Owning Your Mistakes.

I initially wasn't going to post this but I decided too so any greenhorn or member considering a career can learn from it. Learn from the collosal mistake I committed. Hopefully I don't get beat up too much over it since I've done plenty of that since it happened days ago. Extremely upset and embarrassed with myself for letting such an avoidable incident happen. Personal accountability is harped alot on TT. Well here goes.

It's something that's harped on plenty by trainers, the company, drilled into your head, made a part of your everyday routine. And that is properly scaling your load. But for me I decided to get complacent just once and it costed my dearly. I grabbed my load. Saw it was heavier than usual, but factored in what I THOUGHT the tractor, trailer, and fuel etc weighed in addition to the load and thought I was fine. I also never pass any scales. So I thought.

To shorten this up I was on my way back to the yard. 10 miles out. Watch a DOT officer as I pass him. And than watch him get behind me. Pull over give him my logs and license. Than tells me to pull into the toll booth and proceed to the very far side of the lot where a scale was. Scaled pulled a u turn in the lot. Watch him on his hands and knees under the trailer. He checked every inch. Truck and logs were fine. Not the load.

Attitude is everything when interacting with DOT. I kept a polite, positive attitude the entire time. And towards the very end he leveled with me and we had a brief but productive conversation.

Lastly, the part I really do not want to mention but will. It is said sometimes that there is more to the story. Well I asked the officer why did you pull me over exactly? Random? I certainly wasn't speeding. The response was I was in the second to left lane (4 lane highway) and I honestly was in it long. He also mentioned that my bright blue trailer caused me to stick right out too him.

Lessons:. Never, ever assume you know what you weigh. Scale and scale asap. If you are over no matter the warehouse workers attitude you get that product off and scale again.

In the end me and the company are fine. It's also something that will never happen again. So to any newbie who is not maybe be as careful. Eventually you will be caught. And ignorance is never an excuse.

Great lesson Brian - thanks for sharing it!

Complacency usually brings about instant Karma. Most every one of us could tell our own stories like this. We've all had similar experiences and we usually learn our lesson well. It certainly sounds like you have too.

Brian, that doesn’t sound bad. Did you get a citation? I’m not sure why you are embarrassed because it sounds like you handled it well

I wish I could say that was a green horn mistake as you put it, but complacency will bite experienced drivers too. I'd argue it's more likely to bite those of us with experience.

Last year I picked up a produce load out of Yakima, WA. The load was 38,000 pounds and loaded almost to the doors (should have been a red flag). Instead of thinking the load probably weighed more because it went all the way to the doors I used it as an excuse not to weigh it right away. The only reason I scaled it at all was because I was dropping it at a terminal and swift requires scale tickets for any load over 34,000.

I drive 40 miles before I scaled it. Thankfully that shiney new scale house was closed because when I finally scaled it I was grossed at 83,700.

complacency will bite experienced drivers too. I'd argue it's more likely to bite those of us with experience.

I completely agree with Big T's statement. That's why experienced drivers have the worst wrecks (as far as damage totals go). Rookie accidents tend to be minor ones while moving slowly. Experienced drivers tend to get complacent and quit using proper following distances, proper speeds in adverse conditions, and many other things that rookies will be focused on.

Well for what it's worth your experience did teach me a lesson, even though trucks aren't allowed in the left 2 lanes on the tollway I have passed people using the left 2 lanes. I seen countless trucks doing it and figured it wasnt really enforced. Really stupid I know.

Now I know not to do that again.

Thanks OS. And Big Tabsoulety learned my lesson. Something I never want to experience again. For me I wasn't loaded to the door. About over 3/4 full. But I VASTLY underestimated how ever pallets of milk are. I thought 1500 pounds top. But they are over 2000 pounds. Depending on if its half gallons or full. Half being heavier. Also something else I didn't take into account is the customer has trailers set for strictly hauls and other for route that the dsd companies use. Most of the time I pull the haul trailers but route will get from time to some. And those trailers have a big side lift that will pop out for the side door. I scaled myself with a similar trailer empty and came out at 41.5. Is that about what everyone else weighs?

And Bruce just embarrassed I allowed it to happen. No matter the variables. Not knowing the exact weight of something is not what DOT or the owner want to here. And also being in the lane I was in. Had I not gotten in there possible none of this would of happened. Although there were trucks to the front and back I stuck out.

Dont beat yourself up too bad over it, it was a good learning experience with no real negative out come other than bruised pride.

Saying that I would be feeling the same way if had been me, as I said I have done the same thing as those 2 right lanes can get messy.

Especially when you get into the Indiana Illinois border going Northbound. Trucks are in that lane for continuous miles. In particular he got me Northbound right pass the Ogden exit mile marker 27. I see him there everyday usually sitting there or in the tollbooth area with a customer. Always wondered what he was looking for in particular. Well now we know.

Brian I think that if everyone of us posted every mistake we’ve made, it would overload the website and cause Brett’s head to explode. It might also cause a rip in the space-time continuum and the universe would implode ending all life and leaving only an infinite black hole. Remember that experience is a tough teacher because it gives the test before the lesson