09 Jan 08 Trucking is hazardous work
Trucking is hazardous work. A number of drivers get into fatal accidents every year. Statistically, twenty-five in 100,000 drivers get killed annually. Given 3.3 million active drivers in the USA, about 825 of them die on the job each year. This makes trucking the 10th most dangerous job in the USA.
Unless you own or lease/purchase your rig, you will have to put up with the engine governor set at the company’s predetermined top speed based upon a driver’s experience and safety record. You may not alter this governor setting. If you do, it will be detected at the home office, and you may get fired. Most companies set it between 60 and 70 mph for highest fuel efficiency and safety. Of course fuel consumption is mostly driver dependent. Owner operators are very fuel consumption sensitive but don’t set their governor below 80 mph or more. They also don’t like 10-speed or automatic transmissions, but have more gears allowing them to always keep their RPM at peak engine torque. They purr by you doing 70+ MPH in 14th gear at 1500 RPM. You’ll see them running in packs of three and more.
If you think you can run with the ‘big dogs,’ forget it. They typically won’t talk to you on their “big” CB radios and they won’t tolerate your getting in their way. They won’t hesitate to call your company and complain about your driving. When a local cop dares stops them they often call in a Federal Marshal to set the local officer straight. They also have contracts with specialized law firms who defend them, you probably don’t. That’s why a trooper will stop you first, not stop the owner operator. I’ve seen one passing a company driver in Arkansas and the trooper stopped the new driver for speeding, not the owner operator.
Is there a class structure in trucking? Generally there isn’t, certainly not by race, color or country of origin except for the occasional southern border wrangling between latinos and “gringos.” For most minorities, trucking is a great liberator and an equal opportunity job environment. After all, every trucker on the road has equal responsibility, nearly equal power, and generally equal pay for compatible work. This has brought out the best in many drivers of whom you would least expect it.
However, there is a difference in professional standing between van drivers, flatbed drivers, car haulers, and fungible goods bulk haulers who carry liquids, chemicals, cement, grains, etc. Flatbed drivers have amazing variable loading, load securement and tarping skills. They also carry oversize loads which have greater than normal width, or heights, length, and/or weight. Experienced flatbed drivers can specialize in heavy hauling which often requires additional multi-axle equipment and training. These drivers run by permit only and typically are not allowed to run at night.
The flatbed folks consider themselves to be “real truckers” in contrast to the “steering wheel holders” on the van trailer side. They do indeed work much harder physically and stay in better shape for it. Flatbed trailers come in flat, drop-deck, lowboy, spread axle, and other specialized configurations each of which require a knowledge of their load distribution characteristics. Light weight aluminum trailers present an extra challenge because of their propensity to twist dangerously under heavy loads in hazardous corners.
New drivers tend to lose sight of their rig height. They neglect to think vertically until after they have hit a bridge or an overpass. Many get fired for hitting and damaging overhead structures. All bridges and overhead structures are height labeled. The absolute minimum clearance required for regular box trailers is 13 1/2 feet. Flatbed drivers with tall loads must measure their rig heights and get reloaded, if necessary, or get an oversize permit. Low bridges (those below 14 feet) are listed in the Rand McNally Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas. Brooklyn, NY, and surrounding areas have a number of low bridges. These are often marked lower than they actually are to compensate for snowfall which raises the pavement height.
I once was ticketed in Virginia for running a rig which exceeded the length restriction for the road. Rand McNally orange highlights all truck routes which allow standard truck sizes including multi trailer rigs. Once the driver sees a length limit warning sign it is usually too late to find a U-turn opportunity. This, of course, is by design of local law enforcement.
Some Pennsylvania cops use portable bridge weight limit signs which they place to collect huge fines from truckers exceeding a posted bridge’s maximum weight capacity. It may be shown as 40 tons maximum in the morning when the local trucks run and 25 tons in the afternoon when long haul truckers arrive.
The standard maximum loaded weight of a truck is 40 tons or 80,000 lbs. The maximum standard axle weights are 12,000 lbs for the steering axle and 17,500 lbs for each of the remaining axles. State scale masters typically weigh the drive tandems and trailer tandems for 34,000 max each , but often flatbed rigs are weighed by axle, particularly those with spread axle trailers. Each spread axle is rated at 20,000 lbs max. This means that the drive tandem axles must carry commensurately less.
