Comments By Robert B. (The Dragon) yes, I breathe fire and other sideshow tricks

There’s a recent article on yahoo news regarding the freight market. Companies like JB Hunt and even OOIDA are sounding the alarm that unless freight numbers start ramping up by Memorial Day weekend, it’ll get very difficult for many companies to continue doing business. I was surprised when a YouTube channel I follow ( I Allegedly) referenced the article. He is a venture capitalist who dabbles in a lot of different things and due to that, has friends and associates in all types of business and industry. For several weeks now he’s talked about commercial real estate and construction. Many of the newer buildings and manufacturing facilities he’s involved in will be sitting empty with no new projects scheduled because they can’t fill current facilities. Pinch your pennies, invest in tangible items and get ready for one helluva ride.

Great advice. I’d also like to chime in on the advice to take it to a cb shop. The radio isn’t the issue, it’s the coax and possibly the antenna but even stock antennas will work fine so long as they’re set up properly. The antenna and coax get tuned to the truck, if it’s off, it won’t matter what radio is in it, it’ll act up. The SWR meter on the radio is pretty unreliable and the external is preferred to get an accurate reading.

The first thing is coffee. I jokingly tell people that my code is crucial to the safety of others. I don’t know that I have one particular thing that keeps me in the zone but more a culmination of procedures that I do every day. I think we all suffer from those moments where things that shouldn’t get to us do but we’re all human and we just have to try to not let emotions get the best of us when someone else does something really dumb. Then again, part of our daily duties is to anticipate the actions of other motorists so anymore, I’m not really surprised by the things that used to get my stress level up. Anymore, I’m more shocked when they don’t. The occasional person that signals to let you over when you’ve had your signal on, trying to change lanes for almost an entire county, the drivers on their cell phones who don’t cut you off trying to bail at the next exit, the ones paying attention who occasionally wave politely on a 2 lane. Those are the things I find myself paying more attention to because they truly do catch you off guard. I think we all know that we can’t control the actions of others, merely mitigate safety risks to ourselves and sometimes, those expectations surprise us in a positive way that we weren’t expecting.

I’d definitely demand a new driver manager or whatever yours are referred to. I would also be stopping in the office to give that piece of s@@t a piece of my mind which would include a large slew of profanity. Nobody should be be continuously treating anyone that way and it seems as if it’s a common theme for this individual which the higher ups refuse to deal with. There comes a point where enough is enough and you’re allowed to defend yourself and speak your mind.

I’m aware my response is not the best advice but this is the kind of thing that really burns me up and I can’t stand seeing it happen.

GODD Samaritan law. Will someone post this? Also where it does or does not apply. My understanding, under this law, you are not liable. It’s interesting that the 20 yr Emt will not carry it. One true situation that happened to a law enforcement officer- He stopped an illegal alien, who was driving; the alien got the better of the LEO- he was on top of the Leo who was on the ground, and he was beating him. The Leo was yelling- shoot him. I remember the video but not the outcome. I personally would stop, kick the alien with my heavy Carolina boots, and then if he charged me, I would respond appropriately. ……. Another thing, about drugs/narcan- I buried my meth addict son summer 2022. He was a hands on Construction Superintendent. Yes when I get back into trucking, I will carry narcan, if it’s legal and allowed.

Lance mentions correctly that the Good Samaritan laws vary state by state and the line you walk comes down to the issue of did the procedure do more harm. Similar to firearms reciprocity laws, an individual has to be familiar to those laws in each state to know how to potentially respond. Hence why I said the need for caution and leaving it to the medical professionals.

I keep a fairly extensive first aid / trauma kit in the truck and also maintain training in how to use the items within. Narcan isn’ta part of that kit and never will be for a couple reasons. One, unless you’rea trained professional, you’ll most likely not know the signs of a potential exposure or overdose and what steps would be required for treatment. The second reason being one that most aren’t aware of and that’s the legal and civil liability involved with providing first aid to someone. You are responsible for the actions you take so you had better know your **** and be prepared for potential repercussions. Say for instance you came upon an accident scene, a person was ejected from a vehicle and you’re the first on scene. You make the appropriate emergency calls, try to make the area safe and then make the judgement call to help move that individual to a safer position not realizing they have a head or spinal injury. The possibility for more injury because of your good intentions now just became your responsibility. Until medical personnel arrive, the best thing to do is talk to the individual, try to keep them calm and alert, leaving the medical care to those trained in it.

What happens when you don’t keep a pivot point lubricated? It won’t pivot properly. In the case of a truck and trailer when turning, rather than be fluid and smooth, it puts it in a bind causing abnormal wear on tires, suspension, steering and everything else. Once bad enough, rather than making a smooth transition in a turn it will cause the truck to push as the weight of the trailer wants to fight the tractor and in anything less than dry conditions can cause all sorts of bad things to happen. Honestly, this is a question that should have been answered when you first learned how to do a pre trip before earning your license and if it wasn’t covered, well, I’d have to say you had crappy training.

Brett, love it, love it, love it man. It’s much more streamlined and much cleaner looking. The new fonts, dark mode, everything about it. Outstanding upgrade.

So long as you’re only pulling your camper trailer with it and it’s not for hire, you won’t need more than a chauffeur license. It’s no different than having an RV pulling a toy hauler.

I use Rand McNally GPS, I like it because it's what I'm used to. I could not rely on my phone or ELD device, since both use the internet, and I loose signal in places. Typically, I go to the same stops, but for new ones, I always look at a satellite view on Google to check out a few miles around the destination.

That’s where the Co-Pilot app is a bit different. I was concerned about the Internet service issue as well but because it uses downloaded maps, it only requires the gps triangulation to function. There’s plenty of times where my phone has been in an area with no service whatsoever but the gps function worked as it should.