toby1234abc:
Pardon my ignorance, it all sounds rather complicated to me, why does the USA and Canada not import Scania, Iveco, Volvo, MAN, Renault or Mercedes to the job over there, the long bonneted cabs are out of date, old fashioned and not fit for purpose.
Hooded trucks vs Cabover trucks
As part of the pretrip is to visually inspect a lot of items on your engine, having a hood you can lift is way easier than tilting your cab.
Also having that 4 to 5 foot of truck infront of the driver gives a bit of protection against moose. Google Moose vs Truck and you see what they can do to a truck…
contractdriver:
russjp:
Im currently going through the process of getting my CDL and i have to say, i take my hat off to the lads who come out here and have a go cos compared to this, driving in the uk is a doddle. Ive passed all the written tests and am now concentrating on getting through the hour long circle check, in cab inspection and airbrake test then the hour long drive, all of which im tackling in a few days time. Pulling a 45ft tautliner is a challenge in itself over in the UK but try taking a 90 degree corner in an outfit thats 75 foot long and it pales into insignificance in comparison. Then add on the fact that you could be doing all this in zero visibilty conditions and for me personally, dragging 2 53 foot trailers in it, it is the experience of a lifetime and i wouldnt change it a bit. It is a lot to take in but its all part of the learning curve that moving to Canada brings. For me the whole brakes thing does seem a bit prehistoric but thats the way things are done over here so you just have to get on with it.
The walkaround and ‘Brake’ stuff to ‘test standard’ was the most ‘mindblowing’ memory test for me, chocks away etc, and remembering the ‘set procedure’ was the hardest thing… (I even had a cunning plan to ‘tape a written procedure’ under the tractor or trailer when i did my under vehicle checks), but after making my ‘home rig’ with my coffee table, some cups and a chair, it didn’t take long to memorise it.
Do you have to ‘crawl about’ underneath your truck on test in Regina?
Weve been instructed to do it that way and i suppose its a case of whatever it takes` to get through the test and get the result
BigJon:
Hooded trucks vs Cabover trucks
As part of the pretrip is to visually inspect a lot of items on your engine, having a hood you can lift is way easier than tilting your cab.
Also having that 4 to 5 foot of truck infront of the driver gives a bit of protection against moose. Google Moose vs Truck and you see what they can do to a truck…
I’ve always wondered if in this pre-trip obsessed continent you’d be expected to actually tilt your cab up in a cabover each and every day. Obviously in order to check all the things that we’re “supposed” to check on a conventional you’d have to but I cant imagine its something those drivers of that rare breed of truck actually do.
I couldn’t imagine doing that ? years ago on Swifts (the British one) we had a Ford Transcontinental with a Detroit in it, you had to tilt the damm cab to actually check the oil, I avoided that horrible pile of crap at every chance when my unit was in the shop. This pre trip, post trip check goes a bit too far for my liking. I can understand the need for a quick walk round at the end of the day and at the start but the full inspection is crazy, on top of this and entering each check on the elog we now have a full DVIR report attacthed to it also which has to be filled in by law and any defect goes into the maintanence records on line, any serious defect automaticaly puts a trailer out of service which can be a real pain when you go to get it loaded and a mud flap has been reported as loose FFS
It seems the US is fast becoming worse than the EU for complicated regulatory nonsense.
Pat Hasler:
I couldn’t imagine doing that ? years ago on Swifts (the British one) we had a Ford Transcontinental with a Detroit in it, you had to tilt the damm cab to actually check the oil, I avoided that horrible pile of crap at every chance when my unit was in the shop. This pre trip, post trip check goes a bit too far for my liking. I can understand the need for a quick walk round at the end of the day and at the start but the full inspection is crazy, on top of this and entering each check on the elog we now have a full DVIR report attacthed to it also which has to be filled in by law and any defect goes into the maintanence records on line, any serious defect automaticaly puts a trailer out of service which can be a real pain when you go to get it loaded and a mud flap has been reported as loose FFS
How many times has a full pre trip picked up stuff that you would miss on a walk around check 
Also, would you want to run down a mountain without knowing if your brakes are going to work
And one other thing, does anybody watch you do your pre trip and brake check to make sure it’s being done to the letter of the law 
Ok, here’s my check !
Oil and fluids under the hood first, start engine, turn on lights and 4 ways and walk round with a torch, I do get down and check the hoses under the tandems and I do shine the torch on the brake drums to see if the are cracked or damaged, I then pull foreward and check trailer brakes.
We have idiots who never check a thing. One guy just hooks up and runs and when I pull him up on something, which by the way is my job, he say’s I have something against him because he is black, which is not true. He pulled in or Lake ave yard a dew weeks ago with a trailer, dropped it and got in his car then drove out. I was doing a routine check, got to his trailer and noticed no red seal on the back which is required by law for food tankers when empty, I just put one on to save him getting grief at the refinery, then thought I had better check on top … No red seal and not only that but every tag was unlocked leaving the hatch open 
Very big violation if stopped by DOT, $115.00 per tag (6 in total) plus a grand for each red seal missing, next day I tackled him and his answer was ‘Thats how the dairy left it, someone should check these trailers when they are empty’
“Yeah we have someone to check them Stan”
“We do ? who is it ?”
“You … it’s your job to check every trailer you hook to” He takes no notice, I see him hook to trailers that don’t even have lights and pull them in for loading.
Then we have the git who must have the newest trailer even if the trailer he has is in perfect running order, he will drop it and hook to a brand new one with a defect and expect me to call out a mechanic … I refused last week when he did so to a brand new one with a loose mud flap, he went behind my back and called out road service … $280.00 to tighten a mud flap He is now being watched closely by management.