why is this not taught in drivers ed any more?

[Nate]

https://youtu.be/4oqfodY2Lz0

[cudakidd53]

Because Wisconsin drivers grew tired of being told they were "doing it wrong" and decided that everyone should drive like the parade laps of the Indy 500 instead.........Northern Indiana is their southern step-sister!

(Corrected for Shawn)

[stlaser]

For the record as a former Hoosier we drive in the left lane & have no problem changing lanes either. I drive into Indianapolis back in Nov & even my daughters commented on how traffic just flowed correctly.

Now I'm sure part of it is them listening to their mother  ;) complain about Colorado drivers, however a lot  these people out here have no business being behind the wheel. I've even watched them drive around a circle intersection stop & wave someone in that is sitting at a yield sign....

[TexasRedNeck]

Actually i would submit that the issue is that the law is not enforced.  Texas highways are covered in signs that clearly state "left lane for passing only" yet the police never enforce it. Then you have these ignorant drivers that get peeved when you roll up on them hot in a 9200 lb dually and give them the brights. Which usually results in them getting the train horn


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[stlaser]

I have a buddy who has a couple little (size of a quarter) leds (White I think) mounted in grill of his f150 and they are the flashing blinker type. When he rolls up on people he turns them on and they usually move right on over confused as to what or who he is. Works better than horn TRN.

[TexasRedNeck]

Strobes are illegal in texas though


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[stlaser]

Strobes are illegal in texas though


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Probably are in Indiana too, he's kinda an outlaw character.... ;D

[JR]

They are Illegal in all states as they mimic emergency vehicles. Certain color lights the same.

Me, I like the Left lane(#1) but am not always the fastest, but always at least going a little faster than most traffic. People who drive really fast here use ALL lanes and really mess it up. I will happily move over for faster traffic if it does not screw me. I drive to get there safe, but not to make you happy.

[Nate]

to be honest, now that I have a Class A CDL and am an actual CDL INSTRUCTOR I tend to stay in the right lane doing the speed limit......SMH

[Bob Smith]

So Nate, move to Calif and teach the darn truckers to speed up a bit when they pull out to pass each other. And maybe check their mirrors before pulling out into the fast lane.

[JR]

In ca trucks or anything towing is limited to 55mph, but normally they go 60-65. They have the Ca engines cut so far back they are lucky to pass. You get caught behind, its bad.
 

[Bob Smith]

In ca trucks or anything towing is limited to 55mph, but normally they go 60-65. They have the Ca engines cut so far back they are lucky to pass. You get caught behind, its bad.

I got caught behind a few times and pulled right in front of a few too.

[cruizng]

For truck drivers trying to pass it normally isn't their fault. They would love to have the top end open so they could pass quick and then get back in the right lane. All company trucks are shut down to 55 or 58 due to safety or fuel mileage restrictions. The Ecm on the engine controls it all and feeds all of the data directly to company via satellite. It's all about the dollar.

It would be frustrating to be a driver in this day and age. No respect. Low wages. Dealing with weather and bad 4 wheel drivers. Basically work 24x7 when out on the road. Bad food. Overcrowded truck stops so you have to fight for a parking spot so you can pull in and shower and sleep. People mad at you if you show up too early or late for pickup or delivery. Then the DOT or every part of your life regulated. Etc..etc..  lol. I'll stop.






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[Flyin6]

For truck drivers trying to pass it normally isn't their fault. They would love to have the top end open so they could pass quick and then get back in the right lane. All company trucks are shut down to 55 or 58 due to safety or fuel mileage restrictions. The Ecm on the engine controls it all and feeds all of the data directly to company via satellite. It's all about the dollar.

It would be frustrating to be a driver in this day and age. No respect. Low wages. Dealing with weather and bad 4 wheel drivers. Basically work 24x7 when out on the road. Bad food. Overcrowded truck stops so you have to fight for a parking spot so you can pull in and shower and sleep. People mad at you if you show up too early or late for pickup or delivery. Then the DOT or every part of your life regulated. Etc..etc..  lol. I'll stop.






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Almost sounds like the Obama model for future American life...

[Sammconn]

I walked away from all the mess right there^^^ about twenty years ago.
It was bad then, but much much worse now. 

[cruizng]

Yep. I have been in Trucking/Transportation/Logisitics or whatever they call it now since 1981. Everything from dispatch,terminal manager,ops manager, sales, to now Info Sys. It is still basically picking something up and delivering somewhere else. So much gov regulations from fuel at terminal to now responsibility for a drivers sleep apnea and what they eat. Now the DOT will audit electronic logs and every location data point you have.

Then you have all of the litigation just based on being in the vicinity of an accident and being a big target for $$$. We spend a ton of money to settle out of court due to stupid awards that set precedent. All of that money could be used to pay the drivers more.

Our driver base is getting aged and there will be a shortage so hopefully the pay will go up or they will be replace by autonomous vehicles.

Tough business.


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[JR]

I got my class A when it was still fun in the late 70's. Without major tort reform, it will only get worst.

[Bob Smith]

Sorry but I see it from a different direction. Years ago and many sets of log books, had the drivers and/or companies been more inclined to follow the rules than skirt them just maybe the DOT rules in place now would not be so harsh. No matter how much a driver was paid, they were always looking for ways to cheat the system. Running multiple sets of books, running the scales by detour or waiting at the truck stop for them to close etc. Running with known defects or bad brakes, driving anything but safely and without sleep.  Now with so many more trucks on the road the problems are much worse, safety and road damage just to name a couple. Yes the interstate system was built for moving freight but we are well beyond that now. More trains instead of fewer, and truck only routes are needed to keep the trucks away from the normal traffic flows.

[stlaser]

For years in steel we always pushed the limit on weights. Rumor has it we once sent a 26 gvw truck full of scrap to the yard and it crossed the scales at 43k, I may have known the guy who loaded that truck. Granted it was 5 miles of back roads but being several K overloaded on shipments was standard practice daily and yes we knew routes around scales too. From my pov this is nothing our local farmers don't do every year btw so that makes it ok....

On the flip side to that our equipment was always meticulously maintained. The other part was that our drivers had final say on the load. If they needed it packaged better or more straps etc they were given the equipment. They also could refuse anything crazy as far as weights or the load in general though we tried not to push that too far on trips that involved the highway as the guys who were setting up the loads. Furthermore a truck loaded by a novice can still be underweight and extremely dangerous as I've witnessed many loads that had to be reworked prior to departure.

[OldKooT]

Farmers overloaded?......it's very difficult to guess what a load of grain may weigh. It is however easy to see when not another nugget of grain will fit on the trailer. If the grain falls off, it's overloaded.

[JR]

I had a load of tile on a bobtail one day in LA, even doublestacked a couple. Going up a turning overpass it would not turn until I let off the gas so the front wheels touched. Had the 60mph gov unplugged and it drove SO much better. Just an old 366. Didn't compare to the V12s I drove later up and down 5.

[stlaser]

Farmers overloaded?......it's very difficult to guess what a load of grain may weigh. It is however easy to see when not another nugget of grain will fit on the trailer. If the grain falls off, it's overloaded.

Well now, who woulda thunk you would speak up at that comment.....

[cruizng]

Sorry but I see it from a different direction. Years ago and many sets of log books, had the drivers and/or companies been more inclined to follow the rules than skirt them just maybe the DOT rules in place now would not be so harsh. No matter how much a driver was paid, they were always looking for ways to cheat the system. Running multiple sets of books, running the scales by detour or waiting at the truck stop for them to close etc. Running with known defects or bad brakes, driving anything but safely and without sleep.  Now with so many more trucks on the road the problems are much worse, safety and road damage just to name a couple. Yes the interstate system was built for moving freight but we are well beyond that now. More trains instead of fewer, and truck only routes are needed to keep the trucks away from the normal traffic flows.

Bob,

I appreciate your point of view and it is true that back in the cowboy days truckers ran multiple log books and overweight. One of the better things that have happened in the industry is EOBR. Electronic Logs that are required. This has leveled the playing field and has help mostly eliminated the pressure on the driver to run illegal so they can make more money. Now the driver just has to change their 4 duty statuses when they occur. On Duty Driving, On duty not driving, Sleeper Berth, and Off Duty. We know exactly when the driver has changed statuses. We get an alert in Operations when the drivers moves the truck while not in On Duty Driving status. We get alerts if the driver is approaching their maximum on duty hours for the day and can call them and have them pull over. We can tell when the driver hard brakes and we know the Latitude and Longitude of  the truck when it occurs and can map it. We immediately call the driver and ask him to find a safe pull over location and call us. We have actually modified drivers behavior with these systems making them safer. They now have road and driver cams. We get alerts for lane departures and roll over telemetry data. Almost every aspect of the truck operation is monitored now.

Honestly as far as over weight it would be much easier to run an illegal load now due to weigh station bypass transponders like PrePass. When was the last time you saw a line of trucks waiting to go through a weigh station? It just isn't worth it to run overweight now because if you do get caught the fines are huge and it affects your company safety rating.

Now it is all about keeping a stellar safety rating. Which is good because again it levels the playing field with all truckers. 1 - 40,000 fleet size. all the same rules now. Below is a good guide for stats.

http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/59000/59100/59189/2016_Pocket_Guide_to_Large_Truck_and_Bus_Statistics.pdf

Here is just one page that I think is interesting. From 1975 to 2014 we have double the trucks on the road to almost 11milion. But total fatalities with trucks have reduced from 1980 high of 5971 fatalities to 3903 in 2014. You look at the rates per 100 million miles column and you see an even bigger reduction. 5.51 to 1.40. The trucking industry has spent billions of $$$ to get safer because at the end of the day it saves them money.

[stlaser]

Not to be dismissive of your data set but have the amount of collisions been reduced or just the safety factor of vehicles in accidents increased to reduce fatalities?

My other thought is that you now have pickups that fall into that spreadsheet.

[OldKooT]

I have a few trucks...none have such fancy things. I stop at the scale every time I drive past it  *why would I do that*

The above description seems to really only apply to large companies around here. I know a lot of bull wagons, and chicken wagons, and logging and grain haulers as example, that still largely do it the old way. It's still DOT vs the driver for many.....again I ask...who drives past a scale intentionally? My stuff is all perfectly legal, and I'd never drive past a scale.

[Bob Smith]

Mike, thanks for posting the information sheet. Many factors have changed since 1975. Many  more trucks, Many more smaller vehicles. The highway systems across the country have had many safety improvements made to them, as have the vehicles using them. That alone saves many lives each year. Still lots of crashing going on but now more often than not the vehicle is running into a safety device instead of crossing the lanes into oncoming traffic. Fewer fatal single crashes on the main roadways, because the side slopes are not as steep as before, and many of the unmovable objects have either been removed, modified,or protected with traffic barriers.

I use the interstate systems often living where I do and traveling across the country. Still see lots of full weigh stations, they do bypass the trucks when the traffic is backing up close to the main driving lanes. The bypass systems are good for the trucks, with the electronics available fewer stops are needed. The rest areas are full of the big rigs, most likely due to the close monitoring of driving hours. Maybe the drivers balk at moving over weight loads, and that is a good thing. The bad thing is the DOT has raised the GVW allowed to move through the systems. Most of the older roadways were never built to carry the extra weight and are really suffering because of both the weight increases and many more trips per hour. Once a road starts to show problems the bouncing and pushing increases the problems even faster.

It is nice to see many of the larger trucking companies replace equipment more often than in the past. That alone helps with the safety factor. Problem with that is the local guys moving freight away from the ports are buying the stuff you guys trade off and are not doing the maintenance/repairs they should be doing. Many  of those drivers need to spend some time with Nate, he could really help them. I do not know if the ports require inspections, it really doesn't look like it when parked next to them on a on/off ramp at times. If only the independents worked as hard as the bigger companies trying to improve the industry.

[Bob Smith]

I have a few trucks...none have such fancy things. I stop at the scale every time I drive past it  *why would I do that*

The above description seems to really only apply to large companies around here. I know a lot of bull wagons, and chicken wagons, and logging and grain haulers as example, that still largely do it the old way. It's still DOT vs the driver for many.....again I ask...who drives past a scale intentionally? My stuff is all perfectly legal, and I'd never drive past a scale.

Not driving past as much as driving around or waiting for them to close. In your area, maybe the bull and chicken wagons and the log trucks. If you are hauling farm stuff local, do you even need a CDL driver

[OldKooT]

Well..... kinda a grey area honesty. A farm plated truck has some special provisions..

http://www.dmv.nebraska.gov/examining/pdf/CoveredFarmVehicleDriverManualInsert.pdf

We own both farm plated and apportion plated trucks...they all have their designed uses. Same with the wagons as well. I own some grain hoppers that have never seen a hard surface road as an example, and have never even been plated. We can move much of our grain without even using a gravel road, sticking entirely to "no maintenance" roads. Since these roads have no bridges to worry about we tend to stretch the capacities to whatever fits in the wagon.

We will and do cut roads across fields for just such situations..if it allows us to "skip" using a road requiring weight limits. That and equipment has become so large anymore most gravel roads are almost too narrow to use anyway.

The above said, some of our folks have Class A CDL's and some have none...because like the trucks, certain instances have certain advantages LoL

[Bob Smith]

As long as no bridge is involved grave surface roads are a bunch easier/cheaper to maintain than asphalt or cement concrete surfaced roads when they start showing failed support problems. The good thing about local use farm roads, they only really see abuse during harvest season.

[OldKooT]

Many of the gravel roads around these parts have bridges. Many if not most of the bridges, are far more likely to be destroyed by termites, than a overloaded truck.

Maintaining a gravel road is usually limited to fixing pieces of a road that may go missing. Flooding or something of that nature being the usual cause. Otherwise, they may run a road grader over it when it gets so bad a 4x4 can't drive down it easily. Now the same roads in the summer being largely clay and pea gravel, can be run along at 70 mph if one so chooses. There are different un official classes of gravels.

Main gravels that go between towns: these are usually seen as freeways. They are usually wide enough to meet on coming traffic without slowing down any more than is required to not blow out the oncoming vehicles windshield with your gravel plume. They are crowned very sharply so getting into the "marbles" on the sides can be exciting at 75mph.

We then have residential gravels: These are often not real wide, often questionably gravel, and seldom looked after by anyone other than the residents living on that mile. These roads when you meet someone at 65mph you may be in the grass a little when passing...perfectly normal.

One other class of gravel is called the surprise gravel: This one can be a combination of the above depending on if their is a farm on that mile. One minute you have a beautiful wide 75mph gravel, and the next minute you have a two lane dirt track...this makes for some fun when wet.

Then you have no maintenance, low maintenance, or field road. Honestly it's tough to decide which is which. But they are all dirt, they all have "obstacles" to enjoy and in general are to be avoided when wet.

All of the above roads will share traffic with farm equipment, semis, cattle, wildlife, mini vans, Side by sides and quads, and anything else. I once popped over a hill at 70 ish and met a on coming church, that got interesting.

[TexasRedNeck]

Interesting dialogue. I can tell you down here in Tejas that NAFTA has allowed a lot of unsafe trucks on our roads. Would be interesting to know if those stats are with NAFTA drivers and what that data would look like with US drivers only, spiked out


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[cruizng]

Not to be dismissive of your data set but have the amount of collisions been reduced or just the safety factor of vehicles in accidents increased to reduce fatalities?

My other thought is that you now have pickups that fall into that spreadsheet.

I am referring to commercial transportation. Heavily regulated and tons of data from Gov.
I think it is a combination of things that reduce fatalities. Safety equipment has improved. Speed of trucks has been reduced. Oversight has improved. etc..

Incidents have decreased relative to million miles driven and severity has decreased as well.

"Large Trucks" are defined being commercial vehicles over 10,000 pounds. If a dually has a goose neck trailer and is for hire it would be included in the FMCSA stats. Normal pickups wouldn't be in the data set.

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safety/data-and-statistics/large-truck-and-bus-crash-facts-2014

The tables in this chapter present crash statistics for large trucks and buses over time. Fatal crash statistics generally are available from 1975, the first year of FARS data, through 2014. In some cases, such as for roadway function class or alcohol involvement, data are available only from 1981 or 1982 through 2014. Nonfatal crash statistics are presented for 1994 through 2014. The statistics shown in this chapter represent crashes, vehicles, drivers, fatalities, and injuries in crashes. Below is a summary of some of the trend information in this section:

    In 2014, 3,978 large trucks and buses were involved in fatal crashes, a 5-percent decrease from 2013. From 2013 to 2014, large truck and bus fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled by all motor vehicles decreased by 4 percent, from 0.143 to 0.138.
    There was a 33-percent decrease in the number of fatal crashes involving large trucks or buses between 2004 and 2009, followed by an increase of 20 percent between 2009 and 2013. From 2013 to 2014, the number of fatal crashes involving large trucks or buses decreased by 4.5 percent.
    The number of injury crashes involving large trucks or buses decreased steadily from 95,000 in 2004 to 60,000 in 2009 (a decline of 37 percent). This decline was followed by an increase of 55 percent from 2009 to 2014.
    On average, from 2004 to 2014, intercity buses accounted for 13 percent, and school buses and transit buses accounted for 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of all buses involved in fatal crashes.
    Over the past year (from 2013 to 2014):
        The number of large trucks involved in fatal crashes decreased by 5 percent, from 3,921 to 3,744, and the large truck involvement rate (large trucks involved in fatal crashes per 100 million miles traveled by large trucks) declined by 6 percent, from 1.43 to 1.34.
        The number of large trucks involved in injury crashes increased by 21 percent, from 73,000 to 88,000, and the large truck involvement rate in injury crashes increased by 21 percent.
        The number of large trucks involved in property damage only crashes increased by 31 percent, from 265,000 to 346,000, and the large truck involvement rate in property damage only crashes increased by 29 percent.
        The number of buses involved in fatal crashes decreased from 282 to 234, a decrease of 17 percent, and the bus involvement rate in fatal crashes decreased by 21 percent.
        Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by large trucks increased by 1.5 percent, and bus VMT increased by 5.5 percent.

[cruizng]

I have a few trucks...none have such fancy things. I stop at the scale every time I drive past it  *why would I do that*

The above description seems to really only apply to large companies around here. I know a lot of bull wagons, and chicken wagons, and logging and grain haulers as example, that still largely do it the old way. It's still DOT vs the driver for many.....again I ask...who drives past a scale intentionally? My stuff is all perfectly legal, and I'd never drive past a scale.

Not driving past as much as driving around or waiting for them to close. In your area, maybe the bull and chicken wagons and the log trucks. If you are hauling farm stuff local, do you even need a CDL driver

EOBR will be mandated for commercial truck drivers on December 31st of this year unless they punt it down the road again. So if you haul anything commercial you will have to have electronic logs tied into your ECM on your truck. And of course... Farmers will still be SPECIAL... and not have to follow any of the rules..

One other major development over the years has been the Standardization of the CDL and reciprocity nationwide. You used to be able to have several Commercial Driver Licenses in different states. If you got pulled over in Wyoming you would just produce your license from a State you knew didn't have reciprocity with Wyoming, pay the fine which then was fairly minimal and go along your merry way. Now if you get pulled over and tickets it is recorded for all to see and if you lose your CDL you lose your livelihood. That in of itself has modified a lot of behavior or they have exited the profession.

Since road damage seems to be an issue I will try to pull stats on the enormous amount of money that is extracted from carriers to pay for roads that is then typically diverted by politicians for other uses.

RN. It appears that no Mexican Domicile carriers are included in the data set but Canada carriers are which is odd. I will see if I can find them.

[Bob Smith]

Changing from the state issued combination/commercial endorsement to the federal CDL really helped thin out drivers that had problems driving or following the laws.

I know the trucking industry pays lots of dollars in fuel taxes etc. but the roads still get beat up and it takes forever to get them rebuilt. Yes the monies paid are siphoned off for other things too, but the damaged roads are still there for the traveling public to try and drive across. Water (frozen or liquid), weight, and repetitions  are the real enemies of the road systems in my opinion. Tire size vs weight carrying ability, and bridge laws are a complete nother subject. I am not an engineer, I just helped build and maintain the roads. Years ago a pup trailer behind the dump truck had two axles, now the length of the frame seams to dictate how many axles they can stick under them and then add a couple drop axles under the truck as well. Heavy trucks moving cargo Containers, and others too, have added drop axles. Heck even some of the smaller box trucks have them. The concrete trucks have added tag axles and super size front tires so they can carry more weight. I have never studied or run experiments on weight vs road damage, I just watched the roads go to heck when the feds raised the weight limits.

[OldKooT]

 what ECM's?  My old Pete's will be running long after trucks with ECM's quit... based on the less than a 100k on most of them atm.

Plus I farm...special rules LoL

I really am all for better enforcement and such... that said, just tonight I sat next to a semi with bald super singles on it. So yah.... nat carrier BTW not a local.

[cruizng]

Changing from the state issued combination/commercial endorsement to the federal CDL really helped thin out drivers that had problems driving or following the laws.

I know the trucking industry pays lots of dollars in fuel taxes etc. but the roads still get beat up and it takes forever to get them rebuilt. Yes the monies paid are siphoned off for other things too, but the damaged roads are still there for the traveling public to try and drive across. Water (frozen or liquid), weight, and repetitions  are the real enemies of the road systems in my opinion. Tire size vs weight carrying ability, and bridge laws are a complete nother subject. I am not an engineer, I just helped build and maintain the roads. Years ago a pup trailer behind the dump truck had two axles, now the length of the frame seams to dictate how many axles they can stick under them and then add a couple drop axles under the truck as well. Heavy trucks moving cargo Containers, and others too, have added drop axles. Heck even some of the smaller box trucks have them. The concrete trucks have added tag axles and super size front tires so they can carry more weight. I have never studied or run experiments on weight vs road damage, I just watched the roads go to heck when the feds raised the weight limits.

Bob, No doubt that use equals need for maintenance. I also agree that water, and weight are the primary culprits for road degradation. I also think that road design has improved over the years to minimize maintenance required or extend life cycle of roadbed. If you google diversion of highway transportation funds there are a ton of articles and studies on how since 1956 money collected specifically for interstate road development and maintenance has been slowly diverted away to sidewalks, green spaces, metro transit, office spaces, etc... There are also companies out there but do nothing more than try to determine what the cost of a single 80,000lb truck going over a specific piece of road costs. Many variables.

Most weight laws are determined by bridge specifications. It is the lowest common denominator for vehicle weight. If you can run over a bridge safely you should be able to run over a concrete / asphalt interstate highway. So at the end of the day Interstate freeways were always over built compared to bridges. They have just had the money  to maintain and improved diverted.

Also each state sets it's own rules. I can remember back in the late 80's when you had Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana all had a much lower Gross Vehicle Weight from the standard 80,000lbs so you could go coast to coast or you had to purchase "overweight" permits to pass through. Pretty good revenue stream for many years until the Feds pushed to standardize on 80K.

Our company is probably one of your nemesis's.  Very Heavy Haul. We currently have a dual lane trailer that has 24 axles that can handle up to 360,000 pound load that can spread it's axles out to cover two lanes of traffic. We recently had a load that was 190 feet long, 14'6" wide and 248,941 pounds. It moved less than 1000 miles and only through three states. We paid just in permits $2000.00 and $3410.00 in escorts. We also paid for state patrol, sheriff, city police, and many more for traffic control. We also pay each state and have to submit CAD drawings of each turn and get them approved by state, county, city, dog catcher... etc.. I'm not sure if you got a drivers license lately but you can probably appreciate the man power required to coordinate and purchase all of these things in a timely fashion working for State and County departments. Especially Illinois! LOL

The hard thing to contemplate is did we damage the roads or bridges by $XXXXXXX (insert quantifiable amount here) for that one load? probably less that 1/10th of 1% of the $ paid out. But still hard to tell.

[cruizng]

what ECM's?  My old Pete's will be running long after trucks with ECM's quit... based on the less than a 100k on most of them atm.

Plus I farm...special rules LoL

I really am all for better enforcement and such... that said, just tonight I sat next to a semi with bald super singles on it. So yah.... nat carrier BTW not a local.

Hmmm what's an ECM... I saw the picture of that sweet Mustang..  and I do agree, your non ECM Pete will outlast all of our current 2017 Pete's with heavy regulated DEF fluid drinking, high cost to maintain, POS's... but hey... Global Warming... Save the Planet... Yay... This morning driving in I heard George Carlin.

https://youtu.be/7W33HRc1A6c

As an industry there are still many areas of improvement possibly. Law and DOT enforcement has really pivoted from Scales and checks to pop up roadside inspections. They are cheaper and are probably more effective.

FARM ON!!   

[Bob Smith]

Mike, the good thing is I am retired and don't have to worry about road problems or oversized loads in a bind. The bad thing is I have to drive across the roads and sometimes get held up  because an oversized load is stuck or has damaged something.


Sounds like you work for a very large company with lots of challenges. Heavy equipment moves most always went smooth, because you guys did all the needed investigation work in advance. I had to work more than a few times with house movers. Always made them carry chain saws to reduce the width of the load if needed. The power companies hated to come out and drop the lines so the house could move along after it got hung up in them.

[OldKooT]

Heavy haul work is fascinating to watch. Years back I watched them move the BigBoy Locomotive in Omaha, good times.

Many years ago in Wisconsin I helped on a wrecker call for a heavy haul company...Keen I believe. They defiantly had their ducks in a row..