Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Fxfymn, on a serious note, I saw the "helper" on the back of our local refuse contractors clinging to the handle on the back of the packer at 60mph on a four lane expressway! The thing has a little two ft step for him to stand on! Designed I'm sure for 10mph stops in local neighborhoods! I think the fire trucks have a safer place for them to stand on don't they? If that packers driver hit a bump or made a sudden move the helper would have been " gone" perhaps literally!

Link to comment
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/49822-pictures-of-the-week/#findComment-370155
Share on other sites

The garbage truck topic brings up old memories of hanging on the side of a tractor drawn ladder truck going down the road at 60+ and sometimes you would hear it peg on the governor @75 and not think a thing about it. It really scares me now, WHAT WAS I THINKING in my younger days.

Link to comment
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/49822-pictures-of-the-week/#findComment-370158
Share on other sites

Fxfymn, on a serious note, I saw the "helper" on the back of our local refuse contractors clinging to the handle on the back of the packer at 60mph on a four lane expressway! The thing has a little two ft step for him to stand on! Designed I'm sure for 10mph stops in local neighborhoods! I think the fire trucks have a safer place for them to stand on don't they? If that packers driver hit a bump or made a sudden move the helper would have been " gone" perhaps literally!

Link to comment
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/49822-pictures-of-the-week/#findComment-370164
Share on other sites

Mower man   and Vapatentman,this company has a lot of turnover, you seldom see the same helper twice! Don't know if they fall off and the driver just leaves them in the ditch!😁,actually you just KNOW the driver handbook prohibits them from riding on the back! (Wink,wink)  possibly the company denies them workmans comp if they fall off! But if the guy had to run up and get in the cab when the stops are a hundred yards apart he'd be worn out at the end of a two hundred stop day! I was thinking the  helper could have a belt with a metal loop on it that Snaps onto a belt hanging from the truck! Or a half round cage on the corner of the truck ( like they have on ladders going up to water towers)!

Link to comment
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/49822-pictures-of-the-week/#findComment-370170
Share on other sites

Every day we have an opportunity to prove Darwin was right. If they can't hang on then evolution just took place.

Vapatentman is correct. Every one of us was young and stupid. I still shake my head thinking about tearing down the road at 60 plus putting my gear on while a second person wrapped his arm around you to hold you on. In those days all that mattered was that you never let the second due company beat you into your first due area and that you tried like hell to beat them into their's. The maxim is you never make up time you lose in the fire house, so what we would do is throw our coats up into the hose bed, step into our boots before boarding, and then wiggle into the coat going down the road so we could clear the station faster.

Eventually there were enough firefighter fatalities due to falls off of apparatus, combined with a whopper lawsuit won against Pirsch, that the practice of riding out of a seated area was stopped. 

In the county where I worked the trash guys are not allowed to ride the back, but instead literally run down street to keep ahead of the truck. The motivation is they get 8 hours pay even if they finish the route in less time than that. And they always do. I was really surprised that the municipalities in the Charleston, SC area still let them ride the back. 

Money, sex, and fire; everybody thinks everyone else is getting more than they are!

Link to comment
https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/49822-pictures-of-the-week/#findComment-370229
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...