Misconceptions

Today's Thoughts 6/23/11 Misconceptions

In my travels a little ways back I met a driver and had a conversation with him as I usually do from time to time. One of the perks of being a trucker I think is the wide spectrum of people you meet out on the road. Most certainly you will hear opinions on any given subject coming from the far left to the far right. But sometimes, the opinion you hear is just so far out it will amaze even the most open minded of us.

Take for instance a driver I met while I was pulled in over a shop pit getting my truck serviced. He was a middle aged man claiming to have a few years of trucking under his belt. We walked around and talked about some of the extras I have on my truck like my by-pass oil filter and my wheel balancers. Looking at my wheel balancers I was discussing how the tires wore and was going to compare them to the tires on his truck. Thats when I noticed that he was getting some truly awesome tire life out of his drive tires. They were smooth all the way around. I could see no side wear and in fact looked to be taken care of really well. The only obvious defect that I could see in them was the fact that the deepest part of the tread left on the tires could have been no more than one thirty second deep. That is where the tires had any tread at all you see.

So being the inquisitive person that I am I had to ask? "Driver, did you notice that your drive tires are basically bald?"

He did of course and I ask him if he was worried about the DOT pulling him over if they were to spot that. But he was not too concerned you see. According to my friend today, this was not his problem. He had protected himself from getting a ticket if he was to get caught.

mmmm.  I wondered. How does one protect themselves from getting a ticket when they are riding around in a big truck with eight bald drive tires? So I ask him to explain this to me. Now according to the way he thinks, and you're going to love this, when he fills out his log book, he writes up in the inspection section any defects the truck has. For over a month he has written up eight bald drive tires and his company still has not replaced them.

So not wanting to be the bearer of bad news but feel I have some sort of duty here, I explain to him that just because he wrote these tires up as being bald did not relieve him of the responsibility of driving an unsafe big truck out on the open highway. I told him that by marking those tires down as needing replaced, the only thing he did is gave proof to some high priced lawyer that he knew the truck was unsafe before the accident happened and he still chose to drive it out on the open highway. But according to the owner of the truck that trained this guy, his responsibility ended with him noting the defect on the inspection form.

Of course I did not know what I was talking about. He paid his bill and drove out past the rack of brand new truck tires. Oh well. I did my best. All I can do now is hope he gets pulled over before someone gets hurt. And I guess I can tell the rest of my friends what I'm sure they already know. You as the driver have the ultimate say as to your truck being driving on the highway in a safe and legal fashion. I know that sometimes you might find yourself being told to drive it or we will find a driver that will. I know, I've been there before myself. Thats when you have to dig deep down inside yourself and just do the right thing. You can always replace a job. Just try replacing a human.

Drive safe peeps.    CYA next time.

Jeff Head.
Be sure to add me as a friend if you like "Today's Thoughts"