Backing Practice 01

Here's your dock. A direct link to the photo.

Doors are numbered from the right: 1-15. You come in off the street at your right. There's a planter (!) In front of doors 1-5, limiting the space in front. Driving in, the doors are on your right. You can drive in the area "below" they planter.

You're assigned door #2. How do you handle that?

I also saw a driver back into door #6. Could you do it?

What's in the planter? Am I alloweded to jump the curb on the planter? I don't even have my permit, so this might be a big no, no. But It's what occurred to me. I've seen a truck that delivers to a local Walgreen's that goes over the curb into vacant lot in order to get his truck in...

Looks like a 90° alley. Not the favorite but we've all done them to get a CDL A.

Blind side?

Justin goes wild:

What's in the planter? Am I alloweded to jump the curb on the planter? I don't even have my permit, so this might be a big no, no. But It's what occurred to me. I've seen a truck that delivers to a local Walgreen's that goes over the curb into vacant lot in order to get his truck in...

You will see many, many places with tire marks running over curbs and such.

This is one of the attitudes that give truckers a bad name. Here's a basic rule: If there's a curb, do your best to not go over it. No matter where it is, no matter how "run over" it already looks.

Rob S. shrugs his shoulders:

Looks like a 90° alley. Not the favorite but we've all done them to get a CDL A.

May be, but you're coming in from the right side, meaning you're "pointed at" your target dock. When I was there today, there were trucks parked so that driving forward and trying a blind side alley would cause an accident.

Is there enough room to turn your truck around between the pile of bricks and the planter?

Is there enough room to turn your truck around between the pile of bricks and the planter?

Those "bricks" are stacks of pallets. On the left end of the planter there is room to make a tight turn around. Today they was room to turn around between the planter, some trailers and the docks.

I want as many who want to to try and plan the docking. Tomorrow sometime I'll describe what I did.

Oh, and BTW, the planter is a retaining wall between two different levels. The dock side of the planter is about 10" lower than the away side, except at the ends. Driving over that will hang you up for sure!

Which direction are you traveling on Sea Harbor Rd ? Say the top of the photo is North. I would approach it in two different ways depending on direction of travel. Also, I assume the truck next to the planter is either leaving or backing into a door and wont be there while Im backing into the door ?

Doug, the photo is Google Satellite, and the trucks this morning were different from the photo. There was no truck along the planter today.

I only use left/right directions on the page, no north or south - that would just confuse people.

Sea Harbor is a dead end at the bottom, you drive in from the top right, then turn right into the lot.

BTW, one driver (NOT Swift!!) tried a turn around in front of the dock and did newbie mistake #64: Turn too tight and crush the fairing into the trailer/jackknife!