Radar19:
What happened to putting the trailer brake in the cab like the Yanks have? I remember driving an FM once and it confused the hell out of me. I thought I was stuck on the bay, brought the air up to max and I still couldn’t move. Took me a while to work out what was going on, I don’t ever remember activating the brake though.
And how do you operate the trailer brake from the cab if you’re not connected up ■■
bald bloke:
Radar19:
What happened to putting the trailer brake in the cab like the Yanks have? I remember driving an FM once and it confused the hell out of me. I thought I was stuck on the bay, brought the air up to max and I still couldn’t move. Took me a while to work out what was going on, I don’t ever remember activating the brake though.And how do you operate the trailer brake from the cab if you’re not connected up ■■
Ah, I should of said I was on a bay getting loaded.
Radar19:
What happened to putting the trailer brake in the cab like the Yanks have? I remember driving an FM once and it confused the hell out of me. I thought I was stuck on the bay, brought the air up to max and I still couldn’t move. Took me a while to work out what was going on, I don’t ever remember activating the brake though.
Was that really the trailer brake? On some Volvos a small black button beside the handbrake will pop out if the air drops, and must then be pushed back in manually.
If we go back…
To the days when we had taps fitted with blow off valves to the lines. At least you had a slight chance of stopping it if you hadn’t checked the brake.
But, the reason they gave us the push fits which we now have (■■■■ things will give me a hernia I swear) is because drivers put the lines on but, for what ever reason turned the red on but not the yellow. Only to find out the mistake as they headed for the docks barrier/stationary car/brick wall.
Bottom line as it always has been…get out and check.
The ‘Brom’ brake was the extra button fitted to Volvo’s. If your air was too low, it would pop out. You’d have to push it in once you built up your tanks.
That sounds exactly like what I experienced. Once I pushed that button back, the brakes released.
Last firm I was at , the fleet engineer modified all trailers so that when the red line was disconnected the trailer brakes came on and the suspension dropped . It was a requirement of the company we loaded from . Why can’t all trailers be built like that ?
yourhavingalarf:
If we go back…To the days when we had taps fitted with blow off valves to the lines. At least you had a slight chance of stopping it if you hadn’t checked the brake.
But, the reason they gave us the push fits which we now have (■■■■ things will give me a hernia I swear) is because drivers put the lines on but, for what ever reason turned the red on but not the yellow. Only to find out the mistake as they headed for the docks barrier/stationary car/brick wall.
Bottom line as it always has been…get out and check.
The ‘Brom’ brake was the extra button fitted to Volvo’s. If your air was too low, it would pop out. You’d have to push it in once you built up your tanks.
I think “broms” is Swedish for “brake”. Yep, the little black disc surrounding the button is marked like that.
Radar19:
That sounds exactly like what I experienced. Once I pushed that button back, the brakes released.
bald bloke:
Radar19:
That sounds exactly like what I experienced. Once I pushed that button back, the brakes released.
Thats it! Never experienced them before then so it confused me.
rigsby:
Last firm I was at , the fleet engineer modified all trailers so that when the red line was disconnected the trailer brakes came on and the suspension dropped . It was a requirement of the company we loaded from . Why can’t all trailers be built like that ?
Not sure about dropping of suspension being compulsory, but park brake coming on automatically has no dis-advantage that I can see.
(One possible problem with dropping of suspension with air line: loaded trailer, legs wound down, lines disconnected, the rear drops and puts a strain on the landing legs?)
the nodding donkey:
Winseer:
The practice I’ve always done since getting my licence involves going under the plate before reaching the pin, then lifting it up in the air with the suspension a bit.On one occasion whilst picking up a nagel trailer left for me at Fleet Services - I’d done this, but omitted to check both that the trailer brake was applied (first time I’ve met this trailer - my fault for not checking!) and that the trailer was left to stand on level ground.
I’m up on the catwalk, stick the red line on and SHsssh - the whole trailer lunges about a foot towards me (downhill!), and hits the pin, coupling itself and stopping there before squashing me against the frame.
I reckon I’d be dead if I didn’t do this practice of “lifting it up a bit”. The trailer would probably have shot straight over the pin, I’d be another statistic.
This happened in 2011 just after I’d started on agencies, and it still makes me shudder to think back on it now. I was left crouching there with about a 18 inch gap left between the fridge on the trailer and the frame on the back of the cab, with a real close up look at all the greasy finger smears one notices on the fridge doors.
It only takes a second to make a potentially fatal mistake. Now I don’t even go up on the catwalk until I’ve done a walk around to ensure that the trailer isn’t likely to “lunge” anywhere should I then proceed to put the air lines on.
For a driver, doing maybe one or two trailer swaps a day, or even week, there should be absolutely no reason why he can’t take the time to check if he has coupled up correctly, and the trailer brake, before getting on the cat walk. It takes less than a minute…
That’s right. I’d not made a habit of doing thus by the time I started on agency, because in my old FT job, I hardly ever had to change trailers at all, let alone pick up some trailer I’d never seen before from some geezer from the other end of the country. My complacency - My bad. I learned my lesson, and since I’m very meticulous on my trailer coupling procedures, and I take my time. I ditched the “job and knock rushabout” there and then too btw. Even though I’m on full time salaried now - I still take my time with a “more haste, more risk” attitude at all times.
I routinely get overtaken by other artics on slip road bends, because I even slow down to the speed limit displayed, rather than scoot around on 11 wheels like so many other artic drivers seem to like doing these days. 
Franglais:
rigsby:
Last firm I was at , the fleet engineer modified all trailers so that when the red line was disconnected the trailer brakes came on and the suspension dropped . It was a requirement of the company we loaded from . Why can’t all trailers be built like that ?Not sure about dropping of suspension being compulsory, but park brake coming on automatically has no dis-advantage that I can see.
(One possible problem with dropping of suspension with air line: loaded trailer, legs wound down, lines disconnected, the rear drops and puts a strain on the landing legs?)
The suspension thing was more to do with the forkies . With the suspension up they dashed into the trailers , slammed the brakes on and the whole trailer bounced resulting in holes in the floors from the downforce . Sooner than trying to educate the pork on the forks they altered the trailers.
No point cutting corners. Takes a minute to check that shiny red button 
This is what we have in USA & Canada, all trailer brake buttons are next to truck buttons in the cab, easy.
To answer the question in the title, none if they do their job properly.
A.
In my years of driving I’ve never had any near misses while hooking up, not even with older trailers without spring brakes that often needed chasing around the yard to get hooked up properly. I don’t get it? How has it become so dangerous? You back your unit under the trailer, hear and feel the 5th wheel jaws engage, set parking brake, get out, attach suzies, wind legs up, check tyres, lights, number plate, seal etc and away you go, I can’t see at which point in this process you’re at risk of death or serious injury.
I did a CPC course a few years back where it showed CCTV of a driver doing a trailer swap on an incline and the driver actually turned the trailer brakes off before he gets on the cat walk. He’d also left his unit brake off with predictable results upon insertion of the red air line.
Work that one out 
Whatever safety measures you put in place you can guarantee an idiot will find a way to make it dangerous again.
I suppose there’s always the possibility that some numpty has pressed the shunt button for some reason.
Since spring brakes became the norm confess i don’t check for parking brake being applied unless on a box ticking assessment (and with the idiots about who might press said shunt valve maybe i should), we all had experiences of some sort with pre spring brakes, and the trouble with the old cable and ratchet parking brakes is that they only usually worked for about a month after a winter MOT and that was it or some pillock had wrapped it off the spool about 4 turns, idiots arn’t a new thing, so it became quite normal to slip the red line on and shove some wind in then snap it off again if you had to pick up some third party jobbies, invariably in the smaller yards we’d know which trailers to trust and which not to.
OK so split coupling you need to use your noddle, and make bloody sure that trailer cannot move, but for normal pickups once you’ve got the trailer hooked and your tractor parking brake applied it isn’t going anywhere, how can it?
I personally like lorries that send pressure down the service line when the parking brake is applied for that extra reassurance, seems bonkers not to have a secondary trailer lever in the cab where that isn’t the case, Scania mainly.
newmercman:
In my years of driving I’ve never had any near misses while hooking up, not even with older trailers without spring brakes that often needed chasing around the yard to get hooked up properly. I don’t get it? How has it become so dangerous? You back your unit under the trailer, hear and feel the 5th wheel jaws engage, set parking brake, get out, attach suzies, wind legs up, check tyres, lights, number plate, seal etc and away you go, I can’t see at which point in this process you’re at risk of death or serious injury.
It’s not clear what happened in this case but it’s obviously numbers 1,2 and/or 3 in that list which they seem to be having problems with.Although the idea of split coupling obviously creates a grey area regarding numbers 1 and 2 at least.
Juddian:
I suppose there’s always the possibility that some numpty has pressed the shunt button for some reason.Since spring brakes became the norm confess i don’t check for parking brake being applied unless on a box ticking assessment (and with the idiots about who might press said shunt valve maybe i should), we all had experiences of some sort with pre spring brakes, and the trouble with the old cable and ratchet parking brakes is that they only usually worked for about a month after a winter MOT and that was it or some pillock had wrapped it off the spool about 4 turns, idiots arn’t a new thing, so it became quite normal to slip the red line on and shove some wind in then snap it off again if you had to pick up some third party jobbies, invariably in the smaller yards we’d know which trailers to trust and which not to.
OK so split coupling you need to use your noddle, and make bloody sure that trailer cannot move, but for normal pickups once you’ve got the trailer hooked and your tractor parking brake applied it isn’t going anywhere, how can it?
I personally like lorries that send pressure down the service line when the parking brake is applied for that extra reassurance, seems bonkers not to have a secondary trailer lever in the cab where that isn’t the case, Scania mainly.
I’ve noticed that our Dafs engage the trailer brakes when the main park brake is used. Our Scania’s do not.
