As my proficiency in backing a trailer improved, I began to improve my technique to my own style. I was always very concious of the danger to people and property, particularly when having to back in "blind side".
Two particular situations required regular blind side backing - one involving busy city street deliveries, the other a matter of gravity on hills.
Regarding busy city streets, there are times when you must back in to a dock that is located on the driver's right hand side. Because of the flow of traffic, you may not be able to approach it with the dock on your left - the preferred approach. Thus, you need assistance from someone else to stop traffic and guide you in until you are able to complete the maneuver by yourself. (Let me say here that if you are ever in the position of helping guide someone in, make sure that you are positioned so that you can always see the driver's face in the mirror - otherwise, you're just an invisible obstacle.) In an ideal situation, you have such a guide.
On a warm summer's day in Kansas City, MO, I had a delivery with a 53 foot trailer to a relatively small warehouse on a well travelled, fairly narrow street. Circumstances determined that I had to back in on the blind side (no place to safely turn around, narrow side streets, etc.) It was late afternoon, and most of the experienced workers had left for the day. Leaving me to do the chore by myself.
It takes patience to do this sort of thing, on your own part, and also on those drivers you inconvenience. I held up traffic a while that day. Think of what you are doing - not only must you worry about the rear end of the trailer and what it might hit, but there is also typically a high degree of angle between the tractor and the trailer. It can typically reach 90 degrees or more. (To envision this, take 2 toothpicks or whatever you have, put them end-to-end, and rotate the back one counter-clockwise until they are at right angles.) Now there are three additional things you have to worry about: backing over something with the rear wheels of your tractor, hitting something with the nose of the tractor, and hitting something with the side of the trailer that you can't see.
My stamina was tested as I constantly had to jump in and out of the tractor to guage my surroundings, keep bystanders and motorists from getting in the way, and make sure I was pointing the right way. I did it, though. I backed up to the dock without killing anyone. As I walked back to the rear of the trailer to chock the wheels (required at every dock so the trailer doesn't move when forklifts are moving the freight out), I discovered I had forgotten one important detail. OPEN THE TRAILER DOORS FIRST! Doh!
Next, I'll talk about the effects of gravity when backing in.
Stay tuned!
dieseldon
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