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goodmichael

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Everything posted by goodmichael

  1. Tragic. Over a hunkok of metal and plastic.
  2. I would strongly suggest that you develop a strong business plan before you leap into a truck payment. I would have savings in excess of six months to cover your living expenses as well. Know your cost per mile, cost per day, cost per week, cost per month. Your biggest expenses will be labor and fuel. Fuel is very volatile and unpredictable. Here in S. Texas you need about 10k a month to keep a truck on the road. One needs to generate about 334. dollars each and everyday to accomplish this. Knowing your costs allows you to add in a profit margin so that you turn a profit on every call you make. There are no free miles in the real world. Every mile wears out tires, clogs fuel and air filters, breaks down brake, oil, diff fluid, and trans fluid. There is no free. I would strongly suggest that you develop a strong business plan before you leap into a truck payment. I would have savings in excess of six months to cover your living expenses as well. Know your cost per mile, cost per day, cost per week, cost per month. Your biggest expenses will be labor and fuel. Fuel is very volatile and unpredictable. Here in S. Texas you need about 10k a month to keep a truck on the road. One needs to generate about 334. dollars each and everyday to accomplish this. Knowing your costs allows you to add in a profit margin so that you turn a profit on every call you make. There are no free miles in the real world. Every mile wears out tires, clogs fuel and air filters, breaks down brake, oil, diff fluid, and trans fluid. There is no free.
  3. I do not follow stats, but just hw many operators were killed roadside in 22 as well as 23? 60 deaths nationwide seems very conservative.
  4. People want to know why insurance is so excruciatingly high, can look no further than this company. Mind you I do not blame the operator. I do blame the owner, the agency who allows him to work their with lax safety protocol.
  5. People I do not know the particulars, so I am not passing judgement, but ensure that you as a driver are well rested. As a manager or owner use due diligence to ensure your staff is well rested. There is no shame in refusing a call because you need rest. There is remorse and regret if you kill somebody because you wanted to get in, "one more call" I speak from experience. I fell asleep driving down the interstate. By God's grace I did not kill anyone, or hurt anyone. I suffered a compression fracture in my back, and destroyed a 96 F450 with a Vulcan 882, a road sign, and about 20' of guardrail.
  6. Geoff is a stand up guy who built his business from hard work, grit, and determination. I wish there was an easy answer. A small majority of people are just self centered and selfish. They have zero consideration for others. IH 35 is a circus on a good day. It is extremely dangerous to navigate in a a vehicle let alone having to focus on a casualty on the side of the road!
  7. goodmichael

    HB 898

    What is the gist of HB 898?
  8. That is a bold statement. Factors contributing to many crashes today are inattention, talking on the phone, texting, excessive speed, and driver inattention. A small majority of people are just too selfish to care about other drivers safety. They just do not care.
  9. And that somebody needs to be you. Do not be complacent. Something as mundane as placing cones at a scene could take your life.
  10. Great job. One never knows when those skills will save a life. You guys have an awesome culture in safe practices. I always enjoy reading your narratives and stories. Your narratives definitely show a person, they do not tell a person what occurred.
  11. A brake job would have been far less expensive than the increase in insurance, loss of use to repair the hood, increase in insurance or out of pocket expense to fix the damage to the casualty, as well as expense to fix the road. Luckily nobody driving by was killed or injured by the runaway truck. Luckily the operator was unscathed as well. Costly mistake, totally preventable.
  12. Caught between is one of the so called "fatal four"
  13. I have long advocated for the use, implementation, as well as well as passing the cost of safety equipment on to the end user, be it the private pay customer, or motor club. I always consider the fact that extra equipment, properly used, properly billed out as a line item, only needs to save one life to prove itself worthy. We as an industry are our own worst enemy. Many cut corners on safety, both employers as well as employees. We look the other way when safe operating procedures are ignored, as long as that operator is bringing in the revenue that allows that unit to turn a profit. Many companies do very little or nothing at all to promote a safe working environment. Some are excellent, some outstanding, at promoting a safety first attitude. 👏 Here I San Antonio, Texas an operator can call the HERO program and they will make the scene of a breakdown on the side of a highway and provide a blocker for you to safely do their job. Free of charge. It boggles my mind to see operators hooking up roadside taking a chance they will be one of the sixty that will die roadside due to a distracted or impaired driver. Your company sells a great product. It saddens me that you have not received the response you deserve. No amount of money can replace a life lost.
  14. 0300 hours speaks volumes. If you watch the first part of the video the operator as well as the deputy were very complacent as they exchanged documents. The subject was on a mission to get home, and was hell bent on getting home. Very easily could have been a double fatality. Even on a country road one cannot let their guard down.
  15. I presume all people are mentally impaired until proven otherwise. That frame of mind does not expose me to surprises.
  16. I think Butters from Southpark would say " hamburgers" maybe even "cheeseburgers" on that one. Seeing some people in action I have come to the conclusion that insurance is inexpensive based on the utilization of experience, knowledge, education, and training some people present and practice.
  17. I have long been an advocate of requiring a blocker style truck as a buffer when working next to traffic that is in a speed limit zone of 35 mph or higher. The cost should be a line item on the invoice. The COMPLACENCY presented by the operators in that video was hard to watch. Those operators are not practicing safe operations procedures. We are blessed here in San Antonio with what I'd called the HERO program. The state has funded a fleet of responders who will respond to a citizen who breaks down roadside. These folks will also come out and provide coverage for a tow operator working on the side of a highway. At no charge.
  18. Thanks for posting. I worked for a man in Eastland, Texas whose passion was restoring model A's and model T's. He was diagnosed with cancer, and built a pickup just like that one. He wanted his casket carried to his final resting place with that truck. He stated he did not want his last mile to be in a Cadillac. He had retired from Caterpillar, so when that day came, his casket was painted CAT yellow and was carried his final mile in a classic Ford.
  19. That is the first I have seen of the video. I think it should be played over and over. Every new driver should be mandated to watch it. Every training program should incorporate it into their training. I have done some really stupid things In my time, would never, ever pass a cyclist that close. I would activate my emergency lights and slow to a crawl if I could not pass. If I was able to safely pass I would do so with said lights activated. As the situation played out, had that cyclist burped, sneezed, or farted it could have resulted in a fatality. Whether you like it or not, a cyclist is a legitimate vehicle. We are the professional driver, and as such are held to a higher standard. Or should I say we should act like a professional driver. What would your insurance say if that had resulted in a fatality and that video came to light. If you want to be regarded as a professional, and treated as a professional, you have to take a stand on dumbshit, careless, conduct such as this. There is no excuse!
  20. It depends on the department agency policy. If the vehicle is held to be processed and is the property of the victim of a crime the agency generally will pick up the tab. If the vehicle belongs to an alleged perp of a crime it is generally at the discretion of the agency. I have seen cars held for months to a few years in criminal court cases. It all depends on the policy of the agency. Down here if the vehicle was used in a crime it is likely to be seized and sold at auction.
  21. This is sound advice. Volume does not equal profit. You can make just as much money with one truck as you can with three if you market your business, have a clean truck, and provide service that does not just meet, but exceeds your clients expectations. Please call me direct Michael 210-296-4823
  22. Why was the unit held? Was it a theft recovery, custody arrest, illegally parked? When were you informed that the car was being held? I really find it hard to believe that you had no idea that there would be fees associated with the car being impounded. Please elaborate on your situation.
  23. Buy a wrecker. I personally like the Vulcan 882. Mounted on an F450 chassis with a 6.7.
  24. Vehicle operators are not going to change. 97% of vehicle operators desire to do the right thing. It is the 3% that give everyone the bad name. SO WHAT DO WE DO? 1.)We should push municipalities to add five or ten dollars to each and every traffic citation to pay for blocker vehicles that will be utilized to shield operators who work on the side of a highway. 2.)We as an industry should lobby states to require that drivers education classes NOT be taught online. Let's be realistic, a majority of parents are not the greatest motor vehicle operator that you think you are. And your student driver knows this. 3.)We on this forum could from developing a format to evaluate severe injuries as well as fatality incidents to study what went wrong. This would be similar to the short synopsis breakdowns that OSHA releases. No company names or operator names are presented. It is not being disrespectful. Being disrespectful is doing nothing. 4.)We have to stop being our own worst enemy. We have to charge for safety and pass that cost on to the consumer. Safety is not cheap. It is less expensive than a lifeflighf and a funeral. 5.) We need law enforcement to police operators and take enforcement action upon operators who refuse to operate in a safe manner. No vests at roadside, no safety chains, improper securement. 6.)As an industry we have failed, and you will not like this one, but due to the industry as a whole being a failure, we need to have OSHA step in and step on some people's toes. There is no bigger motivator than seeing another business get raked through the coals , to get ones crap together, than to see OSHA hand out 14,000.00 fines like toothpick sat a banquet. Hate me if you want, curse me for even thinking this way, but overall we are a failure at working in a safe manner to have a goal of bringing everyone home every call every day. Every fatality is a failure. Be it an operator judgement call, a job safety analysis training failure, a policy and procedure failure, or I am a crappy person who only cares about generating cash flow type of owner, or operator. 7.)We should develop curriculum that allows for an operator to earn an associates degree I transportation alternate contingency technologies. Example of overview Date of incident: September 10, 2022 Time of incident: 10:22 pm Weather condition: Partly cloudy Lighting condition: Artificial lighting/street pole lamps. Lighting effectiveness: averages to good Roadway material: asphalt Road Condition: dry well maintained Operator years of experience: 15 Competent individual on scene: Yes Person P equipment in use: yes If yes please list: traffic cones Number of vehicles involved: 3 Number of persons on scene: 3 Describe the need for service: A box trucks ,16,000 gvwr had suffered a mechanical breakdown. Truck hazard lights were on. Orange traffic cones were set up in a straight line formation. Description of incident: A driver stopped to assist box truck operator to get him to the closest safe haven off the Roadway, approximately 150 yards from scene. The driver was in the process of anchoring the box truck with a V bridle and chain. The drivers vehicle was approximately six feet from the casualty parked facing in the same direction as the casualty. The driver was facing the casualty when a midsized sedan impacted the left rear corner of the box trucks. The car wedged itself under the lift gate of the casualty. The impact of the collision caused the box truck to thrust forward. This forward motion resulted in the driver of the pickup to be violently struck and slammed into the bed and rear bumper of the pickup. Injuries sustained: Driver received scrapes, bruising, and swelling to the right side of the body.
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