One of the issues for the trucking industry as the freight task grows and the skilled drivers retire is improving reversing skills around the industry, especially with multiple combination set-ups.
There are a number of lost arts around the trucking industry, tying down and tarping a load being one primary example, which is now a skill only known by a select few who still have to work with general haulage flat-top trailers.
However there is one skill which has to has had to develop a lot in recent years, and that is reversing multiple combinations. In my last truck driving job, during the period when B-doubles became much more popular and were gaining access to a lot more areas, B-doubles had only been permitted in the previous 10 years, so the skill levels amongst drivers were improving but not great. Now, 20 or so years later, the B-double is the standard combination in many trucking operations.
However, in recent years we have seen the growing popularity of the A-double and it has gained access to many more roads around our major cities.
Here we have a few videos, which look into the issues around pulling multiple trailers and then trying to reverse them.In our first example we have PowerTorque’s European Correspondent, Will Shiers, getting a lesson just how difficult it is, from a well-known expert in the industry Bill Manton.
In the second video, we see one of the common problems that the B-double operator has to struggle with on a regular basis, the finger dock, which can be quite difficult, especially in a situation like this where the narrow doorway obscures the view for the driver as they struggle to get the rear trailer lined up correctly inside the dock.
In fact, for many drivers today, this is relatively easy. However, at 2 o’clock in the morning, the level of difficulty can get relatively high with a bright floodlight placed close to the door, in the dark, while it’s raining. These kind of conditions, increase the level of difficulty to much higher levels and causes a good deal of frustration on the part of some drivers.
For our third video we get a sensible and pretty comprehensive guide to what you need to think about when trying to reverse an A-double.
Good luck!
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