Pilot cars and accidents, who's to blame?

Ultimately, the responsibility/blame for any issues resides with the truck driver. Having said that, if the pilot is neglgent then they can be sued by the carrier and/or the customer or whomever's property is damaged.

I've had good pilots and bad pilots. Good pilots are busy, bad pilots not so much. Mostly, I need a pilot that listens to what I tell them and delivers what I asked for. I have had one load damaged due to pilot error--he told me I had cleared a Jersey barrier lining a detour (it was 100' behind me--kinda hard to see), but as I made my turn the support leg on the back of the load caught the edge of the barrier. It only bent it slightly and it was something that would have taken a welder about 15 minutes to fix. There was no point in pursuing compensation, but I never used that pilot again.

 

I'm the driver. It's my name on the line. It's my name on the bill of lading. Its years and years of building a good name and a good rep on the line with every load.
For the most part, pilot cars seem to be people that couldn't hack it being a driver. They're under the impression that they're going to have a nice cushy job driving a pickup truck with flashing lights. They act like they're on vacation.

So there, you have 2 different philosophies going in. These guys in this forum, I have a lot of respect for them. We are all on the same page. We take our jobs seriously. So if a pilot car comes up on the job, and he/she doesn't have the same serious mindset, we will usually fire them outright.

"How can you tell if a pilot car is serious about the job, Six?"

My guys, these guys here, show up early. They've talked to the shipper. They've checked out their trailer and securement. Fuel tanks are full. They start to look over the general OSOW provisions even before receiving the permits.
The better pilot cars usually want to meet me face to face the afternoon before a run. We will go to a restaurant and sit and talk about the load, the general provisions. The vast majority want to show up when it's time to leave, pull their pickup trucks in everyone's way, then get out and ask me stupid question, like "When do you think we will be ready to leave?" while I am trying to secure the load. If you see me working and securing a load, do not ask me ANY questions. Don't piss your driver off. Show up late, you're fired.

If I am wearing long pants and boots and a hard hat and a hi vis vest, DO NOT get out of your vehicle in shorts or flip flops or without your hardhat and vest. A driver shouldn't have to say anything to you, and if he does, it's not going to be pleasant.if I get yelled at by some Safetyman at a shipper or by a site rep...etc, you're fired.

As I said before, we take our jobs seriously. Want to be a successful and sought after pilot car? Take your job as seriously as we take our job. I'm going to read the permits and the provision sheets. If there's part of the route that I don't understand, I will do research until I fully understand the route. You as a pilot car should do the same thing. I will know about your certification, and which states require a top sign...etc.
Now if you as a pilot car have a question about the route or a provision or anything, come up and ask me. I will know that you did your homework too. You will be my new best friend.

"Six, do you think his dry van experience will give him an edge as a pilot car?"

No I don't. And I don't think much of that pilot car company "training" either. He has it in mind that he's just going to escort me and all he has to do is work the CB and hold a steeringwheel. That's not going to be the case. If you really want to be prepared, show up the day before and meet the driver face to face and talk.

 

All of the local pilot cars here have both a CB radio and VHF radios. They also have at least one of each in a hand held version.

I had a car show up one time that we could not talk on the CB or the VHF. He could hear me on the VHF but could not talk to me. I wanted him to be able to communicate with other trucks, hence the CB and warn them of me coming around a corner etc. Oh and the truck I had to take that day had a broken CB.... Go figure. Load was only supposed to be 12' wide and ended up being 13'6" so I needed a front pilot.

What we ended up doing was he handed me the portable CB and I laid that on the passenger seat. He would warn me on the CB and I would respond on the VHF. Probably sounded weird to other trucks but it kept my hands on the wheel and not holding the portable. I could drop the mic if I needed to without any issue. Whereas if I had dropped the portable I would have had to search for it.

 

You're pregnant and your husband wants you to be relaxed so he wants you to just let him handle the transition so you go online and ask a bunch of guys you don't know to get around your husband? Don't trust much do you.

 

You have nothing better to do than bash a pregnant woman?

See I can troll too.

GTFO out of the HH forum if that's how your going to act.

 

Some of the posts here floor me.

Ever notice as soon as a gal comes on to ask a question the site is suddenly full of relationship counselors.

 

Well troll, she put out the info as being stressed and pregnant, not me. If she just asked for advice it would be different. You can get between a husband and his wife all you want. Funny, she later post how experienced and confident she is as a person in the industry. So which is it?

By the way Hero, I'll post where and when I want. If you don't like it, I know of a company in Syria who is hiring drivers cause there seems to be a shortage there now.

 

It's a common trait amongst bootysniffers and horndogs.

 

Thanks for being a gentleman, and for the educational posts on remaining positive and patient.

 

seen something I shook my head at wed. bouncing back through Toledo saw a house trailer hauler all bound up on the north bound 75 in the construction. one of three things went wrong for him. 1 didn't read permit. 2 didn't have a permit. 3 permit office screwed up on routing. kinda hard to squeeze a 14 wide through 11ft construction. pilot car sittin right behind him. guess they both didn't do their job very well!