Comments By Maestro

I watched the GOAL safety video that Maestro made and it’s very good and professional, great job. I especially liked the three toed Sloth part in the video. Gave me a good laugh.

The only part I didn’t get was the operating cost per year of a trucking company. Is that per truck? Could be more clear, but still it got the point across that safety blunders are costly.

My suggestion for a useful video would be about avoiding a high hook. I see drivers regularly backing up to a trailer and never getting out to check the height of the trailer in relation to the 5th wheel. Even in my company (approximately 300 drivers), there are several high hooks every month. This is even though all our trucks are the same and we only pull company trailers that are all the same. So some drivers assume everything will be automatically aligned each time they hook up. Not so! In my time with the company, I would have high hooked 2 times if I hadn’t gotten out and checked before slamming home the connection. The three toed Sloth photo could also be used in this video.

Thank you for the suggestion, BK, and the compliment!

Safety got back to me and said that the video looked good! They gave me the go-ahead to create more!

P.S. I am creating the videos to reduce points on my safety record. I'm encouraged!

If anyone is interested, here is G.O.A.L. video I created for Online Transport.

Maestro: the topic of pre-trip inspections is one that doesn't get enough play. It's drilled into the heads to get the CDL, but how many of you see drivers actually getting down and looking at stuff? How many times have you gotten to pick up a load and the trailer hasn't had a federal inspection in 15 months? Tires hanging slack on the wheel, or completely missing?

Things that I found to be a challenge for many of the drivers I trained / coached / mentored were: 90 degree angles on brake slack adjusters, looking for leaks in hub seals inside the brake drum, examining the ribs or underside of trailer floors for integrity, tire pressure and tread depth checks. I have a sh**-ton of images that I put into a document that I used for day one kind of stuff. I found that many of the drivers that may have attended high school but not gotten an education there have no idea what a 90 degree angle is. Used the 'finger gun' too demonstrate - that was a lightbulb moment for at least three drivers from Chicago - they knew what to say to the CDL license road test examiner, but didn't know what to look for.

So many other ideas that fit into this, but I would say "Pre-trip Inspections. If you aren't getting down under, you're making a blunder. Who is YOUR blunder going to kill today?".

Ya, I actually made that into a meme...

Thank you for the suggestion...I sent this idea to the Safety Manager and awaiting a response. :)

My suggestion is a video pointing out the dangers of rookies making safety videos. Very dangerous. Lol

Hey Trucking Friends,

I hope everyone is well.

I am creating safety videos for the company I work for.

If you were a rookie driver, what safety subjects would be of interest to you?

For veteran drivers, what safety subjects would you wish you would have known about before driving solo?

Bonus questions:

I am creating a video for the company about G.O.A.L.

Why is G.O.A.L. important and how has G.O.A.L. saved you from incidents from happening?

Hey I'm curious what is the safety policy for the companies that y'all work for?

Does the company go by a point system and if you have points, how does those points come off your record with the company?

As a new driver, I have driven FL, Volvo, a very old Pete, and a KW.

Out of all of them, I prefer the KW.

I am currently running a 2024 KW T680 and I like it a lot.

It's powerful going up hills, it has auto creep mode for backing, it does system checks automatically (I do not rely on the system checks alone, I do my pre-trip still), and it has an automatic fifth wheel release which is heavenly.

I am curious... Who is your favorite truck manufacturer and what is your favorite truck series and why?

How about a top three of your favorite manufacturers and the top three of your favorite truck series?

What was the longest trucking day you had as a driver?

I experienced my first one yesterday (Monday) that bled over to this morning (Tuesday).

On Monday about 7:30-ish pm, I drove 1 and 1/2 hours to Lebanon, KY to a company only to realize that I had the wrong trailer. Le sigh.

Drove 1 and 1/2 hours back to the shop in Georgetown, KY...unhooked the wrong trailer, moved the tandems to the rear, hooked to the right trailer, moved the tandems to the front, and drove 1 and 1/2 hours back to Lebanon.

After that, I was out of hours and called Dispatch to let them know. They stated they would send someone in the company car and he would drive the truck and the load back. By this time, it was about 1:30

I drove out of the dock from Lebanon with 20 minutes left on the clock.

I did not want to continue driving toward G-town only to have the clock run out and I would have needed to park in a pitch-black area so I stopped in Springfield, KY, and found a shopping area.

I waited until the clock ran out and logged out.

I then waited an hour plus until the relief driver came. I had to drive from Springfield to G-town to pick up my car (another 1 hour and 30 minutes) then once in G-town, I got into my car and drove 33 minutes to get home.

I was so done.

“This setback is a set-up for a comeback”

I like that expression. Shows a great attitude and resilience.

So what exactly happened? Did you not GOAL when you should have? How much damage? A few more details would be good.

While in the contractor's lot, I was searching for a place to park the trailer and when I traveled to an area to make a right turn, I did not swing wide enough to compensate for the opposing stationary trailer on my right and instead I went diagonally.