That feeling of Safety!

I wanted to write a post about safe trucks and trucks/truck companies that I personally trust when I see their logos rolling down the freeway.  Whenever I see these trucks, they have established a certain trust factor with me that makes me believe their drivers are safe, reliable and courteous.

The fact that I notice these companies and their good behavior on the road made me think they deserve some recognition, even if it's only among the readers of this humble truck blog :)

Disclaimer:  Before I start posting pictures in this post, I want to say that this post is based solely on personal experience and observations, it is not based on any surveys or statistics of any kind ... 

First of all, just because a trucking company is not depicted in this post does *not* mean they are not safe and reliable.  There are plenty of other trucks out there that are just that!

Secondly, I know there are plenty of safe independent drivers and unmarked trucks out there whose company names I don't know. Also, I reside in Southern California and there are probably a lot of logistics companies I have never seen that operate in other parts of the country. Again --- they are probably safe and reliable, but if I haven't seen them, I won't know to post about them. 

[End disclaimer]

So .... onward with my post and to my point.

I commute a lot. Every single day I'm out there on the freeway. I see a lot of driver behavior, 18-wheelers included.  I'm very impressed actually.  As much traffic as we have coming through the freeways every day, in general, most drivers are very safe and very good. And thankfully so, otherwise we would spend a lot more time sitting in traffic than we already do.

Truck drivers in general know to drive safely and are very courteous, even in situations where I myself might have blown a fuse. However, I have also seen some very unsafe truck drivers, which scares me, just because of the size and weight of their vehicle.  No matter what, if a person gets in a fender bender with a big rig, just due to the sheer nature of its size, it will most likely end badly and be very costly, so unstable trucks/truck drivers scares the crap out of me. I usually step on the gas and dart past them as fast as I can.
Accidents happen to the best of drivers once in awhile, but I do believe that when you are responsible for a vehicle the size of an 18-wheeler, you are definitely required to be even more careful and levelheaded than most drivers.

As a rule, most trucking companies seem to be conscious about hiring safe drivers.  I've had friends apply to some of these companies and been denied due to some ding in their driving record.  Obviously I sympathize with my friends who didn't get the job, but I applaud the logistics companies for sticking to their safety rules and regulations. Their name and reputation is at stake, they want to ensure that the men and women behind the wheel of their trucks with their logo will do their company justice by representing them well across the country.

So .... below are some companies that I've taken notice of and I feel that their trucks are safe to be around whenever I see them in motion.  Again, this is based only on what I see around here, I *know* there are more safe drivers out there than the handful I will post below.

Thanks to ALL of our safe truck drivers for your effort in keeping the freeways accident free.

Swift Transportation - always reliably safe

Schneider National

C.R.England

Knight Transportation

Mayflower Moving Lines

Stevens Transport

 United Van Lines

 

Walmart Transportation

AND ---- for showing utmost self control, driving around with gigantic burgers and crispy french fries on the side of your truck all day long must make a person constantly hungry ....
McDonalds and Carl's JR trucks especially, as their truck ads are particularly tempting!

So kudos to food truckers for safe delivery!

Every Day Trucks!

I went to Las Vegas last week. The 15 freeway has a lot of eye candy for a truck enthusiast, so I thought I'd snap a few pictures and share!

Now ... these are the average transport trucks. Not show trucks, just regular work horses. Personally, these are the trucks that keep me entertained every day as I commute to and from work, they give me something to look at besides the bumper of the car in front of me.

So here it is, a small tribute to the every day non-fancy trucks that so faithfully roll up and down the freeway, day out, day in ..... :)  

Blue skies, open highways ... here we go.

I was excited to see the TrailerTail implemented on a couple of trucks we passed along the way!
I had expected to see more of them by now, but I guess everyone is waiting around for
true statistics to see if it's worth the purchase or not.  

Unfortunately, I did also see a few of these ....
No fun being stranded in the desert! (Or anywhere really ....)

Room and Respect!

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, I thought I'd repost it, not only on the FB page but here on my blog.

I can't say how many times I see fellow 4-wheelers speed up so trucks cannot merge in front of them (despite trucks having blinkers on), or follow so close, the truck driver can't possibly see that they are there.

OR .... the classic one is, I'll slow down to let a big rig merge in front of me and a 4-wheeler swoops into the spot that was saved for the truck and almost causes an accident!! (And it's no thanks to the driver of the small car that those accidents were avoided).

Being a truck driver is no doubt a hard profession, as well as a much needed profession... how else would we receive our merchandise.   Why not contribute to making a trucker's life a little easier by following the mantra in the picture above ..... Give them room.  Show some respect.

Just a thought .....