alternative assets

[theletch1]

I was making my run last night and had an interesting incident happen that brought to mind a couple others during my long haul (48 states) days. I was on the 4 lane in a very rural area when a car came screaming past me, cut in front of my rig so close I couldn't see his back bumper and shot down a dirt road. A few seconds later a county officer came past with lights going. As he passed me he killed his lights and slowed down. I called him on the CB and asked if he was looking for a particular vehicle. He was, I told him where it had gone and off he went. This reminded me of several ocassions during my long haul days when cops had called out to truckers on the CB for info on vehicles and twice (once in Indiana and once in Illinois) where-in myself and another truck driver had been asked to create what amounted to a running road block to help slow a high speed chase. My question to you LEOs is this. Do you run a CB in your patrol car and if so do you make use of an asset that is almost always available to you? The vast majority of us truckers are more than welcome to help out with looking out for other vehicles or even running side by side to slow down traffic when need be. There's that 10% that give the rest of us a bad name but that's with any profession.

 

[jks9199]

I was making my run last night and had an interesting incident happen that brought to mind a couple others during my long haul (48 states) days. I was on the 4 lane in a very rural area when a car came screaming past me, cut in front of my rig so close I couldn't see his back bumper and shot down a dirt road. A few seconds later a county officer came past with lights going. As he passed me he killed his lights and slowed down. I called him on the CB and asked if he was looking for a particular vehicle. He was, I told him where it had gone and off he went. This reminded me of several ocassions during my long haul days when cops had called out to truckers on the CB for info on vehicles and twice (once in Indiana and once in Illinois) where-in myself and another truck driver had been asked to create what amounted to a running road block to help slow a high speed chase. My question to you LEOs is this. Do you run a CB in your patrol car and if so do you make use of an asset that is almost always available to you? The vast majority of us truckers are more than welcome to help out with looking out for other vehicles or even running side by side to slow down traffic when need be. There's that 10% that give the rest of us a bad name but that's with any profession.

Some state agencies do routinely monitor certain CB channels (usually 9), or have in the past. I know some officers who do carry CBs, as well, especially in more rural areas or on the highways.

But, unfortunately, truckers aren't the professional drivers they once were. In fact, I had one almost hit me and run me off the road this afternoon... He wanted to get around a slow moving vehicle -- and didn't make sure he was clear of me before changing lanes. He's lucky my head wasn't up my ***, and that I know how to respond and keep control of my car, because I'm not sure I didn't drop a tire off the shoulder. (Things happened kind of fast...) He was hauling a flatbed, empty... so a lot of his blindspots weren't nearly as bad as with a regular trailer.

But I digress...

There are formal programs around taking advantage of the huge number of professional/trades vehicles on the roads. Either by company or by individual participation, the drivers get notice via text messages, dispatch messages, or other channels, and have a means to respond.

Great job on your part passing important info along!

 

[theletch1]

Some state agencies do routinely monitor certain CB channels (usually 9), or have in the past. I know some officers who do carry CBs, as well, especially in more rural areas or on the highways.

But, unfortunately, truckers aren't the professional drivers they once were. In fact, I had one almost hit me and run me off the road this afternoon... He wanted to get around a slow moving vehicle -- and didn't make sure he was clear of me before changing lanes. He's lucky my head wasn't up my ***, and that I know how to respond and keep control of my car, because I'm not sure I didn't drop a tire off the shoulder. (Things happened kind of fast...) He was hauling a flatbed, empty... so a lot of his blindspots weren't nearly as bad as with a regular trailer.

But I digress...

There are formal programs around taking advantage of the huge number of professional/trades vehicles on the roads. Either by company or by individual participation, the drivers get notice via text messages, dispatch messages, or other channels, and have a means to respond.

Great job on your part passing important info along!

Bolding is mine. I agree whole heartedly here. I'm a trainer for new drivers at my company as well as responsible for road testing applicants who already have a class A when they come to us. It's been a long, long time since I had a new driver that was actually a "trucker" and not just a steering wheel holder.