Chapter 2 continued - Situational Awareness

When you're in the cab of your truck, whether rolling down the road, backing up to something, or even in the sleeper catching a rare few hours of sleep, situational awareness is king.  You must, at all times, be aware of yourself, your truck, and your surroundings.  You must be ready to determine with certainty what is going to happen in a given situation.  You must be ready to predict what is likely to happen in an unlikely situation.  And this requires at least 4 of your 5 senses (or five out of six, if you believe in that sort of thing).

Sight, sound, touch and smell are all vital contributors to your situational awareness.  (Rarely, but in some situations, taste may play a roll.)  Anyone who has spent any significant amount of time running a piece of equipment, be it a truck or a chain saw, knows how important site, sound and touch are in determining the state of that equipment.  A little less used but just as important is smell - if you're running a metal lathe and you smell hot metal, you are not likely to be alarmed.  If you are fueling a chainsaw and smell fire, your alarm shoots through the roof.  Since this is about trucking, I'll be less generic and focus on the vehicle.

Hearing a "crunching" sound when backing up a trailer, for example, is a clear sign that something has gone horribly wrong.  More importantly for the future, it is a clear sign that your situational awareness (SA) was not all that it should have been.  Let's examine SA in more detail by way of a few scenarios.

1. On the highway - You're rolling down the road at a steady 65 mph on a beautiful late afternoon.  You're heading west.  You are on an interstate with two lanes in each direction.  Traffic is moderate to light.  You are on time with a GVW (gross vehicle weight) of 79,000 lbs.  What are you doing to ensure that your SA is up to snuff?
• You are using your sight to be aware of everything visible in the vicinity of your truck.  You are constantly using your mirrors to check on traffic AND the condition of your trailer (if you have one) or whatever else might be behind you.  You are looking ahead of you, far beyond the vehicle in front of you (if possible) to see any approaching danger.  Your peripheral vision is picking up on unusual movements to your sides.  You are aware that the setting sun is starting to reduce your ability to concentrate on long distance danger, and you compensate, perhaps by reducing your speed a bit, or increasing the space between yourself and other vehicles, etc.  You are scanning your instruments, looking for any operational abnormalities.
• Something I learned early on is to memorize the position of the dials on your gauges when everything is operating normally.  If you do that, you can tell in less than a second if some parameter is out of its normal operating range.  This is why I love analog instruments, and hate digital ones.
• You are using your sense of touch to be aware of any unusual vibrations in the steering wheel or gear shift lever.  When shifting gears, you can feel whether the transmission snicks into the next gear, or if there is any roughness to the feel of the gears.  You are noticing if anything you normally touch is hot or warmer than usual.  You notice if the ride of the truck is what you expect it to be.  If not, your mind goes through scenarios as to why not.  (A rough patch of road?  Did you see anything to indicate a rough patch of road? Do you have broken suspension parts?  A tire going flat?  Is your trailer binding up on the fifth wheel?  Is there too much slack between the trailer's kingpin and the dogs in the fifth wheel?)
• You are paying attention to the sounds around you, and listening for anything out of the ordinary.  Horns honking, rattles and squeaks, the hum of the engine and the transmission.  Was that a misfire you heard from the engine?  Was that slight whine from the transmission there when you started your trip?  Was that sharp sound you heard from the tires just an expansion joint in the highway or a trailer tire blowing out?
• You are subconsciously aware of smells.  Lilacs in the spring, the stringent ammonia smell of a stock yard (by now, you can tell the difference between cattle, pigs, and sheep.)  A humid, sweet smell coming from the vents?!?!  That's engine coolant!  Time to pull over and check for a broken hose, leaking pump, radiator puncture or loose seal.  A hot, oily smell!  (Engine, transmission or power steering oil?  Worse, hot diesel fuel?)  A smell of hot rubber!  (A tire?  An engine belt?)  A smell like ozone, hot metal and burning plastic!  Wiring is hot somewhere.  Excessive diesel exhaust smell.  A hole in the headers or exhaust system somewhere before the stacks?
• You are tasting a big sloppy cheeseburger, and ketchup has just run down your arm and on to your pants!  NO!!!! No eating while driving!  Pull the f*ck over and finish your lunch!

Soon, In the Yard.