Always Have An Exit Strategy

Today I was doing some running some errands and happened to see a trucker make a bone headed mistake . He entered a local Kum and Go convenience store that definitely was not designed for trucks and ultimately caused a bit of damage. Here is a screen shot of Google maps of location

Driver entered from the street on top of photo, and exited onto 86th st on the left. You can vaguely see a shadow of a light pole next to exit onto 86th. Driver ended up taking out the light pole, and when turning to his left onto 86th jumped the curb median blowing both outter tires on passenger side of trailer and bending the rims pretty bad, and did the same to his steer tire. When the tires blew the shrapnel ended up breaking the window of a car. Thankfully nobody was walking nearby, that would've been a terrible situation. Moral is ALWAYS have an exit plan before putting yourself in that situation. If you aren't 100% certain you can safely get in or out don't go in, if need be set your brakes and walk over to take a better look. Not only has this driver lost money due to being unable to turn the miles while dealing with police report and repairs to be completed, but his company has im assuming lost several thousand dollars in repairs and downtime. All this could have been avoided....

Absolutely - if I can't see a way through and out, I'm not pulling in - even if I have to make traffic wait.

Moral is ALWAYS have an exit plan before putting yourself in that situation. If you aren't 100% certain you can safely get in or out don't go in, if need be set your brakes and walk over to take a better look...

Whoever named that store had a sense of humor.

Whoever named that store had a sense of humor.

That is a small chain. First one I saw made me chuckle.

Whoever named that store had a sense of humor.

That is a small chain. First one I saw made me chuckle.

It's pretty popular throughout central Iowa and eastern Nebraska. They definitely knew what they were doing when they named them and sell quite a bit of memorabilia with their name/logo on it.

Was this driver a delivery driver or an otr that got lost? Sounds like a really bad judgment call. No way in hell i am pulling into a gas station parking lot especially when it is on the corner like this one.

Biggest thing is if it's not made for a semi, don't attempt to go in there. How about using common sense? A snack or a bathroom break is not worth losing your job over, which was probably the end result of all that carnage.

The part that sticks out for me: SHRAPNEL! WTF! Took out car windows with SHRAPNEL!! WOW! Never cease to be amazed with everything I learn on here!

The other day my trainee and I were.. well mother nature was screaming at both of us. The area we were in.. nothing much for trucks for a very long way. Saw a sign for a Quik Star on the highway we were on, and it said it was for trucks lol. Before I turned down the side street to pull in, I realized it certainly wasn't truck friendly, but what I did note was a grocery store directly beyond it and that side street ran straight into their loading docks so I knew I'd have an out and committed to the turn. Did a turn around in that grocery stores empty dock and headed back towards the QuikStar. A fast run in and back to the truck and all was good and we were on our way.

Yes if it's an extreme emergency, (it was then, I assure you) I'll pull into a place like that, but I'll be darn sure I see a truck safe turnaround somewhere before I completely commit to it.

A note to rookies:. If you aren't positive you can get out don't do it.. ever. I dont care if you wet your pants. You must be absolutely certain. Had that dock been occupied, I wouldn't have done it. Also beware gas station awnings because they're not tall enough for a rig.

Yup, I'm betting that driver is unemployed too.

Was this driver a delivery driver or an otr that got lost? Sounds like a really bad judgment call. No way in hell i am pulling into a gas station parking lot especially when it is on the corner like this one.

It was an OTR driver for one of the mega carriers.