A Case Of Hit And Run

At 0219 in the morning, 12-12-09, I was involved in a hit and run. It was on I287 in New Jersey. 8.8 miles before the intersection of I80 + I287. I was in the Hardin Truck Rest Stop, sleeping. I came out of my bed in shock, thinking that my truck was going. I felt a jarring crunch, and heard metal screeching.

By the time I got out of bed, the flatbed that had pulled out from next to me and hit my truck was past me. I never wear my glasses to bed, and hadn't put them on, thinking (If I even was thinking) that I had forgotten to set my brakes and my truck was in motion.

All I saw was a flatbed truck with lots of lights on his flatbed.I think the truck was blue, but I could be wrong about that. The Truck Rest Stop was not lit up, so even if I did have my glasses on, I would not have been able to get the license plate number.

After all this, I went to the back and got my glasses and coat. Than I went outside to assess the situation. I was shaking like a leaf. The hood latch had been pulled off, and the hood was out of whack. The hood mirror was no longer connected, and two of the brackets were on the ground.

The head lights and a bit of the fibre glass hood from around them was on the ground. And half of the bumper was straight out in front of the truck.

There was no way the driver of the flatbed did not know that he had hit me. He just must have chosen not to stop. There was plenty of room, and he could have avoided hitting my by pulling out further. And if he did not want to pull out further for some reason, he could have knocked on my door and asked me to back up. I would have. There is an unwritten rule that if someone asks you to move a couple of feet so they can get by, you do. No problems, no complaints. It saves on the wear and tear on your vehicle.

So then I have to call the emergency number, and Bill answers. I tell him I was hit and runned, and he tells me to call 911, which I then do. They transfer me to State Police, who tell me they will come out.

When they come out, they take a report, and give me a piece of paper telling me how to get a copy of the report. They also tell me not to drive at night until the lights get fixed.

As it is still dark out, I go back to bed for a couple of hours.

When it is light out, I go back out, and with the help of a couple of other drivers, push the bumper back to a sort of straight position. In doing so, I bend my Happy Unhooker.

Than I picked up the pieces that couldn't be put back on with duct tape and hair bands, and put them in my passenger side box. The hood I had held down with hairbands and duct tape. I used a bit more duct tape to hold down some odd pieces that were a bit floppy. Than I started heading back towards home.

Have you ever been involved in a hit and run? Doesn't it make you feel even worse than a regular accident? I wonder what kind of truck I will have whilest they are fixing mine.

Til I have some more Notes From The Road

Friday Follow #5 -02/12/10

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Properly Chastised

Alright, I will admit it. It really was my fault. Mostly, anyway. I knew better than to take a load that is purported to be heavy- and not even scale it out. But this load- well, I guess you could say I got distracted. What with it being my first load for this company, and my first load EVER in an International Truck. I got distracted.

I went by the first 3 truckstops with scales, and it never even crossed my mind to scale out this wagon. This is not me. I almost always weigh the wagon, because I hate getting tickets for being overweight.

Hello?! I already know that I am overweight- I don't need to get fined for being fat. Just a little bit of gallows humor, there. I was already down to Connecticut, about 350 miles from the yard, and just passing the Connecticut Scales when it occurred to me that I should oughta get me to a Cat Scale. The next truckstop was only a few miles down the road, so I stopped in, and weighed the wagon.

Ouch. The wight limits are:
steer=12,000
drive=34,000
trailer=34,000
----------------
gross = 80,000

I was:
steer=11,820
driver=30,030
trlr=37,940
--------------
gross=79,790

I was not over gross, which is a good thing. But I was about 3,940 lbs over on my trailer. Not such a good thing.
Anyway-when I called the company, and told them what was going on, Boss asked me why I hadn't weighed out at Dysarts, the Pilot, or the truckstop in Portsmouth. I told him I didn't think about it.

Well, I had slid my tandems as much as I could, but the end result wasn't pretty. He told me he guess I would have to run with it. We would just have to eat any tickets.

Okay, I did get his permission to run with it, but I would be darned if I was going to let myself get a ticket for being overweight on my first load with the company. Way to get fired on my first load. So I went down through the woods, trying not to hit any open scales. I actually did not hit a scale until North Carolina, but they didn't say anything to me.

I am properly chastised. Now I will be sure to scale out every load. Has something this important ever just slipped your mind? What happened as a result?