Roll away, LMFAO.

rod

Retired 22 years
My brother-in -law laid his P-400 on its side driving into a farm one day. Slid off the driveway and into a steep ditch full of snow. He got it tipped back up with the help of some rope and the farmers tractor without a scratch-not even a mirror broke and went merrily on his way. I never had a run away but I did come close to falling out of a P400 (in the days before seat belts) going 40-50 mph down a dirt road and hitting some rough wash board. I was hanging off the seat out of the drivers door just knowing I was going to die. I still don't know how I managed to pull out of that one without rolling the truck.
 

cosmo1

Perhaps.
Staff member
I don't think we had a 400 (the old GMC's) in our building that hadn't been laid on it's side at least once. But, put chains on those little buggers, and you could plow two feet of snow.
 

Harry Manback

Robot Extraordinaire
My brother-in -law laid his P-400 on its side driving into a farm one day. Slid off the driveway and into a steep ditch full of snow. He got it tipped back up with the help of some rope and the farmers tractor without a scratch-not even a mirror broke and went merrily on his way. I never had a run away but I did come close to falling out of a P400 (in the days before seat belts) going 40-50 mph down a dirt road and hitting some rough wash board. I was hanging off the seat out of the drivers door just knowing I was going to die. I still don't know how I managed to pull out of that one without rolling the truck.

So uh... You married a co-worker's sister or did a co-worker marry yours?


Sent using a Potato
 

pkgdriver

Well-Known Member
Had a 2 foot Roll Away when I was a preloader. Box fell into the stick and went 3-4 feet before she stopped. None in 25 years of driving.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
So uh... You married a co-worker's sister or did a co-worker marry yours?


Sent using a Potato


When I got out of the Army the gal I was dating's brother worked evenings at UPS part time while attending junior college here. One day he called me and asked if I wanted to work at UPS the following morning to unload the one trailer that serviced our building. Actually it was about a half a trailer because that trailer carried all the packages for our center and the one a hundred miles north of us. After working from late Feb. until May I wanted to go full time. I married his sister on May 28, 1971 and started full time on June 2, 1971. Ninety days later I was up to full scale.
 

3 done 3 to go

In control of own destiny
I had a sprinter 10 plus yrs ago. It was snowing heavily. I backed up a steep driveway. Walked to the door. The lady comes to the door and goes "oh my " we then watch it slide down the driveway probably 3/10 of a mile strait down to the road. Then stopped. I was more pissed. That I had to walk thru the snow to get in the truck. Hopped back in and continued my snowy day. I loved delivering out of that thing
 

chris9834

Well-Known Member
One time I was at air dock I noticed the bulk van next to me started moving nothing unordinary until I see the driver racing to the cab. He looked at me I started whistling and looked the other way lol.
 

toonertoo

Most Awesome Dog
Staff member
Never in a UPS vehicle. But I had a 64 Nova take off on me when I was cleaning the windows off, in a snowstorm. Had it in park, but not park enough I guess. Took of In R, went into the median, I was in a dress and dress shoes, snow about 1 foot deep. Some oilfield guys corraled it, somehow. Scary.
 

Richard Harrow

Deplorable.
Never had a roll away myself. Guy in my center had one a number of years ago.

Parked at the crest of a hill, had an old piece of junk truck that you never knew if it was in gear or not until you popped the clutch. Guess the handbrake wasn't tight or whatever. Rolled down the hill backwards and ran into some bushes. Had it rolled straight it probably woulda cut across a busy two lane road, through a guard rail and down into a river.
 

retiredTxfeeder

cap'n crunch
My first week in feeders I was on a long run with 3 or 4 veterans, and we ran together. We got off the freeway to go to a truck stop for lunch and I was pulling a 45' container. made a pretty sharp right and my air line popped off, locking the trailer up. We ran cb's then, and the last thing I heard one of the guys holler was "pop your brake!" Well, it was too late. I was on the catwalk hooking up the still hissing hose, and when I did, the brakes unlocked, with me on the catwalk. I probably rolled 10 feet before I could hop back in the cab. Scared the crap out of me, and I never did that again.
 

cosmo1

Perhaps.
Staff member
Never had a roll away myself. Guy in my center had one a number of years ago.

Parked at the crest of a hill, had an old piece of junk truck that you never knew if it was in gear or not until you popped the clutch. Guess the handbrake wasn't tight or whatever. Rolled down the hill backwards and ran into some bushes. Had it rolled straight it probably woulda cut across a busy two lane road, through a guard rail and down into a river.

Here's a problem. Not to disparage any mechanics, but there are/have been roll-aways caused by old or faulty equipment that have been blamed on the driver.

Years ago, we had a driver covering car wash doing a B-wash (the weekly clean/spray the cab out) on an old GMC 400. The truck was in the building, brake on and in first gear. While he was washing another truck, he heard a starter motor.

The water from the spray had splashed the ignition switch and caused a short, the parking brake in this particular truck was known to be sketchy and the truck went out the door (open), across the street and finally stop on an embankment beside a parking lot.

They tried to blame and fire the driver, but our mechanic stepped up and placed the blame on management for keeping the old POS in service.
 

BigBeef42

Well-Known Member
They moved me to fulltime for peak and still have me doing saturday air too. A we-bit tired due to the transition. Last delivery on a presumably flat road. leave the car, deliver the package, knock on the door, turn around and the car is rolling back, picking up speed slowly like a freight train. I go into instant adenaline mode and bolt across the yard and icey street, get in the cab and slam the ebrake on. Hearts pounding, all i could do was laugh. It rolled back about 10ft, thank the lord i parked away from others in a good spot.

I always double check my brake when i leave the cab and run the package. This time was different.

Sent using Ink and Canvas
 
Top