Castanet

oldtrucker wrote:Disagree Grandan.
Chains work going down too. Sometimes the chain up lights are on going down the Smasher.

I' m sure they work fine as long as you maintain an appropriate speed but I'm not convinced that is the case with crashes.
I would think that the load behind you is a huge factor in pushing you along.

And another professional driver bites the dust, but hey keep blaming the car drivers.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/220673 ... Coquihalla

dodgerdodge wrote:And another professional driver bites the dust, but hey keep blaming the car drivers.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/220673 ... Coquihalla

Probably lack of experience or didn't chain up. Also not a professional driver but a commercial driver. Great attempt at trying to use that zinger everyone likes to use when shaming commercial drivers.

Are you saying cars never get in accidents when road conditions are bad?

Just a little bit pressure accidentally applied to the gas pedal of a rear-wheel drive during bad road conditions is all it takes to spin your car. Even professionals can go wrong

dodgerdodge wrote:And another professional driver bites the dust, but hey keep blaming the car drivers.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/220673 ... Coquihalla

Gixxer wrote:Probably lack of experience or didn't chain up. Also not a professional driver but a commercial driver. Great attempt at trying to use that zinger everyone likes to use when shaming commercial drivers.

Are you saying cars never get in accidents when road conditions are bad?

When cars spin out they don't usually block the road for hours while multiple tow trucks untangle and recover the remains.
I don't have the nerves or any of the other stuff that it takes to operate a large rig, hats off to them. That said, such rigs need to be properly equipped for operating them on a toboggan run that runs through Great Bear. Simple physics tells us that 80,000 pounds of trailer behind a set of chains on the rear of a tractor cannot in all circumstances hold back or control that load.
Add inexperience and element of surprise and you have "accidents".

Gixxer wrote:
Probably lack of experience or didn't chain up. Also not a professional driver but a commercial driver. Great attempt at trying to use that zinger everyone likes to use when shaming commercial drivers.

Are you saying cars never get in accidents when road conditions are bad?

Not so i am merely pointing out that nearly all the latest accidents and closures of the road because of them involve at least one semi if not more yet dirtybiker made the comment that all passenger vehicles should be banned from the Coq in winter and we would be ok.
What is a commercial driver then? Someone who is not a professional but does it for a living anyway having passed test and gained licence to allow them to do it?
Many cars and 4x4 trucks are in accidents yes but unless its a multi vehicle accident they rarely involve heavy rescue, road closure and a cost of thousands.

I have a Class 1 drivers license and get paid to drive a truck. Does this make me a professional or commercial driver?

Gixxer wrote:I have a Class 1 drivers license and get paid to drive a truck. Does this make me a professional or commercial driver?

The whole industry needs a shake-up, starting with the training schools & licensing requirements. Making the job an apprenticeship would be a great start, but don't see that happening anytime soon. These 30 hour courses, on the valley floor that don't touch mountains, are just setting new drivers up for failure. I've seen new drive tires chewed up because the driver installed chains backwards.

After two years of OD trucking, in the prairies, I thought I was getting the hang of things. I was wrong... my first winter pulling Super-b in the mountains of Southern BC was a brutal wake-up call.

Gixxer wrote:I have a Class 1 drivers license and get paid to drive a truck. Does this make me a professional or commercial driver?

I have no idea but i guess if you only passed your test weeks ago then calling you a professional driver may be a bit hasty, if however you have been driving semis for years over various terrain then yes i would think "Professional" driver may well suit.
I didn't make up the phrase just picked up on it having been used in various threads and Castanet articles on truck drivers and accidents.
I would think the assumption is that if a person has gone the extra mile to learn how to drive a semi, paid the fees, passed the test and then drives for a living then he or she is a "professional" driver rather than a class 5 weekender who only sees the mountain passes once every 5 years

Gixxer wrote:I have a Class 1 drivers license and get paid to drive a truck. Does this make me a professional or commercial driver?

Your license decides if you're a commercial driver or not, your attitude decides if you're a professional driver or not

http://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_b ... ck-drivers

Dizzy1 wrote:
Your license decides if you're a commercial driver or not, your attitude decides if you're a professional driver or not

http://www.truckingtruth.com/trucking_b ... ck-drivers

Cute article.

Gixxer wrote:I have a Class 1 drivers license and get paid to drive a truck. Does this make me a professional or commercial driver?

That's a great question Gixxer.... I don't have a Class 1 (used to have a Class 3), but I drive for a living -just to be clear, not a semi - and put on 60-70,000 km a year. I've been doing that for 20+ years. Does that make me a professional driver?

Gixxer wrote:Cute article.

Take the article as you will, but there is a lot of truth to "commercial" vs. "professional" - and that applies to many industries

Tony wrote:
That's a great question Gixxer.... I don't have a Class 1 (used to have a Class 3), but I drive for a living -just to be clear, not a semi - and put on 60-70,000 km a year. I've been doing that for 20+ years. Does that make me a professional driver?

If you get paid to drive those 60-70,000 km and file income taxes as a driver that would make you a commercial driver.

Is a pizza delivery person, taxi cab or school/tour bus driver commercial or professional driver?

Spring is coming, weather warming up, snow makes way
for the sands and gravels to rear it's ugliness.
So dusty, flying debris, mixed with melt waters causing bouts
of heavy blinding spray.

Better close that route till it can be cleaned up !