obsessivecompulsive2:
I call these things DRM’s…“Driver Redundancy Makers”,more of these on the road means less drivers needed to take the same amount or more!
OR… you could look at them as job savers.
With rising fuel and duty costs, greater calls for reduction in emissions and the downturn in the global economy, businesses need to be as cost efficient as they can be. The alternative is that they go to the wall and we end up with fewer and fewer companies, offering lower pay and less attractive conditions of work.
We will always lose a percentage of drivers through natural wastage, be that retirement, ill-health, career change, driving ban or anything else that abstracts them from driving a truck. So ‘redundancy’ is more likely to come from inefficient companies going out of business than it is from efficient ones utilising modern methods of work and equipment.
In balance I would say that if drivers are being tasked with pulling trailers that have such a significant size and handling characteristic difference as these new trailers are reported to have, then the company are failing in their responsibility to drivers, customers and the wider public if they do not have robust driver training in place to support their introduction to the fleet.
That longer fridge trailer doesn’t look too odd - the only longer trailer I’ve seen in the flesh is a tautliner belonging to F Lloyd (Penley), and that somehow manages to look much longer. It’s got a side guard between the second and third axles, which emphasises the axle spacings.
13% increase in profit for the company
harder job for the driver
how much pay increase for the driver?
or do we just get the thrill of enjoying a new challenge?
Ive drove lots of Rear steer vehicles and hate them!!! We have more incidents with our rear steer vehicles and drivers not understanding how much they swing out than all our other incidents put together. We don’t have a 30 pallet trailer but our head office have been talking about them recently despite the issues with rear steer vehicles. If they get one at our depot at some point someone will hit something with it or so our sitistics suggest it!
obsessivecompulsive2:
I call these things DRM’s…“Driver Redundancy Makers”,more of these on the road means less drivers needed to take the same amount or more!
All those pesky night trunkers with their fancy double decked trailers that could easily fill 2 trucks instead of putting the other drivers out of work for the last 20 odd years…
obsessivecompulsive2:
I call these things DRM’s…“Driver Redundancy Makers”,more of these on the road means less drivers needed to take the same amount or more!
yes! a horse and a cart should be the next big thing, instead of more efficiency
lizard:
if the kick out of the rear is so servere have you thought about not putting so much lock on the steering so quickly.
the rear will only kick out if you swing so hard with your steering.
going a little slower will slow the rear down and only follow your steering in a smaller area.
Ive driven rear steer rigids and artics and this sums it up nicely.
Why is everyone calling them “30pallet trailers” you can get alot more than that on a 13.5m?
lizard:
if the kick out of the rear is so servere have you thought about not putting so much lock on the steering so quickly.
the rear will only kick out if you swing so hard with your steering.
going a little slower will slow the rear down and only follow your steering in a smaller area.
Absolutly but most incidents with rear steer happen when the driver is new to them and finds this out the hard way so to speak . Also pulling in to the left without thinking of how much room needed to pull away again especially bollards ect…
lizard:
if the kick out of the rear is so servere have you thought about not putting so much lock on the steering so quickly.
the rear will only kick out if you swing so hard with your steering.
going a little slower will slow the rear down and only follow your steering in a smaller area.
Also pulling in to the left without thinking of how much room needed to pull away again especially bollards ect…
Bollards in the hedges of laybys are good for that. You just have to remember not to turn to early with rear steer, otherwise you’ll need a new bumper lol
lizard:
if the kick out of the rear is so servere have you thought about not putting so much lock on the steering so quickly.
the rear will only kick out if you swing so hard with your steering.
going a little slower will slow the rear down and only follow your steering in a smaller area.
Ive driven rear steer rigids and artics and this sums it up nicely.
Why is everyone calling them “30pallet trailers” you can get alot more than that on a 13.5m?
I’m guessing that its because a 13.6m trailer is a 26 pallet trailer. 2m longer = 4 more pallets?
gooner:
They are 7 1/2 ft longer with rear steer and they kick out that much when you turn, before i drove one i didn’t think it would be a problem but it is not just a minor adjustment to your driving it has a whole different dynamic to it and until you have pulled one you will think I’m just a bit of a pussie but i can assurer you once you have pulled a fully laden 60 pallets rear steer 15.65 meter trailer your attitude will be different. dynamic
All wide/long load drivers form a line and commence giggling
We don’t all drive a ■■■■■ extension most of us drive a standard truck and do a mundane job to bring the coin in i’m so happy someone feels it’s funny that i show a bit of concern for other road users.
I don’t drive a “■■■■■ extension” I drive a lorry and yeah wide and long most of the time in and out of places that would make your RDC look like an airport runway Plenty of lads drive bigger and put em in tighter spots than I do. I wasn’t born with a magical ability. At some point I actually had to start doing it with only experience of standard kit. Did I rip the arse out of things ■■ No, because I have a licence, two eyes and a brain. I [zb] bricks the first one I did but after a few miles, junctions and roundabouts I just relaxed into it wondering what I was even worried about and the gaffer nodded at me from t’other seat and promptly went to sleep
How did anyone cope when they got there first job on class 1 from class 2 ■■ I mean not only are they longer but the buggers bend too I heard all this cobblers before when we moved from 40’s to 45’s and depite predictions of widespread job losses and wholesale carnage on the road [zb] all happened.
Euro:
13% increase in profit for the company
harder job for the driver
how much pay increase for the driver?
or do we just get the thrill of enjoying a new challenge?
Absolutely and I’m assuming anyone whose company sends them out with a short urban trailer on would be happy to take a pay decrease whilst towing that ■■?
They’re fair enough if you’re going to the same places regularly and there’s plenty of room at each end. Lets face it most deliveries are not like this, imagine getting lost with one of them on and trying to turn round…
obsessivecompulsive2:
I call these things DRM’s…“Driver Redundancy Makers”,more of these on the road means less drivers needed to take the same amount or more!
OR… you could look at them as job savers.
With rising fuel and duty costs, greater calls for reduction in emissions and the downturn in the global economy, businesses need to be as cost efficient as they can be. The alternative is that they go to the wall and we end up with fewer and fewer companies, offering lower pay and less attractive conditions of work.
We will always lose a percentage of drivers through natural wastage, be that retirement, ill-health, career change, driving ban or anything else that abstracts them from driving a truck. So ‘redundancy’ is more likely to come from inefficient companies going out of business than it is from efficient ones utilising modern methods of work and equipment.
You could look at them as job savers - if you were blind. If there is a massive investment in these longer trucks by some companies, then other companies who cannot afford to invest will go to the wall anyway. And whatever way you look at it, more pallets per driver means less demand for drivers. I don’t see this as a job-saving exercise. Mechanisation or other means of improved productivity is always a job-eliminating exercise.
That said, it might be a good thing if it allows drivers to reduce their working hours whilst maintaining their level of wages (because each driver is now more productive), or if it frees them up to do something else in another booming sector of the economy (tee hee!), but with bosses free to get shut of workers at will, with no unions able to capture the gains in worker productivity, and with the economy continuing to flatline, the reality is that it will simply help to drive down the wages of those who remain in the industry (many of whom already do the hours of two people, working 60, 70, or effective 80 hour weeks) whilst adding to the unemployment statistics.
As I’ve said before, I don’t know why they just didn’t go for a couple of feet extra “cut in” and have the tri axles the same length from the back as a standard 45ft trailer. Would it have still past the tests on the turning circle with this?
