bit. The difference with a big rig is the width of the truck, so whether it’s left or right of center, it’s going to look like its right on top of the line.

The length of the truck also has to be taken into consideration as well. A tiny bit of weaving in the cab may be accentuated at the rear of the trailer, especially if the truck is pulling doubles or triples (two or three trailers).

After taking all of these possibilities into account and you are still led to believe that the driver is falling asleep at the wheel or driving impaired, I wouldn’t hesitate to call 911. We are talking lives at stake or best case scenario: some really expensive truck and trailer damage, and possibly a whole shit load of stuff that some customer isn’t going to receive.

Me personally, that’s what I’d do. Bare minimum I’ll give them a blast of the air horn as I go by just to get their attention. Drivers with CB’s might attempt contact to talk the driver over, but that’s about all you can do. If you feel the driver is a danger to him/herself or others, call 911.

Do you have a question you’d like to ask a trucker? If so, click here. If you’d like to read Q & A’s already asked of a trucker, click here.