Behind the big wheel

Summer is the time for road trips. We asked two guys who drive big rigs for a living what their pet peeves are with "amateur" drivers. They said by far, it's people who aren't paying attention to the road, as in they're talking on their phones or even texting while driving.

"In my opinion, texting should be considered DUI," said professional truck driver Dave Howe.

We caught up with him and a couple of other drivers a day before the 2012 Colorado Truck Driving Championships earlier this month. The event challenges some of the state's safest drivers to a series of skills tests. Thanks to the Colorado Motor Carriers Association, we tried some of the tests ourselves.

 
The first of the three tests they set up for us involved backing up a tractor-trailer as close as possible to a white line but without crossing over the line. This test was supposed to simulate backing up a truck to a loading dock. The highest possible score on this test was 50 points, but crossing over the line would mean no points at all. Team Delicatessen just missed. Whoops! 0 points.

(Trick: Freight driver David Boyer, who has driven more than 2 million miles without an accident, sat next to each of us as we tested our skills. He gave us a hint that we could line up the shadow of the truck with the white line so we would know when to stop. Of course, this trick wouldn't work on a cloudy day, or if it wasn't noon, since the shadow might be too long.)

The second test involved splitting the back set of wheels on another white line to simulate lining up a truck in order to get weighed. This was tough. Boyer said one trick for this test is to turn the steering wheel slightly to the left, the better to see the side of the truck.

The third test asked us to pull forward to get the front of the truck as close to a white line as possible. Getting the nose of the truck within 18 inches was considered good enough, but you can score more points the closer you get to the line. 

(Trick: This test was harder than it sounds. Boyer told us that as soon as we saw the white line on the ground disappear beyond the nose of the truck, we should count six Mississippis, and that would be the perfect time to press the brakes. We got nervous and hit the brakes early. Of course, every truck is different though, and in competition, all the contestants drive the same rig, not their own.)