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How do you get Truck Drives to slow down?
Super truckers, you know the type. The guys that can drive anything as fast as they want and nothing bad will ever happen. How do you get the "best" driver in your station to stop and think? A member of my dept (a ranking officer) drives truck 5 days a week and when his in an Engine he can't do anything wrong. I'm not asking for much just maybe not go as fast as the truck can go no matter what the speed limit or heck maybe even slow down for stop signs. A few weeks ago we got sent to a minor MVA. As I was getting in the drives set he told me he would drive. Ok fine, doesn’t matter much to me. After cutting off a corner turning onto a residential street coming within feet of an on coming car (with kids in the back seat) then blowing a stop sign at over 20mph he didn't feel he need to stop pulling back onto one of the main routes through town.
All in all we all made it back to the station alive "this time". What can be done by a firefighter to make him see what he is doing? The chief as talked to him many times about this but nothing is changing.
All in all we all made it back to the station alive "this time". What can be done by a firefighter to make him see what he is doing? The chief as talked to him many times about this but nothing is changing.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james ennis on
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I have the same problem with a former officer at my station. He is a dangerous driver. He gose too fast and puts our lives and many others in danger. I fear he is going to flip the truck at every turn. Me and many others have talked to him about it and nothing worked. He dident even listen to the chief. I wish iI knew how to solve the problem but unfortunitly i dont. Hope you find the answer.
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Permalink Reply by Chuck Walker on
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Take him off the driver's list and have him take a emergency driver's training class. The only other way to get the message across to him is to NOT get on the piece with him when he is going to drive. Hopefully he'll get the message. The problem comes from not being able to do the things he's doing on his job. If he blew an intersection or was to speed through down the road, he would get a ticket from the cops and maybe lose his job. He obviously doesn't worry about that in the fire truck.
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Permalink Reply by Kimberly A Bownas on
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I agree with Chuck. Take that driver off the drivers list and the only other solution being he has been talked to before, would be suspention. As harsh as that sounds and maybe not what people want to hear, there maybe no other choice. You have to look at it this way, he is endangering the lives of his fellow firefighters as well as the public. Safety is our first priority and his driving is not safe. This is why you keep hearing about emergency vehicle accidents, because everyone is afraid to do something. The excuse I get is, "we can't afford to loose a driver" or the driver training officer says, "what can I do?" This is when I want to strangle that person and I tell them "You are the driver taining officer and you are requalifing them, so unqualify them for their driving, you have that right. You can always requalify them when they learn to drive safer and obay the traffic laws." It goes in one ear and out the other.
Fire Departments need to get tougher unfortunately to get the point across. Driving the apperatus is something that you have to take seriously, because it is not a car or a regular pick up truck. There is more to it than just jumping into the drivers seat and taking off. People need to remember that. We do have that problem in my department as well, though it has gotten better, there are still a handful that need a little sterner reminding.
Good luck and I hope this helps, Be safe.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Farrar on
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Thank you for all you comments. I know you are all right. I jsut wish there was an easy way to get it through his head. I get sick of the e-mails from firefighter close calls just about everyday with yet another fire truck MVA. Again thank you all for your comments I think I will just print this off and hand it to my chief. The officer that is the issue is the drivers training officer and he has been suspended from driving once for his "great skills".
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Permalink Reply by mck306john on
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the easiest way is to have you chief tell, him its either hes going to do it his way along with board of directors- trustee's way or he is going to get suspended and not be able to run calls... throw it out there that way its sure to open up his eyes.... it sounds like your dept really doesnt listen to your chief....
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The dept in as a hole does listen very well. The problem is with this one officer. The officer's father was the best truck driver every and now the son is taking his place. Ask him either one will tell you.
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well like i said suspend him from calls and fire department functions... its the easiest way
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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on
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How to get your driver to slow down... first remind him that it does no one any good to never arrive, Drive to Stay Alive! Ok... this doesn't work, show em' this...
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And if they still don't get the point...
A picture tells a thousand words... Stay safe, Mike
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Permalink Reply by mshepard on
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show thwm a pic. of a women w/out clothes and thel stop in their tracks w/out delea right
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well looks like someone had a very bad i just hope that noone lost their life over something gone wrong it could happen from going to fast or trying to avoid a head on with anther car or truck so what was the cause of this big bo bo ;
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