Photo thread

[BilletHead]

8 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

3 friends and I had been driving thru the night up thru northern MN, heading towards a lake in Ontario.  I was sitting in the 2nd row of seats.  The guy driving our vehicle had a heavy foot.  Nevertheless, this semi pulling an empty(?) flatbed trailer passed us around 1 am.  It was very dark out, nothing much to see in the pine forests on either side of the road, so I was just watching the tail lights slowly pull away ahead of us.  As it reached about 1/2 mile or so ahead of us, I watched those tail lights spin in a clockwise circle.  WHAT???  The semi rolled over.  We pulled over just down the road a bit from the semi, so our headlights would light the scene.  This is a picture of the picture I took.  We were sure we were gonna find a bloody body, and weren't too excited about that prospect.  We called out a few times as we walked toward the semi.  Eery quiet.  Then we heard some rustling.  The driver popped out of the wreckage of the cab.  Not a scratch on him.  He said his trailer got off the edge of road.  He tried to speed up and get the tires back on pavement, but they didn't want to comply.  The trailer and cab started to roll, so he got down between the front seats and went for a ride, he said.  He was most concerned about finding his log book.  There was papers and wreckage all around.  One of my buddies looked down and picked up the log book right away.  Weird.  He was just an hour or so away from reaching his home near the Canadian border.  We gave him a lift to where he wanted to go.

                 Wow I would be concerned about my log book too if he was not keeping it up of fudging on it! Dang!

[snagged in outlet 3]

15 hours ago, BilletHead said:

                 Wow I would be concerned about my log book too if he was not keeping it up of fudging on it! Dang!

Can't do that anymore.  E logs with auto shut off cured that.

[BilletHead]

     

2 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Can't do that anymore.  E logs with auto shut off cured that.

             Cool did  not know that,

  Funny story. working for a power utility company for years and driving the rigs we did when it became a regulation for log books we had to keep one. As long as we operated that truck even not driving but being on the job with that truck drilling holes and setting poles we were under the regulations. So we get big storms either tornados or ice even severe lightning storms we were out. 24 hours plus depending on if we had energized lines on the ground. So the rules under DOT began to supersede union ruled for rest periods. We would work less hours and get longer rest periods which was much better. If they could they would work you until you physically couldn't any more. It was not just physical it was mental. You should not be working energized lines tired. One mistake and you are just a puff of smoke. So it got to be where under DOT you would have to quit and go home. Have to call another crew. Worked if you had enough people in the district to do that but in our smaller district when something big happened we all went home. So they would call crews out of KC to work. They were not happy at all and when widespread outages like ice storms hit everybody was busy. So funny management went beserk. Pretty soon the governer became involved and then those DOT regulations were wavered in certain emergencys. Who made that call to call it an emergency? All I know is we still had to do our morning DOT inspections to keep trucks and trailers safe. worked us like they wanted us to. Our logbook was just on computer entered by our timesheet. A joke. 

    Company has changed a couple of times and both times a diferent contract and it makes diferent union rules. Since I have been gone do not know the changes. This has been a walk in my past time capsule. 

   Thanks

[nomolites]

55 minutes ago, BilletHead said:

     

             Cool did  not know that,

  Funny story. working for a power utility company for years and driving the rigs we did when it became a regulation for log books we had to keep one. As long as we operated that truck even not driving but being on the job with that truck drilling holes and setting poles we were under the regulations. So we get big storms either tornados or ice even severe lightning storms we were out. 24 hours plus depending on if we had energized lines on the ground. So the rules under DOT began to supersede union ruled for rest periods. We would work less hours and get longer rest periods which was much better. If they could they would work you until you physically couldn't any more. It was not just physical it was mental. You should not be working energized lines tired. One mistake and you are just a puff of smoke. So it got to be where under DOT you would have to quit and go home. Have to call another crew. Worked if you had enough people in the district to do that but in our smaller district when something big happened we all went home. So they would call crews out of KC to work. They were not happy at all and when widespread outages like ice storms hit everybody was busy. So funny management went beserk. Pretty soon the governer became involved and then those DOT regulations were wavered in certain emergencys. Who made that call to call it an emergency? All I know is we still had to do our morning DOT inspections to keep trucks and trailers safe. worked us like they wanted us to. Our logbook was just on computer entered by our timesheet. A joke. 

    Company has changed a couple of times and both times a diferent contract and it makes diferent union rules. Since I have been gone do not know the changes. This has been a walk in my past time capsule. 

   Thanks

The DOT regs have moved a bit to and fro, with some waivers granted due to the virus.  In general, most outfits are concerned about liability and don’t push too hard.  There are always exceptions...

Mike

[oneshot]

I always run over my hours but there was ways of making things legal.

If I had a student with me it wasn’t no problem. Student got a wage I got their miles.

Liked driving back then.

oneshot

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, nomolites said:

The DOT regs have moved a bit to and fro, with some waivers granted due to the virus.  In general, most outfits are concerned about liability and don’t push too hard.  There are always exceptions...

Mike

Most if not all of the flatbeds we have come in are on E logs.  No way around them.  The big carriers have the auto shut down too.

[nomolites]

39 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Most if not all of the flatbeds we have come in are on E logs.  No way around them.  The big carriers have the auto shut down too.

E-log shut downs don’t fit well with private fleets as equipment is shared by multiple drivers....flatbed it makes good sense.  The company I work for has been running elogs for 10+ years and there is very limited opportunity to violate regs and get away with it...we take safety and compliance seriously.  To your point, e -logs have limited some of the Superslab Cowboys that were popping black beauties and running multiple log books.  Not ALL new stuff is bad....but I guess that is a matter of perspective.

Mike

[oneshot 1]

Many times I went 3 days and nights. That was my limit.

Like I told my Sister when I worked for the Bakery I took many years of Cat Naps. One time I tried taking a nap driving home. It didn't turn out well.

oneshot

[Flysmallie]

[snagged in outlet 3]

12 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

Let me grab my pellet gun!