Dreamed Of Trucking For Years

Justin, did you hear about that terrible tanker roll over and explosion under I95 in Philadelphia recently? That driver very likely burned to death. Had he been driving a dry van or reefer , he would probably have survived a roll over.

Really??? Good to know that the several hundred roll-over deaths that occur every year primarily happen with tank trucks. (Just in case my sarcasm isn't recognized, this is a dumb statement from BK.)

Justin, I pull hazmat tanks for a living. I know that not everything requiring hazmat means an instant death from fire and explosions. Also know that a fully loaded tank or baffles really minimizes the surge. However, a story for you-couple years ago I'm 80k gross, pulling hot wax in a smoothbore tank that's only 70 percent full. I'm running up a two lane road through PA/NY (219, some may know it), middle of the night when a freak snow storm hits. Whiteout, I've got to turn on goggle maps just to tell where the turns are on a road I've traveled dozens of times. The only way I know where I am on the road is by listening for the rumble strips. Fighting the surge in those conditions made me realize that that load would have ended up in a ditch my first two years driving. Fortunately, it wasn't my first couple of years driving, and managed to safely crawl north for four hours until I ran out of the storm.

I'm not as adamant as some here about new drivers staying away from tanks-because I know not all tanks are created equal, but I will agree a new driver, handling surge, in bad conditions, is a great recipe for losing his job, or his license, or even something more valuable.

Really uncalled for to say my comment was dumb. I was only talking about one particular roll over on one particular ramp that there was video footage of. It was a cautionary comment made to a new driver in the same vein as the comment G-Town made.

There is a reason that tanker drivers are sometimes called suicide jockeys. I respect tanker drivers greatly but I know it’s a dangerous occupation.

Justin, did you hear about that terrible tanker roll over and explosion under I95 in Philadelphia recently? That driver very likely burned to death. Had he been driving a dry van or reefer , he would probably have survived a roll over.

There is a reason that tanker drivers are sometimes called suicide jockeys. I respect tanker drivers greatly but I know it’s a dangerous occupation.

I didn't know they had that knick name...

Really uncalled for to say my comment was dumb. I was only talking about one particular roll over on one particular ramp that there was video footage of. It was a cautionary comment made to a new driver in the same vein as the comment G-Town made.

There is a reason that tanker drivers are sometimes called suicide jockeys. I respect tanker drivers greatly but I know it’s a dangerous occupation.

I don't think it was uncalled for at all due to this line

Had he been driving a dry van or reefer , he would probably have survived a roll over.

You don't know that, and I feel you're minimizing the seriousness of a rollover in any truck with this statement.

I didn't know they had that knick name...

It's a nickname given by fuel haulers to themselves to make them seem tough for doing a dangerous job. Use it at the rack, and you'll be laughed out of the county. About as bad as "tanker yanker."

I didn't know they had that knick name...

It's a nickname given by fuel haulers to themselves to make them seem tough for doing a dangerous job. Use it at the rack, and you'll be laughed out of the county. About as bad as "tanker yanker."

Ah, I gotcha. I'm sorry, but what is the rack?

Chiming in here, with a whopping two years of experience.

If it were me, I would NOT start where you mentioned.

I do have the endorsements for hauling tanker, (it's required for some of the palletized volume of liquid we haul.) I hauled some totes of liquid from Louisiana to California. I could definitely feel the difference of movement in a liquid load with pallet area to move in, vs what is felt when hauling beer cans and kegs. It really is something to consider. Even that small of a weight shift was enough to make me squidgy.

Ah, I gotcha. I'm sorry, but what is the rack?

Loading rack. For fuel haulers, it's where petroleum products are loaded onto trucks. There are top loading and bottom loading racks, and we load at racks located at refineries, tank farms, ports, and rail yards.

I’ll throw my .02 cents in here since I have right at 6 years experience hauling tankers.

G and others are spot on, it’s not something for brand new drivers. I hauled resins and products for the paper industry alot. Hercobond, Hercon and several other products. It tends to be heavy per gallon. Most of the time the tank was between 65-75% full. This means more surge. Hauling latex was much better because it was light and the tank was full, much less surge.

Your talking running the western 11. Lots and lots of grades and variable weather conditions.

If the company is solid it will be there in a year. Get at least 1 yr exp running a truck and that first year steep learning curve under your belt. Then you can move over.

I’ve seen plenty of drivers with 1 yr driving experience really struggle with tanks. Some eventually made it, others didn’t.

I loved it, but have slowed down some and made changes toward that.

I’ll throw my .02 cents in here since I have right at 6 years experience hauling tankers.

G and others are spot on, it’s not something for brand new drivers. I hauled resins and products for the paper industry alot. Hercobond, Hercon and several other products. It tends to be heavy per gallon. Most of the time the tank was between 65-75% full. This means more surge. Hauling latex was much better because it was light and the tank was full, much less surge.

Your talking running the western 11. Lots and lots of grades and variable weather conditions.

If the company is solid it will be there in a year. Get at least 1 yr exp running a truck and that first year steep learning curve under your belt. Then you can move over.

I’ve seen plenty of drivers with 1 yr driving experience really struggle with tanks. Some eventually made it, others didn’t.

I loved it, but have slowed down some and made changes toward that.

Thank you for sharing your experience and advice. Thank you to everyone else as well.

I thought about everything you guys have said and will be sticking with swift. If this company is a good as they say it is and they need drivers that bad, I'll revisit their offer to drover tankers after at least 1 year of dry van OTR experience.

Avoid any dedicated accounts with the word "Dollar" in the title. With Swift, you may be able to get onto a dedicated Walmart account, which I would highly recommend after successfully completing your road training.

I'm sorry for bringing the thread back to life. I couldn't see how to send a direct message to you Packrat.

Can you elaborate on why you say to avoid any dedicated accounts with the name dollar in them? I've seen some videos on YouTube of a Swift driver running the Dollar Tree dedicated account and it seemed great! He seemed happy but left to get a job that got him home more than 2 days a week. I'd be ok with this though. I also don't think I'd mind driving I5. I'm pretty excited actually.

Thanks again and sorry for bringing this thread back up.