What a sad story! While these experiences are never the ones to go through a second time, they do offer lifesaver learning opportunities. In your writing, I detect that they teach you the limitations of your equipment and yourself…, what your personal safe minimums and maximums are for speed and weather conditions…, how much interval is needed between vehicles…, when to be extra alert with eyes on the road and cruse turned off…, how to recognize the dangers of “getthereitis”…, and when to just pull-off the road and wait out conditions. Also, it sounds like there’s importance for a trucker to shrug off an instance of performance that doesn’t meet his standards. Mulling it over only takes attention off of the work at hand.

Yep, you’re right! Your friends and family would not deal well with any harm that might occur to you… so, drive safe for us!

Keep On Learnin’

–TruckerMikeDad—

Those things do cause you to suddenly forget how to shift and anything we have to do behind that wheel seems so hard to to and now its become a trip of HELL for you. But we just keep on rolling knowing we will soon be back to normal in our driving. And it will happen again. And you will be mad at yourself all day for letting it happen again.

Yes you knew something was happening when the fire truck entered the Interstate. Most don’t think that. You do not see fire trucks out joy riding on the interstate! There is a reason they are there. As for that terrible accident, speed sounds like a factor. So many will not slow down in fog and when it really is thick no one should be out there. No load is worth the accident. That is just another delay that we don’t want.

I had just delivered some junk mail to a post office and it was getting really bad with fog. I should have stayed at the post office to wait it out, but I did make it safely to the truck stop in town. I did have a time I was to be at the Des Moines Iowa post office with the rest of the load and I informed all that it was going to be late. By now the fog was so thick that I could only see about 15 feet ahead of me. I refused to move that truck till I could see. Whose fault is it going to be if you get in a wreck??? It will be yours because the number 1 reason is you made the choice to continue.

Now I’m not saying you did wrong as you already said it wasn’t that bad. You can do 50 instead of the 65mph. Nothing wrong with that at all. Not any different in driving in heavy rain. Even then you have to watch out for the idiots who don’t care and drive without lights. That is my worst fear in fog/rain or night driving in town or the highways and I have had a few close calls because of that.

I am telling you what I have done and no one fired me, wrote me up and etc… I refuse to move the truck if I can’t see,drive on ice and etc… There does come a point that you have to get off the road.

Accidents are a part of this job and I cringe everytime a 4-wheeler trys to pass me as some are so close to that center line and you don’t know if you are next. You are doing a terrific job as a newer driver. Keep it up.