Comments By AlongCameJones

We don't even understand why you are on your soapbox about this. All our trucks have good footings just like you keep trying to show us.

These are square cut serrated edge. Some are diamond shaped. All are safe.

I don't know a large CIVILIAN commercial truck from a wheelbarrow in all honesty. I make these threads to learn something. For trucks, I know the pickup kind, the army kind and the rented moving kind (at least one brand that has issues in my experience). You people know more about civilian 18-wheelers than I do. I thought this thread would be a GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE. Truckers are a salty lot, indeed. Yes, those cab steps some of you here are showing me do make sense. I have said nothing bad about them. Now, I just learned one more thing about a semi I never knew before. I don't think motor freight companies have much time to deal with W/C claims from slip-fall injuries.

Slipping off poorly-designed vehicle surfaces for want of good footing or bad choce of footwear doesn't have to be one reason for career failure. Those drivers here who will chime in on their choice of footwear for the job will help others in all seriousness. Footwear and clothing is no small matter. Here is a link to a sensible cab step just like the US military has on newer vehicles as I was talking about. Diamond holes and serrated pattern to dig right into boot soles. This kind of walking surface is the gold standard in anti-skid protection against human slip injuries in wet conditions. I was soldier and an army truck mechanic. I know about these sorts of things.

https://www.okshooters.com/attachments/1633099994860-png.225671/

I'm a real trucker and use flip flops all year round.

flip-flops, CB radio slang, return trips, of course!

U-Haul truck ramps have ridges across the aluminum for grip LOL @ no stickers for 3 points of contacts is plain ole common sense.

I worked with U-Haul equipment off n on the past 15 years, and never fell off a step or ramp in any bad weather conditions. When I moved back to Arizona back in 2012, I road my motorcycle up into the back in the 26 ft U haul, and backed it off backwards (coasting) without busting my azz lol

My thinking/motto; "Those who can, DO. Those who can't, wish they could"

That Penske aluminum truck ramp also likewise had ridges across it, yet my Nike Air Monarchs slid down them like a river otter on a muddy river bank when the damm thing got wet. The key word here is WET. I afterward put on my soft rubber flip-flops and they stuck to that WET ramp like Krazy Glue. I remembered my flip-flops after slipping and having to run down the ramp with the dolly to keep from tumbling over because shower shoes are, yes, designed for wet conditons and those gym/pool sandals were the grippy-est things I had at the time for my two feet. Think WET as in SHOWER. Somebody must make a closed shoe or a boot with such a superior anti-slip sole for wet conditions but I don't know who does. If you get oil and grease on your soles, things are all the worse.

Ok, commercial drivers what do YOU personally wear for footwear on the job in:

-wet condions? -icy conditions?

Maybe some of you don't need any special anti-skid footwear because the stepping areas on your assigned rigs are already grippy enough. Army boot soles which are hard and army 5-ton truck knife-edge-texture steps are a great team. The sharp surfaces on the these particular steps dig right into even hard or slick boot soles come rain, ice, snow, oil or grease. These steps have a diamond hole pattern over their surfaces. Snow, water, leaves, ice, mud and debris does not accumulate on these steps: the debris falls right through the holes. All vehicle walking/stepping surfaces should be designed in this fashion. Truck ramps and tractor catwalks should have this sharp "cheese-grater" texture too. I think these are much grippy-ier than even diamond plate which has no such holes to eliminate build-up of wetness or debris.

No, gummy-sole/anti-slip shower shoes should suffice as essential moving equipment in the future. They literally saved my neck during the last move. Anti-slip shower shoes are designed for traction even on soapy gym shower floors so they should hold well on a wet non-soapy aluminum loading ramp. I don't know of any closed shoes or boots that offer such good traction on wet surfaces as a good shower shoe brand.

Amerucan trucking industry commonly requires a three point contact method of getting in and out of trucks. Instead of mastering this method you preferred to punish Penske (a company with good trucks and good customer service) with one star...

Most people who rent trucks to move have not been trained as professional commerical drivers. They don't teach us those sorts things in high school driver ed. There were no warning signs about three-point hold posted on that rental truck. There was no safety briefing from the truck rental agency. For all I know, Uhaul trucks and others can be just as slippery during the rain. The three-point hold does no good on the loading ramp anyway. Two hands have to be on the dolly so good foot traction is of the essence. I suppose if truck rental companies start get major lawsuits against them, rental trucks will start to have superior anti-skid surfaces on them for human footing. There is no excuse under Mother Nature's golden sun not to have anti-slip surfaces on rented moving trucks or commercial freight trucks, for that matter. I posted those things on Yelp! and Google Reviews because I don't want innocent folks to get hurt on those stupid things in that fashion. Suffice it to say, I will always have to have good anti-slip footwear handy any time I should rent a truck in the future. There's no telling when and where Mother Nature will throw rain on people who are moving. I notified Penske not once but twice by email about the slippery truck incident and they were too chicken to repsond. I only rented a Penske because of better-than-Uhaul rates online and the fact they had diesels in their fleet which are still cheaper to run than gasoline trucks.

Rubber flip flops in winter conditions? Did you get frost bite or worse? How many toes were amputated?

Ever hear of "Ice Cleats"? I wonder how well they work on flip flops.

No, it was actually warm during that Oklahoma May though rainy and thundering. I had my socks on with my gummy-bottom flip-flops. I had to get the rest of my stuff out of the truck during periods of no rain or light mist. They did in fact keep me from slipping on that wet metal ramp wheeling a dolly down it. I would have prefered some closed-toe footwear with the same degree of superb traction. Maybe some deck shoes like boaters wear?? This thread was meant to face a serious occupational issue. More drivers are probably hurt and collect workman's comp from slip/fall injuries related to bad footing on their vehicle exterior surfaces than from vehicle collisions. I would think that footwear solutions and vehicle foothold solutions would have been well addressed in 2021. Ideally there should be serrated knife-edge surfaces all over a rig where people customarily step to bite into those boot soles. I know this from having witnessed some military vehicles firsthand and driving some. These stepping surfaces should cut your feet up like diced ham if you were to walk over them barefoot.

How well-designed are the footing surfaces on newer commercial trucks these days? Slips/falls are the second-leading cause of accidental death according to this following source.

https://nfsi.org/nfsi-research/quick-facts/#:~:text=For%20people%20aged%2065-84%20years%2C%20falls%20are%20the,60%25%20involve%20people%20aged%2075%20years%20or%20older.

I rented a Penske 26' truck in May of 2019 to move from Boise, Idaho to Lawton, Ok. On the last day of unloading the truck, the ramp in back and the cab steps were damp from rainy weather. I was wearing my not-so-cheap Nike Air Monarch athletic shoes. I almost slipped off the cab step once but caught myself by grabbing the door in the nick of time. I also slipped on the loading ramp. I had to run down the ramp with a loaded dolly to keep from falling down. I finally put on my rubber flip-flops to finish the job. They have a gummy soft rubber sole that worked quite well on a slippery metal ramp. The Nike soles are hard rubber and slick for such an expensive shoe. They suck on icy streets and sidewalks to boot. I have some other shower shoes now but they don't have good traction like my older gummy-bottom ones did before they wore out. I have rented Uhaul trucks for moving too but never in wet weather so I can't say as to the level of footing they offer people clambering over them in the rain. I emailed Penske twice about the slippery trucks but they never responded. I complained to some federal consumer agency too about these slippery trucks but they never followed up with a response to me. I gave this company a 1 star in both Yelp! and Google reviews regarding the Penske dangerous lack of footing. I was an American soldier once and younger. Army trucks, at least the 900-series 5-tons, do have sensible cab steps though the military is often stupid about many other things. They have a crisscross diamond hole pattern with sharp serrated knife edges that bite into the soles of hard-rubber combat boots. Never slipped once on these in rain, ice or snow. The tailgates on army trucks, however, have slick sheet metal. No texture for good footing. Civilian commercial trucks should have sensible surfaces on step areas and walkways too. Years ago I had a landscaping trailer with a slick tail metal gate so I riveted on some wood laths parallel for good footing.

Tell us of your solutions for getting a good footing on wet/icy vehicles and/or ground surfaces.

Driving a rig at night through the woods of the PNW must be especially thrilling. You never know what might cross your path.

Those northern states just look so pretty in the mid-West. Oklahoma is very flat and dusty. Hot, humid miserable muggy weather. Roads in Sooner State cities are in very bad shape. Those stupid pesky toll roads, turnpikes. Not a lot of mountains, mountain rivers and clear bodies of water. Oklahoma is also plagued by much dust, tornadoes, flash floods and erosion. Crime in Sooner is bit on the high side. I like rolling hills, green grass, clean cool bodies of water, no pollution, no noise, no drama, fresh cooler air, lush forests and canyons. The SOONER I get out here the better I might feel. Idaho is pretty, I've lived there but rent and houses have gotten too high-priced in Boise area. Montana and Wyoming tend to be on the high side too now. I kind of like the idea of a permit-less-concealed-carry state too. Ohio might have more job opportunities than South Dakota because of its population density but I've heard that Cleveland is a dump. Some parts of Pocatello, ID might not be too bad in housing costs. Pocatello is a sizable city.