Episode 17 - Best to be defensive

On episode #17 we talk with Jim Tarbet. Jim has been a driver for Stokes Trucking for 15 years and has 60 years of total experience. We also have Ty Walker's safety minute talking about defensive driving.  Here's a link to the video of Jim avoiding an accident. https://youtu.be/3tqD0F17vcE

Transcript

0:11

Welcome to driver, to driver, a Stokes trucking podcast on driver to driver. We will discuss everything related to trucking. And put a stokes trucking spin on it stokes trucking doing the right thing since 1979.

Mark: 0:33

welcome to episode. Number 17 of driver to driver a Stokes trucking podcast. I'm your host mark lover. I am joined again by my part-time cohost Full-time producers. Who is in the middle of a yawn and I needed to wait. She's been working feverishly over a hot pizza oven, at Fred Rico's and also editing the podcast. She's doing it all these days. So we're trying to crank a couple out real quick, like before she asked to go back to college and be a grownup

Grace: 1:05

in quotation marks.

Mark: 1:09

Well, we're going to get a couple done and I'm in the can ready to go. And then maybe

Grace: 1:14

over

Mark: 1:15

I'm thinking over labor day, we'll have some more content we can put, so we've got 17 ready to go. We're going to have 18 ready to go. And then we're going to have 19. We'll do over labor day beyond that. I'm starting to question things because I mean, I could talk all the time.

Grace: 1:36

Yeah.

Mark: 1:36

Give me give me a little whiskey, And a little Sprite or something else to mix with it. because really I'm a wimp. I can talk for, but I'm going to warn all of our listeners right now. The podcasts are going to get probably a little more stretched out. I don't know that we're going to be able to put out two a month or every other week. Like we've been doing, grace is going back to school, starting. August 23rd. You're moving out right

Grace: 2:09

so far. Yeah,

Mark: 2:10

far we have USU football cranking up. Me and Mike have two home games or two away games in September. When there's a home game, we'll get into that. That's going to be a question from the road in episode 18, this is 17. It's going to be an 18. Plus we have a wedding occurred. here at split pine at the split pine ranch in September. the same day as the Boise game. So poor old, Mark's a busy, busy bee from now until like the end of November,

Grace: 2:43

same with me.

Mark: 2:45

And so it was grace. So we're going to do our best to get these out, So first segment is going to be Jim target. I was a little sad at myself. I meant to take a picture with him when he was over there with me that day interviewing because I want to put a, when I put out on social media, the next episode, I want a picture with Jim. personally have a really soft spot for Jim. He reminds me a lot of my dad. he wears bibs. He's a big man. and fairly early on the interview, we talked about his age and his history. and driving. We're going to probably dive in a little bit, this fall on a little more in-depth on trucking history. I've got some, some older guys lined up to be on the podcast. Uh, that I, I worry, like, um, I feel like I'm under the gun to interview them for fear soon. I wouldn't be able to, right. Jim's one of those guys because of his age. It just, Every day is a bonus day with them, but so full of knowledge, and I don't even know how to describe, like to this day. I think he could probably outdrive me if we just sat down and drove, like he could, he could probably, he could probably drive more hours in a day than me. he's just a cool guy. I don't know how else to say it what'd you think of the interview?

Grace: 4:16

I liked it.

Mark: 4:18

Okay. You may notice a little difference in audio quality on this one. We're trying a new feature from

Grace: 4:25

our

Mark: 4:25

Or editing software that does help with the sound quality, but every once in a while, it sounds a little,

Grace: 4:32

Alexa,

Mark: 4:34

Mr. Roboto. I don't know, like a little electronic, I guess. Um, maybe you won't notice, especially if you're cruising down the road on 10 or 18 wheels, depending on what you're driving. Sometimes on 14

Grace: 4:49

or four

Mark: 4:51

or four

Grace: 4:52

or two,

Mark: 4:53

without further ado, here we go with our interview with Mr. James target Grace

Grace: 5:02

Let's roll

Mark: 5:12

You don't have to say how old you are, but I think it helps give us some context.

Jim Tarbet: 5:17

I was going to ask you just how far back you wanted me to go.

Mark: 5:23

it goes back a ways

Jim Tarbet: 5:25

It does I was, I was born in 1939,

Mark: 5:29

so you're 82. currently. And

Jim Tarbet: 5:32

And when I started out my grandfather, I was about five and a half, six years old. And then he planted me on this old horse, done the dry run, the Derrick. To dump the hay. And that was my first driving careers as a horse driver.

Mark: 5:51

Was this up in Smithfield

Jim Tarbet: 5:52

was in Smithfield. Yes. And for that, from then on, it's been a downhill ride for 82 years.

Mark: 5:59

You think we were better off. with horses?

Jim Tarbet: 6:01

Well, I don't know. Well, probably in a way, because they was, uh, had a personality, a truck doesn't have any personality. So,

Mark: 6:12

so six years old. you sh you're

Jim Tarbet: 6:15

Yeah, we started there and from then on, it was driving the team for all they loaded hay. And then we got an old K five international two ton truck, and I was taught to drive that and we'd pull. Done the hay and we, loaded sugar beets. I didn't, I didn't drive to the sugar beet dumping that I did in the fields. And then dad put me on the tractor and I started doing all the, plowing and the hay moaning. So I've been driving along the time.

Mark: 6:53

You graduated high school Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 6:56

I went to a north cache high school and I graduated in 1957 and I thought I was, had the world by the tail. So I went, worked the summer at the Dell money. Uh, corn plant.

Mark: 7:13

No. Is that, that on the south side of Smithfield there

Jim Tarbet: 7:17

main street.

Mark: 7:18

Okay.

Jim Tarbet: 7:19

There. And that was quite an operation because we do, my folks was, you know, that, uh, peas and corn and, uh, whatever that factory took

Mark: 7:33

you

Jim Tarbet: 7:34

And, uh, again that the old K five international, I hope piece into that factory and corn. when I was on the road driving up 14, now it was the

Mark: 7:48

law. The

Jim Tarbet: 7:49

law had never was, uh, too strict in those days.

Mark: 7:55

So I don't know why for me, it seems like farming and trucks. They go hand in hand.

Jim Tarbet: 8:02

Oh yeah. And you know, transportation. Yeah. The main thing to keep the products moving from the farm to the, your factories. And they're your finished products gotta be shipped. You know, they used to use quite a lot of railroad in those days, but trucks still did 90% of the main work. And, uh, so he was involved in trucking. Right up until that time. And then when I went into college there, I got a degree in pool play and, uh, they invited me to go home

Mark: 8:41

Where were you attending college at?

Jim Tarbet: 8:44

university.

Mark: 8:45

And they invited you to, to withdraw my

Jim Tarbet: 8:47

grades. Wasn't proper for the operation there at the academy.

Mark: 8:52

how long did you go to school?

Jim Tarbet: 8:54

I was there for a year. You know, there was some really nice professors there. There I was in the the air force ROTC and they tried to get me to stay in. I was so smart that I didn't, I might've minded to something if that,

Mark: 9:13

so, so after you left Utah state, then you just go back. to farming right

Jim Tarbet: 9:17

uh, I, uh, I'm going around looking for a job. And I finally got a job working for Parsons construction, out here west of Treemont and that the, what they call a Pocatello valley, they were building the interstate there. And, uh, so they stuck me in an old 1943 shovels. Two ton truck. And we was hauling asphalt into the meridians and they, they built a boat. so it was shaped those for the ditch. And then we'd go along and hook on that and then pull that and dump our asphalt in and lay that out. So they had the water would drain there. That was my first experience in the construction field. And we'd done around wet around. Two or three little jobs here in box elder. And then they sent me to Montpelier, Idaho, and we run the truck up there. hauling ass, all done the rural on the old highway. There I, with 30 of the guests that is. Yeah. And, uh,

Mark: 10:24

this would have been late fifties, early sixties,

Jim Tarbet: 10:27

about 62, I think. And we built there between Montpelier and St. Charles. And then, uh, in the fall we was getting, the weather was getting cool and they stuck me on an old K what is it? Uh, international with a BA in June. A belly dump. So I started my experience with the pulling a trailer

Mark: 10:54

no

Jim Tarbet: 10:58

doors, you know, being a young who is full of piss and vinegar done a lot of things. Maybe we shouldn't have been. We were

Mark: 11:08

call police

Jim Tarbet: 11:09

what we were supposed to do. When I was commuting back and forth from low Smithfield, worried about Peter, and then we'd get on the truck and haul the gravel and we'd had to go across the valley over it into Ovid, and they built a little gravel road for the county over there. And one morning we, it was an October. We loaded the trucks over the weekend, so it could. You know, make a big, fast start on Monday morning. We can go over there Monday morning and that, and the night before it froze and all that gravel was frozen, it was Billy DUNS and we was all day getting that stuff out. Yeah. And then of course they had 50 weight oil in the engines and then old trucks. Cause you had to fill the oil up to check the gas, you know, keep going. So anyway, he had, we pulled them around that yard. There got him, started in, lined him up and the boss said, we'll see you next spring. Oh,

Mark: 12:09

Wow.

Jim Tarbet: 12:10

that was the end of that project

Mark: 12:12

in October you loaded gravel and it all froze over the weekend and it wouldn't

Jim Tarbet: 12:17

No, it was a total hell. It got right down there to the zero, you know, where the weekend up there. Anyway, that was quite an interesting thing. But then again, in the spring we started there and again, finished the project. Uh, they stuck me down and Jack Parson bought the Brigham city, sand and gravel, and that's how they started in the ready-mix business. And so they put me on a, a newer, uh, international tractor. If two or 200, 200 and that was another one of those fine operations just carried plenty of oil and check the gas. So anyway I had to do four loads a day from Brigham to Smithfield of sand so they could mix it with concrete. I did that for a couple of summers. They'd lay us off in the winter.

Mark: 13:19

So you would have been were you driving through sardine doing that

Jim Tarbet: 13:22

went around, come around through calling students up that the VA couldn't pull them out. And that's what tried with the load. Blow it up anyway. We, uh, did that for a while. And then I decided that, gee, this isn't really the greatest life to make a living. So I started doing, uh, remote, uh, instruction on repairing engines and stuff, but, uh, on correspondent, you know,

Mark: 13:57

Oh yeah, yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 13:58

And, it was. They did a lot of military, books and stuff that, you know, and I did a lot of that kind of instructed her, got that kind of instruction. And then Parsons hard me to do the mechanic work for them. And we went out in the park valley and. I was the mechanic out there. We had a half, a dozen trucks and four for DW, 20 scrapers and two or three D eight cats. And there was an old international D T D 25. That was on the, his first, come out, you know, and they was G there were a powerful thing, but just typical international they'd worked hard. Well, they worked, but they didn't work long.

Mark: 14:44

So what were they doing in park

Jim Tarbet: 14:47

we built the road, highway, interstate, or the world road from councilors. We went and started at the concert's ranch and went clear down to, they call it the, the cheaper point down there about 25 miles.

Mark: 15:00

Yeah. Yup. That the Mid sixties now.

Jim Tarbet: 15:04

Yeah.

Mark: 15:05

And you were just mechanic. and out there,

Jim Tarbet: 15:06

I was just a mechanic up there. Yeah. Then of course we had to do drive to if sometimes

Mark: 15:12

when somebody

Jim Tarbet: 15:12

sick or something. So it was kind of an all around job. And then I, from then on, I was pretty steady working for Parsons. So I stayed there for 14 years and we went all over. I worked in Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. We built a, I quit in Nevada in 1973 from Parsons and went to work for Helms construction down there. And we built the interstate around Elko and I was a asphalt plant operator, which made the asphalt for the,

Mark: 15:49

so all the, all the roads around here. today, You had a little, hand and

Jim Tarbet: 15:54

pretty much

Mark: 15:56

modernizing them, I guess they may have existed, but they were,

Jim Tarbet: 16:00

yeah, we did. We did, uh, there was 10 miles there at, uh, hill field. We did from 33rd, uh, exit 3 54 north through the 31st street up to, uh, w what is the Wilson avenue? I guess it'd be that be 21st

Mark: 16:20

Yeah, yeah,

Jim Tarbet: 16:21

And we built all that went down. We just down the Burnwell price more AB I mean, we fixed a lot of road for nice doing that construction.

Mark: 16:32

So so you worked for them until, I guess 14 years bringing us up to about 19 80,

Jim Tarbet: 16:39

1973. I quit. And we started the business. Repairing trucks and equipment

Mark: 16:45

was this with Nash

Jim Tarbet: 16:47

Garry nation, Cecil Nash,

Mark: 16:49

So in T

Jim Tarbet: 16:51

N T N

Mark: 16:52

N T N diesel

Jim Tarbet: 16:54

And from then on, it was a rough job. I always, you know, I met a lot of good, good people in this valley and then cash. Well, all over, really that come in weekly. Uh, Roy trans con uh, transportation. I was running through here and we got going with them on and, uh, we got a regular account, man. I think it was from Oklahoma. And uh, of course there was CF and, uh, all the different freight companies and I'd go out and fix them on the road, you know, if they had a problem. And so it's, I've always been mixed up with the trucking business.

Mark: 17:37

So, Um, I'm curious back At that point in time, you guys would have had a business phone, but then did these companies have somebody's home phone? They could try and call you after that? Yeah,

Jim Tarbet: 17:50

when we went, we got to trans con uh, we got done a lot of their work. Well, they got my personal phone and then they had the company for them. And uh, of course I'd get calls all time, kinds of times at night, you know, and that's to go get them guys going and they loved it because it was all union, you know, so all they'd be, do anything they could to get out and get broke down because they'd get motel and they could go to the bar, you know? so

Mark: 18:21

those after hours calls that was back in the day, I remember my parents doing Because there were no cell phones when you were going somewhere, you'd tell somebody where you were going and then they, you know, dad was at the coffee shop. Well, they'd just call the coffee shop. looking for him or,

Jim Tarbet: 18:36

Yeah. Everybody knew where he was going to

Mark: 18:38

Yeah. Yeah. So did you ever get a phone call at the way?

Jim Tarbet: 18:43

At the Western bar here in town? Yeah, many times. Okay. They're in the old crossroads cafe. We spent our time there. I remember one night they called, oh, it was cold and they had a truck go down, out there on, in Pocatello valley. I went up there. They, one of the drivers had fooled with the fuel pump,

Mark: 19:09

trying to get, trying to get more out of it

Jim Tarbet: 19:11

out of the thing in any way. It felt it up. We had to call at a time getting that going in my hands. It was so cold. I still think that they're numb from that time.

Mark: 19:26

So so you and the niche is openness and uh, it's the, one, is it right? The building's still there, right Like just on the east side of Garland.

Jim Tarbet: 19:37

Yeah, just doors north of the old sugar factory.

Mark: 19:41

Yeah. Yeah. On the west west side, of the road, just east side, of Garland. uh, the north

Jim Tarbet: 19:45

uh Clark, uh, trucking built-in thing. That building, it was not a very good building. They did it because they was hauling sugar. W contracted with the sugar company and haul sugar beets in, and they had the yard to park the trucks and work on their trucks there. And then when that they lost the contract and old Galen, Christus son, Aaron Treemont, and got the contract, why? they left and we bought the building. And, uh, from then on, it was work, work, work.

Mark: 20:19

so how long was that shop? Were you working in that shop?

Jim Tarbet: 20:23

I stayed there eight years. And, uh, yeah, about seven to eight or nine and nine. Let's see buddy, 1980. I think I left there and I, uh, well, I went and drove for little Audrey for the winter and I went back to Chicago. Such a lovely place and they never had any warehouses were all downtown. And, uh, this digestible market was right there on canal street. I'll never forget that. And it was a lousy place to get into that winter. They had. Snow two feet deep. You have no place to put the snow. I mean, they run it into the middle of the, it into the middle of the road, you

Mark: 21:09

know,

Jim Tarbet: 21:10

and then I guess they pick it up and put it in the

Mark: 21:13

it out of there Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 21:15

Anyway, we got in there, had a hell of a time getting around, getting that thing unloaded and getting up. Done that three or four times. And I made the mistake of going under one of those overpasses over the railroad overpass. And underneath I checked the van, you know, sweets pulled under that overpass and I had about the old 12 inches of clearance. So man, I goosed that sucker and about halfway under that, that dropped that, cement down there. And I took that reefer unit and put it back pathway back into the Troy.

Mark: 21:55

oh no it

Jim Tarbet: 21:55

the end of my experience with little Audrey,

Mark: 22:00

prior to leaving in NTN. Did you Do any work for Val at all? Cause that was right

Jim Tarbet: 22:07

about

Mark: 22:07

the time he bought his first truck.

Jim Tarbet: 22:09

we did a little for Val. Uh, I don't remember doing a lot of sir any serious stuff, you know, we did, we did quite a little,

Mark: 22:17

but that was probably about the time you met him was about then.

Jim Tarbet: 22:22

And, um, you know, and then most of the, he was leased to, uh, L w Miller. I think that that.

Mark: 22:31

He started out at Midwest coast and then went to Schreiber, actually at least to Schreiber transit.

Jim Tarbet: 22:41

Yeah. So he was going back east a lot. So we really didn't get to do a lot

Mark: 22:47

with

Jim Tarbet: 22:47

his outfits.

Mark: 22:48

So after the top in the trailer with little Audrey's. W what'd you do

Jim Tarbet: 22:56

well, let me. I drive a truck back here to salt lake, you know, so I could get home. And then I went to, it was just fooling around L w wanted, hired me to be a mechanic and they started that, uh, service station up there in Plymouth. And then that didn't work out so well and, uh, not a lot to do.

Mark: 23:22

Man, but they opened that right before the interstate got built.

Jim Tarbet: 23:25

Oh no, the interstate was done. This was quite a while, you know? Anyway, I let, uh, the forum and for the box elder county road department and was looking for a mechanic and he asked me if I joined the group and I told him, yeah. So that's when I started with buck to the other county road. And then Kanick worked for them for 22 years. So that's how I kind of slowed myself down where I leaned on the shovel a lot, you know?

Mark: 23:57

Well, if you're doing mechanic work, you probably weren't, you're probably a little busier than the average. So I guess that takes you up to 2000, 2000 2002

Jim Tarbet: 24:11

I retired in 2 0 5 from there and, uh, I helped her up quite a bit. I did a lot of their work for them when we was in business. So I become great friends with the family. I did a lot of work for them, and then they got going pretty good and got their own mechanics and stuff. So I didn't do so much for them after that. Anyway, when I retired, they stuck me over and asked me if I'd run into one of their old cats over in the gravel pit. And I did that for awhile. I didn't care to stay there like that. So anyway, I went home and got bored. I asked, come over to Stokes and I asked Jimmy if I. Drive trucks for Stokes, trucking and Corsi invited me to come along. So I've been there ever since.

Mark: 25:05

So That was oh six.

Jim Tarbet: 25:07

Yeah.

Mark: 25:09

And you were working full time, two trips a week when I started here in 2010. And When was it? 2012 or 13 when you finally. Like first you throttled down to one trip a week I remember you and you and JP.

Jim Tarbet: 25:25

Yeah, me and Johnny Peterson split the truck and I made one an eight MinKwon and it's amazing how much these trucks has changed. You know, since I started at GE the kit, I had an old Kenworth there for awhile that we saw on salt for McFarland. No rough ride, no pot liquor, but it was a, you know, it was pretty good truck first time.

Mark: 25:51

When was that?

Jim Tarbet: 25:52

Well, it was after I quit this business there.

Mark: 25:56

early

Jim Tarbet: 25:57

Yeah. Early eighties. We are all salts from GSL over to Jackson. After then, uh, Lord that went clear to medicine bow.

Mark: 26:08

Oh, wow. Really?

Jim Tarbet: 26:09

Uh, we ended up to Greenville.

Mark: 26:13

So you said it was an old Kenworth. Was it uh, in your hall and salt? Was it uh, like a grain trailer

Jim Tarbet: 26:18

and I had a flat bed with the, uh, doors in the bottom or, you know, the

Mark: 26:23

convertible

Jim Tarbet: 26:24

Yeah. And. No, no, always in good shape, because you don't have to shovel three or four seven anyway, cause that wet salt wouldn't slide. Very good.

Mark: 26:32

yeah. Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 26:33

we hauled a lot of that.

Mark: 26:35

So in 1980, you're still on tube tires split rims, probably.

Jim Tarbet: 26:43

rooms. Yeah.

Mark: 26:46

did you have steer axle brakes?

Jim Tarbet: 26:47

No. Well, there was still actual breaks on that, uh, Kenworth, but I, I disconnected the pot liquors.

Mark: 26:55

right? Cause it cause the steering in the winter, that was, that was the reason. and um, obviously no abs and it was, a manual. What, what what'd you have for your transmission? engine and transmission Yeah it

Jim Tarbet: 27:07

and a four and then a. When we got, uh, I had trouble that I put a 13 speed in it and that worked pretty good. I remember one time we was going to Jackson and Rosie was in front of me and we was going up to 10 cup there from soda, spring and Fido. And it was really early in the morning, the sun was just barely breaking and he was going through the lava flows there. Just where you get forced to Henry. By the Blackfoot reservoir. Anyway, I seen this thing, black thing bounced out through the lab of flows. And then I called rosy on the CB and I said, Rosie, did you put, run a guy off the road? He said, no. And I says, well, apparently we've probably got a broken tire or rent. And that tire went out through the lab, the flows, and it went clear down into the meadow, right by the

Mark: 28:05

lights

Jim Tarbet: 28:07

Yeah. And we went down there and watch it was a mile and we rolled that thing back. But anyway, it took us stripped the studs off the hub. So we changed that, Jack that axle up and changed it up. went on up to Jackson and brought it home and fixed it.

Mark: 28:28

So you had a, you had a Jack with you,

Jim Tarbet: 28:30

Oh yeah. We always had Jackson changed and toolboxes with us because you never know when some old trucks give up on it.

Mark: 28:39

was no, there was no cell phone. to call all road service.

Jim Tarbet: 28:42

he didn't have a quarter to call somebody that cared. Yeah. And you use on your own,

Mark: 28:49

uh, Yanni other good breakdown stories then we're the best. It's the breakdown stories, right? Well, the things you do to, to just get down the road, because you didn't have a choice.

Jim Tarbet: 28:59

That's true. We did have quite a few things happen off and on, not, uh, we was coming down main, uh, Logan canyon once years ago. Well, I'm old belly dumps and you asked the damn brownie froze up. Then I'm not foil. And I like

Mark: 29:18

transmission

Jim Tarbet: 29:19

not transmission That was a little rude, experienced, dry to adjust your way down, coming out of the canyon there, where that thing locked up.

Mark: 29:29

She Couldn't shift

Jim Tarbet: 29:30

Couldn't shift that, you know, we only had landed land. Speed.

Mark: 29:34

Oh, so did you have an engine brake?

Jim Tarbet: 29:39

No. No I'm glad that was before engine brakes.

Mark: 29:42

So, so What what speed would you come down? Logan canyon

Jim Tarbet: 29:44

Oh, that was 20, 25 miles an hour, you know? And in them days, that was plenty.

Mark: 29:52

Even on the road though. Running, how fast would you drive? 60 maybe.

Jim Tarbet: 29:58

Yeah, it, you know, loaded going up a little. Uh, you know, when we got finally got engine brakes uh, you know, you could go up that canyon about 40, and then if nobody bothered you, you could never have to touch it right. Going up. And you could make those turns. You'd probably have to slow down there to what they call would camp area. Cause that was kind of a twisty

Mark: 30:24

the

Jim Tarbet: 30:25

there. And then boy, when you started down in the lake town, You better have your, uh, truck under control, you know, and we never really had trouble going down there as long as you kept that truck around 20 and, and let the Jake brake work like it should, you know, you don't have to touch a break once in a while, but I just, it's hard to believe that these young, of course, you know, nowadays these young boys, uh, got the automatic and everything. They just think that apparently think they can just go flying off there. Right. And that just don't happen.

Mark: 31:10

I, uh, I don't, I don't know. I'm I don't think I've ever showed you how to use, Hilda scent control, but going down into lake town today with one of our trucks today, Oh, somebody's calling you. I'll usually set the hill descent control on 28. or 38. you know, the truck just does it all from their full load 80,000 pounds. And it'll just walk right down. Yeah. On the hill.

Jim Tarbet: 31:38

Well, that's, you know, one way is going to Doner that's, you know, that's just the way to work, you know?

Mark: 31:43

Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 31:45

I've never had problems.

Mark: 31:46

Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 31:48

So

Mark: 31:49

W one of the uh, unintended consequences of paperless logs, everybody's in a room. right? The clocks clock is always ticking, So you're it doesn't encourage you to go slow down a hill. So nobody does,

Jim Tarbet: 32:08

it has a lot of unintended consequences if you're not careful.

Mark: 32:12

Yes. For sure. So, so you worked full-time here for seven or eight years, I guess it was, it had to be like 2012 or 2013 when you and JP started splitting time on that So that you would have been Early seventies, I guess, but you still drive part time. You were out driving. I don't know if you worked yesterday, but you worked the day before. I know for sure. Cause I dispatched you just doing local stuff.

Jim Tarbet: 32:40

Yeah, and it's good. I just love to drive and I still got my reflexes still got in. My vision's still good. You know,

Mark: 32:50

trucks are easier to drive today.

Jim Tarbet: 32:52

are a lot easier to drive and know of course the traffics every year, but then it used to be, but could you just go out and take your time and do what you got to do?

Mark: 33:05

Um, w what's, what's a piece of advice you'd give somebody. who's Young or just starting,

Jim Tarbet: 33:13

oh, well be careful watch both sides of the road. Watch ahead of you and B watch behind you and don't cut the trailer off. Or when you're making a turn, make sure you go wide enough that the trailer don't hit the curb on the right

Mark: 33:34

side

Jim Tarbet: 33:37

things like that, you know?

Mark: 33:39

uh, my son asked me one time, how I learned where the trailer was going to track, like off track. And I didn't, I didn't have an answer for him. I was like you, I started right. tractors when I was in single digits. I don't know, seven or eight and pull a wagon or whatever. And you just, I don't know. I just, just knew that stuff growing up. So then when I started driving a semi. well, it's just longer, you know, I knew the trailer's going to off-track and I don't know, he just judge. it. He's still though, he, you know, he just he, he he's 22 now. and I don't know, he probably could drive a truck. if he tried, but he was fascinated by it when I was, when he was 12. Well, awesome man. Um, a, I like to talk to guys like you, you, Val people that have some experience cause your experiences. I try and learn from, you know, the breakdowns are, I'm fascinated by those, because at that time you were forced. to Adapt and overcome right there. There wasn't anybody coming and you couldn't call anyone.

Jim Tarbet: 35:07

And boy, you know, we didn't have automatic brick gestures. And you just really had to keep your hands there and, you know, keep conscience conscious of your brakes because you know, they get hot and then, uh, you know, away you'd go for a ride.

Mark: 35:28

Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 35:29

So he had really had to keep an eye on keeping your brakes adjusted and, and not get carried away, going too fast to where they get warmed up, you know? And, uh, of course Jake brakes made a lot of difference to that. yeah.

Mark: 35:45

Yeah. I started right at the tail end. of The first few trucks I drove had manual adjustment on the brakes. I don't, I've never driven a truck without an engine brake. That's one thing. I don't think, I think the oldest truck I ever drove was like an 89.

Jim Tarbet: 36:01

let me get started after Parsons. Let me go with that one winter. And I was still just a junior mechanic. Uh, I got the operators tunity to go to flaming Gorge dam. They was building started building that dam up there and they had a fleet of 13. Uh, Trucks. They were bigger than the normal street truck, you know? And, uh, they was each had a, that was when I was experimenting with, they had the 3 35 Cummins engine and they had the crossover fuel on that, uh, you know, instead of the old rail. And that was an experimental thing and they were experimenting with bigger turbos. To make, you know, so the old girls had more power. Anyway, that was a circle out of a 6% grade, pulling them Baxter, heavy duty, duty belly dumps, you know, and them guys get those belly dumps going up that hill. And they was, had the power up as high as they did. Uh, plus them things and, you know, we never really had a lot of major engine other than those crossovers, the old rings wasn't strong enough because of the heat and they'd start throwing fuel out. Yeah. And, uh, then the turbos, as soon as I get to the top of the hill and they'd start down off there with that hand, then turbos had to explode, uh, you know, and they had, uh, hydraulic, uh, uh retarders and, uh, they'd get so hot going down at 6% grade into the, where they made the concrete for them dams, you know, that they'd blow the seals out of the. Thank you.

Mark: 38:01

Hmm.

Jim Tarbet: 38:02

It's amazing.

Mark: 38:03

was the turbo or the tuber? turbo is exploding? from heat,

Jim Tarbet: 38:05

Yeah, it gets so hot going up the hill

Mark: 38:09

Yeah

Jim Tarbet: 38:09

and then boy, it was a push push thing, you know, and they never let him cool. And then on that hill, they, man, you know, and that Jesus thing could fly apart. There was holes in the side of them hoods, like you can't believe. And, uh, I don't know. We tried to talk him into it. Uh, Jake breaks on them, you know,

Mark: 38:31

Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 38:32

and see if they could hold the heat into those, uh, you know, down on the intervals or hold it in. So the turbo didn't get.

Mark: 38:40

Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 38:41

Uh, so the temperature didn't get so bad when they started down, but then they didn't do that. They kept, they stayed with that old hydraulic retarder and, uh, you know, that it held him back, I guess, for the time.

Mark: 38:58

Do you have a lot of fuel issues back then? Seventies and eighties?

Jim Tarbet: 39:03

No, not well, yeah. In the winter. Yeah. It that, if you wasn't careful,

Mark: 39:12

it just wasn't refined. like it is, today. I mean, today you don't worry about it really,

Jim Tarbet: 39:16

uh, you'd get down to 10 below or so. And then you'd better have some kerosene mixed in your diesel fuel because if not, it would turn the wax.

Mark: 39:26

Yeah. Yeah.

Jim Tarbet: 39:28

And there was a lot of that. I was over to rock Springs for her. Uh, Rollins took a load of salt over there in the most in bow. And I was, uh, one of the guys that they're in the Preston liar, uh, recycling they're up there, hit button, a bunch of old boilers from the oil Wells cruise. And we're just going to haul them back to Preston for warm to cut them up. And, uh, G I pulled in the medicine ball and it was just a beautiful fall. You know, it was two days before Thanksgiving unloaded and went over to Rollins truck stop and went in there and had the buffet for$2 and 50 cents. I'll never forget the 50 cents for a cup of coffee. And so I had my little supper and I went, got in the bunk and went to bed. Uh, G about midnight, the wind truck started rocking and you never seen such a blow in a wind storm in a snow storm in your life. And it's a guy that had a, a box of that stuff you put in fuel tanks, you know, they was pedaling all the time, you know, and you could have been a millionaire and I'll never forget. I walked in the cafe the next morning and. Uh, coffee was a buck and a half ham and eggs was five bucks, you know?

Mark: 41:01

Oh wow

Jim Tarbet: 41:02

They really ripped it. And that's the last time I ever went and Fe Johnson's in Rawlins.

Mark: 41:08

on. So where were you delivering salt to medicine Bow the railroad highway,

Jim Tarbet: 41:17

uh, uh, station there,

Mark: 41:20

Oh, it was road salt. road Okay, Way back. Well, I shouldn't say way back when in like 1998, I had an internship and I was selling mosquito spray essentially for a chemical company. but I had an account in medicine by Wyoming. the city of Madisonville. And I spent the night there at the hotel Um, and just a couple weeks ago, coming back from Nebraska. Me and my wife my daughter drove up through medicine bow, and the hotel's still there. We ate ate at the bar, had lunch there and, um, it's, it's a classic man. They've, they've got all the rooms upstairs is built in 1909 and they've got all those rooms restored upstairs and you can still stay there in the old, I can't, remember if it's called the medicine bowl lounge. Oh, hotel Medicine. bow in, but It's based off a book It was written in the late 18 hundreds. you know? Yeah. It's, th you know, it's just a railroad town, really That's what it's there for But anyway, about hit a whole herd of sheep over there, That summer, when I was doing my internship. I do like a hundred everywhere. I went, and I come around a corner. There's a whole herd of sheep in the highway Well, the breaks up right before I got to the front of the herd And there was a guy on a horse sitting there. and I, I, I looked at him, rolled my window down. I said, are they walking towards me? And he says, yeah, just drive slow. They'll walk around. You know if I go through this herd of sheep, They were just driving them right up By the way, there must have been 1500 sheep in that IRD. Yeah. Well, it means a little different. All right, sir. Well, um, it was nice to have you on,

Jim Tarbet: 43:16

well, appreciate it.

Mark: 43:18

I I love the old stories

Jim Tarbet: 43:21

brings back a lot of memories, you know?

Mark: 43:23

Yeah. I feel like I need to document some of this stuff, to have it, you know,

Jim Tarbet: 43:31

it's true.

Mark: 43:33

Um, trucking really well. I've never really thought it. was. I never tracked like you and, Val and even Jimmy, you know, w when I started it was easy, but it's way easy now and um, so different.

Jim Tarbet: 43:51

Oh yeah. It really is. It's just, uh, so, well, it's good to me. Yeah

Mark: 43:58

I mean, the trucks ride good. They're comfortable. there. They're reliable. Not fixing things on the side of the road,

Jim Tarbet: 44:09

no Kenworth, man. You know, I really feel sad because, um, you really get into like a Freightliner. You know,

Mark: 44:18

my favorite truck ever was a Kenworth cab over. So.

Jim Tarbet: 44:21

No, I hated him that Freightliner a cab over my, uh, being tall as I am. My legs was always right up in my chair. And, you know, the old Peterbilt cab or, you know, you could add a little leg room. But Freightliners are terrible.

Mark: 44:43

My Kenworth, it was newer. It was a 96, uh, Teradyne stand up and it had you know, a little space B behind the driver's seat. So I had, honestly, I had more leg room in that Kenworth than our Freightliners today.

Jim Tarbet: 45:01

Oh really?

Mark: 45:02

Yeah. you could You put the seat all the way back and I could stretch my legs out, straight in that truck. It was, it was amazing. I loved that truck. Other than you had to button everything down, if you're going to tip the cab, you know? and, and, Um, it was 10 years old when I bought it. It was on its second motor. I mean, it, it was something I needed to tilt the cab. on Often, so not nearly as reliable as today. but All right. Awesome. Thanks for coming on with me. Jim. All right.

Jim Tarbet: 45:39

it.

Grace: 45:48

That was a really great segment with Jim target. We learned a lot about him and just his life in trucking.

Mark: 45:56

A couple of things that struck me in that interview with Jim. Number one is most of the major roads in Northern Utah that we use today

Grace: 46:06

were built

Mark: 46:07

and he had a hand in, building them, um, Stokes trucks drive across through park valley, between Parkville and Montello. every, Every single day of every single year, like no joke. There is a Stokes truck that drives that highway and he spent an entire summer living out there building that road. that's thing. Number one with him. Number two was he's really of this generation where it was adapt and overcome. We lose a wheel off the trailer. We Jack it up. Chain the axle up, throw the wheel on the trailer And off we go, go make our delivery will. and we were going to repair it ourselves when we get home, you know, that's because there was no cell no one was coming. You had to fix it yourself. You had to figure out how you were going to adapt and overcome all on your own. The third thing with him. And I think this is the biggest take, really the biggest takeaway for our current drivers and. any driver Was when I asked him, what, what piece of advice would he give some. And it was be aware of your surroundings. Be looking ahead, watching off the side of your peripheral, really pay attention this next segment with Ty Walker, we're going to talk about distracted driving. And when we get back from the session, I'm going to tell you a little story that relates to Jim tar, but There's a reason these two are going together. I'm really excited about it. It wasn't planned. It just happened, but I can't wait. So here we go with a segment of Ty Walker's safety minute about distracted driving. Oh, just give it a little while Tyler tight, Ty Tyler. Geez.

Ty Walker: 48:13

I hope you weren't recording what I said earlier.

Mark: 48:15

I just turned it on. But I might, I might add that to the end of the podcast. just so people can wonder what we were talking about.

Ty Walker: 48:25

If she, they would probably enjoy that little bit of suspense. Make a monitor, right? Shoot.

Mark: 48:35

Oh, Taiwan, Docker for another safety. minute. How are you doing?

Ty Walker: 48:39

I'm doing well. How are you doing

Mark: 48:40

I'm uh, I'm just finding.

Ty Walker: 48:43

Well, that's good. Serves you, right?

Mark: 48:47

frog, and smokey and the bandit.

Ty Walker: 48:50

and the bandit. Yep.

Mark: 48:51

She didn't even your wife. Didn't even enjoy Frog.

Ty Walker: 48:55

I don't think she did because my wife, she likes fluffy dogs. Like that's why we have a golden doodle. She's really fluffy, but frog is like, you can't even see his eyeballs. His eyes are so saggy and they're not very fluffy.

Mark: 49:11

No, no. frog in smokey and the bandit frog. That's what. uh, No, that's the handle that they gave. Sally field. The hound dog is that's Fred,

Ty Walker: 49:22

Fred, Fred frog, frog. Fred,

Mark: 49:25

Basset hounds are the best dogs. They're the best dogs they smell terrible. They stink like, like none other,

Ty Walker: 49:33

but you know what? I bet my in-laws bolded. Probably smells worse, nothing it's things bad. So frog. No, no, she, I mean, she didn't love frog. I probably liked frog more than she did, but

Mark: 49:48

Prague is old. frogs in her seventies.

Ty Walker: 49:54

I'll bet

Mark: 49:57

she was all their age in the late, late. seventies,

Ty Walker: 50:00

Oh, I'm

Mark: 50:01

Sally field.

Ty Walker: 50:02

bet she was just setting trends for all the ladies out there. Oh,

Mark: 50:05

wanted to look like Sally field.

Ty Walker: 50:07

shoot. I'll have to watch it again. Cause I'm embarrassed that I, you know, got the two confused Fred frog. So it's good. I have it on DVD. I'll watch it again.

Mark: 50:18

The snowman truck, you can drive the snowman truck and trailer in

Ty Walker: 50:23

drive it. Drive is Kenworth. That's pretty sweet truck. The trailers the same too.

Mark: 50:28

Yeah, Yeah. Yeah. Um, And, oh, here's one for you on iRacing. My street stock car. I drive a smokey and the bandit Camaro.

Ty Walker: 50:40

Oh,

Mark: 50:40

with the Eagle on the hood.

Ty Walker: 50:42

Oh yeah. Yeah. You drive it just like the bandit does

Mark: 50:46

Well, I mean, iRacing there's rules.

Ty Walker: 50:48

The thing I don't get about that is the way he drives the whole movie. You would have a flat tire, but I guess that's why it's a movie, right?

Mark: 50:57

well, there were, There were several cars used in the making of that

Ty Walker: 51:03

I would imagine.

Mark: 51:04

Yeah, it was a different yeah. That car was like a$3,000 car at the time.

Ty Walker: 51:09

If you had one today, I'd probably be worth a lot

Mark: 51:11

little more than

Ty Walker: 51:12

Yeah.

Mark: 51:12

Even The cop car from smoking in the band, it's worth more. than that today,

Ty Walker: 51:17

even with the top

Mark: 51:18

oh, absolutely. It's worth way more. If it's that one.

Ty Walker: 51:21

Yeah, I bet.

Mark: 51:21

a collector's item. All right. Ty, What's our, uh, what's our topic for this safety minute,

Ty Walker: 51:30

Wellmark I wanted to talk for a little bit today about defensive driving. So earlier this year we had a safety meeting. Um, that meeting, I don't think we all got together. We were still, some of us were joining in virtually, but we discussed defensive driving and why it's so important. Um, kind of what it means. And yeah. What we can do, what actions we can take as a professional driver to implement those defensive driving strategies to, you know, to be safe out there. I first, typically you kind of tell with me, I like to start out by just defining what it is we're talking about. So defensive driving, it's the practice of using driving strategies that help to minimize risk and help avoid accidents. So any actions that we can take out there that are getting. Try to prevent something bad from happening as a professional driver. Mark, why do you think it's so important for us to be a defensive driver?

Mark: 52:34

Well, obviously we're on the road more than anyone else and we are professionals. My wife makes fun of me, my driving quite often in my car. It's different when I'm in the semi, right. Um, Not only looking out for myself but like, you're not for everyone else around me and we interact with a lot more people than your average vehicle car driver does in a day.

Ty Walker: 53:01

Yep.

Mark: 53:02

So you've got to be on the lookout for them, their poor driving habits or things they can't control.

Ty Walker: 53:10

Absolutely.

Mark: 53:11

today. We had a driver with a blown out drive tire and he said, this guy passed me. And I thought, man, he's going to lose that ladder. And wouldn't, you know, a quarter mile. later, he lost the ladder and it went through my drive tire. So that that's a case where Devin defensive driving may have prevented his hit. what turned into a couple hour delay. getting that

Ty Walker: 53:37

Exactly. That's a great point. I also liked that you brought up. When you're, when you get into that truck into a semi something changes like for me, you know, I don't know what it is, but maybe it's the fact that you're a couple of hundred thousand dollars rolling down the road. You know, if you'd look at the value of the cargo inside, there's a lot of money moving right there. Um, but just the damage that you can do to others with that. Piece of equipment. It definitely changes your mindset and there's a lot more responsibility

Mark: 54:11

Yeah. I don't know. I hate to admit it, but I am, I am a horrible driver

Ty Walker: 54:17

of a four Wheeler.

Mark: 54:18

I am. I really, truly am. I just don't, don't pay as much attention as I ought to Um, but in a sense, It's like all my focus is on my job, which is driving that semi.

Ty Walker: 54:34

yeah. Maybe it's your simulator here. You, you get in your car and it's smaller and you think you're in the SIM and you just want to go fast. So you brought up another good point, obviously as a professional driver, we spend way more time driving. So back in one of the first recordings that I did with. We just did a little comparison of the time that an average drivers spends compared to like one of our drivers, you know, somebody just driving to work each week, your average, Joe, he's probably spending two to five hours a week driving. Our guys are spending 50 to 55 hours a week driving or any professional drivers. So there's a lot more time and a lot more chance. chances of things happening when you're spending that much time driving. So any actions that I can take as a professional driver to help mitigate those from happening, it's a good thing. Um, I don't know why I got this information. It's kinda stupid, but I figured it would be kind of interesting. So just to kind of go along with those comparisons, um, I decided to get like the chances of. You dying in a car crash, um, compared to some of the other chances of dying. So like the first one is there's a one in six chance that, that you could die from heart disease. So right. Pretty good chance for all of us that that could happen. Um,

Mark: 56:07

little higher for me.

Ty Walker: 56:10

I'm not going to say that mark. It might be for me later on down the road, you never know. There's a one in one hundred and thirty eight, eight hundred and forty nine chance of dying from lightning. So not as super good chance of dying from lightning, right. It could still happen, but it's less likely as far as dying from

Mark: 56:34

It's more likely, if you golf and in a lightning storm,

Ty Walker: 56:37

I would imagine you

Mark: 56:38

that's what I learned from the movie caddy shack.

Ty Walker: 56:42

Caddy shack,

Mark: 56:43

which ought to be on your watch,

Ty Walker: 56:45

I'll put it on the list. We won't go there today,

Mark: 56:48

Don't watch it. with your wife. If It's the unedited version, she won't be impressed a lot more laughs than smoking. in the bandit though.

Ty Walker: 56:56

I'll put it on the list, mark. So, but with that info, there's a one in 107 chance that you can die from, uh, a motor vehicle.

Mark: 57:07

pretty high. I mean, that's quite higher than that.

Ty Walker: 57:10

Yeah. Oh yeah, absolutely. So out of 107 people, one of those people is going to die from a car crash or an automobile crash. Um, I should probably say where I get this in. I, I forgot to write down what site it was, but it was from 2019. So if you want to look up any of that info, I thought it was kind of

Mark: 57:33

so for comparison sake here. Here we go. My wife's a collector of people. She has over a thousand friends on Facebook. Roughly 10 of them should die in vehicle accidents. that's a

Ty Walker: 57:48

Yeah, that is. But you think about it. We spend a lot of time driving. I mean, even if you're just a normal person spending five hours a week driving, there's just so much going on. You know, and it's just getting busier and busier. It seems so you can definitely see how it happens. Um, but then for guys that are doing it as a profession, um, it's dangerous out there. So that's why I think defensive driving is so important. Anything that we can do to help mitigate that. And, and I guess, um, reduce our chances of, of that. So I've got a few actions here. That we can take as a professional driver that will help help us to be a defensive driver. Um, the first one, and we've talked about this, like I said, in our safety meeting, so drivers have stoked, you know, trucks, you've, you've heard some of these things, but it's a good reminder. Um, the first thing is just constantly scanning. And we've talked about this mark before, but do you want to allude on that a little bit?

Mark: 58:51

Uh, not only be looking at the whatever's right in front of you on down the road And to the sides always, always scanning your surroundings, where you are. With your truck.

Ty Walker: 59:04

Yep.

Mark: 59:05

Opposite if you're backing up, obviously.

Ty Walker: 59:08

absolutely Yeah. Yeah. Scanning the mirrors. Um, just trying to understand and trying to know what's going on around your rig at all times. Um, we're scanning, like mark said on the road. Not just straight ahead, but we're also trying to scan up to like 15 seconds ahead just because there could be something going on up there happening that, that we need to react to. And it's obviously going to take us more time to, to do what we need to do. So, so we're trying to know what's going on up ahead. I'm scanning the sides of the roads and just not trying not to get in to that. Uh, what do we call it? Tunnel vision. Cause it's hard. And I remember the very first time that I, uh, so not the first time that I drove truck, but it was the first time I drove, uh, a Stokes truck. I went with Larry van Mir. I loaded up with him and we went down to Phoenix. And, uh, I think we were somewhere around Flagstaff and he was just like, well, you you're doing a pretty good job. You're a pretty good driver, but, but you've kinda got tunnel vision. I've noticed, like you're just fixed on the road right ahead. And I was like, oh, what's he talking about? But it happens. Like if you're sitting there for five, six hours, you just kind of get in this zone where you're just focused on just what's ahead of you, but just try to. Yeah, no what's going on around you. So that's the first, first thing of being a defensive driver that I wanted to talk about. Um, The next thing is, is obviously trying to predict what other people are going to going to do. So playing, what if, you know, how am I going to react if this car comes into my lane, or if this guy pulls out in front of me during our safety meeting, we actually watched some videos that kind of demonstrated this. Like you just don't know what people are doing. Um, last week we had a guy that cut off one of our trucks. Pulling a camp trailer. And luckily our driver was able to react the way that he did and he didn't run that guy over. You just don't know how people are going to drive and how they're going to, to act. So, yeah. So if we're doing that, mark, can you think of any benefits that would, would come if we're trying to have a game plan in our mind, how we would react? How's that going to help us

Mark: 1:01:30

well for one. you're Thinking about it, right. You're you're focused on the task at hand and that's good. Shorten your reaction time. If you do need to react, that's that's, that's the number one thing. Plus if you've got a little plan in your head of, if something happens, where's my I'm always looking for an escape route, right. Um, And that comes from really driving on two lane roads. Always wanna, I will always want to. Just in case for some reason, I can't keep going on the path that I'm on. And sometimes the plan is, well whatever's in front of me is just going to get run over. Cause I can't, you know, the ditches too.

Ty Walker: 1:02:14

I don't want to

Mark: 1:02:15

or it's a drop-off right. but most of the time I have some plan it's when I'm driving through salt I spend, or I shouldn't say of salt lake from Springville To Ogden. I spend a lot of time looking in my mirrors to try and be aware of what's beside me. So I have my escape plan where, where I can head if I have to

Ty Walker: 1:02:41

Yeah. Is that lane open? Can I move over if I need to? Exactly. Yeah.

Mark: 1:02:46

I spent A lot more time looking at my mirrors there than I do driving through park valley, and park valley. I'm looking 15 seconds ahead. And in the ditches for critters, Yeah.

Ty Walker: 1:02:58

where's the cow,

Mark: 1:03:01

whatever it may be. Horse, sheep, Coyote I don't care. I don't want to hit anything if I can avoid it.

Ty Walker: 1:03:09

Yeah, absolutely.

Mark: 1:03:10

was the original question?

Ty Walker: 1:03:12

Um, just, no, you answered it perfectly. Just how trained to play this. What if in our mind how's that going to help us, but yeah. You and you talked about how it helps us shorten reaction time. Um, and it also helps us to just keep our mind more focused on our work rather than thinking about what's going on at home or what you're going to do next weekend. That can be pretty dangerous,

Mark: 1:03:38

Yeah.

Ty Walker: 1:03:38

So, so just doing that kind of helps helps with those. So, one thing I wanted to mention, I liked how you talked about always having a way out. And I had the thought come to me like. Even if you're in a, like, just in the city and you're coming to a stop light trying to maybe leave yourself enough space from the car ahead of you. If they were to stall, you could still move and you're not stuck right there and not having to back up. Yeah. So just leaving that, that way out and being prepared for whatever might happen.

Mark: 1:04:09

Yeah. It's um, Yeah, I dunno. Maybe that's for, from driving for 25 years, I just I'm always prepared for the. worst. And hope for the best. right. That That's kind of with everything in my life. that sort of, mindset.

Ty Walker: 1:04:24

that's how you, you knew it. That's smart. Um, the next strategy that we can use, and this one is super important, especially when you're driving a commercial vehicle is as following the six second rule. Um, You see it every day, people are tell gate tailgating each other, and you see it with semis as well. Um, but six seconds is the minimum, right? So if we're driving, traveling any speed above 50 miles an hour, I actually, it needs 55 miles an hour. You need to have at least six seconds. We both know how we measure that. But for anybody that doesn't know. You're going to pick a landmark. So whether it's like a sign that's on the side of the road or an overpass that you're going to go under, you start counting when that vehicle in front of you passes that, you know, one, 1002, 1003, 1000 and so on six seconds is what you need. So for, uh, for a semi that's fully loaded, it's going to take us about 665 feet to stop. So we need that, um,

Mark: 1:05:31

two football fields. and an automobile can stop in a little less than one. So that's why you need six seconds.

Ty Walker: 1:05:40

So mark with this, do you want, do you want to talk at all about these new trucks that we have

Mark: 1:05:45

Yeah. So the new, the new Freightliners, um, the one I drive most of the time and also all the new ones we got this year, I'll have the forward facing radar with adaptive cruise. It's called. So they are set to pick up. A vehicle once they get within seven seconds of the front of your, your truck. The following distance is set to 3.6 seconds, which at 70 miles an hour, highway speed, um, is about 300 Again, we're talking a football field length. The car can stop in that amount of time, the semi can't,

Ty Walker: 1:06:29

right?

Mark: 1:06:31

Our trucks fully loaded. We, we get the premium brake package and we also put disc brakes on the trailers. They can stop a little quicker our trucks. We can stop in a, in an emergency stop somewhere between 450 and 500 feet. So not quick enough to avoid contact with the vehicle in front of you, if it stops instantaneously, but probably quick enough In an emergency situation where it's not going to be a horrible accident.

Ty Walker: 1:07:03

Yeah. The impacts can be a lot, a lot less. Your speed's going to be a lot lower.

Mark: 1:07:08

They mitigated. Yeah. But the nice thing about those new trucks is they tell you how far, how many seconds, and feet it is to the vehicle in front of you, what speed that vehicle is traveling at so that, you know, whether You need to move over somebody you're going to pass or not.

Ty Walker: 1:07:25

Yeah. Yeah. I loved it. I actually, a couple of weeks ago, you know, mark knows this, but obviously he knows this. He dispatched me on it or Mike did, but I was able to take one of the new trucks and just went out to the bay area. That I really liked the adaptive cruise, especially on the two lane roads where, you know, you're not going to be passing. Um, it was just like so much less stressful for me

Mark: 1:07:51

set the cruise and then let the truck do the

Ty Walker: 1:07:53

just, it does its thing. Like I'm not worried about speeding up, slowing down. We're just going along at 55 miles an hour and, and it's doing its thing. So

Mark: 1:08:01

yeah, And the 3.6 seconds. I'm Okay. It's probably not going to stop or you're not going to hit that car in front of you, but it's going to, you're going to be able to stop enough where it's not going to be end of the road, right?

Ty Walker: 1:08:16

Yeah.

Mark: 1:08:17

Um, but that all said driving that truck has shown me. shitty driver prior to I tailgated.

Ty Walker: 1:08:30

Yeah, it helps you realize how much space you actually,

Mark: 1:08:33

Yeah, yeah,

Ty Walker: 1:08:34

you actually

Mark: 1:08:34

yeah. Uh, what I used to leave myself for falling distance wasn't even close to. being enough. That's what I've

Ty Walker: 1:08:42

I felt the same way. Cause it'll pop up with a little, little warning, you know, distance warning. And I'm like, wow. I feel like I'm still quite a ways away, but it helps you realize yeah. This is what I need, you know, so, so that's, um, just a really important topic. And, uh, I guess I would just challenge anybody out there. Even if you're not driving a, a semi look at, you know, how close are you following the car ahead of you? Is there you need to make an adjustment a lot of us probably do. And at times I need to, to, you know, I get in a hurry if I'm in my personal vehicle and. And I'm like, wow, I actually am tailgating. This guy pretty bad. So happens to everybody.

Mark: 1:09:26

Yep.

Ty Walker: 1:09:27

Um, the last thing is just trying to observe the proper speed for the conditions. So right now we're in the middle of the summer. It's pretty nice. Right? Maybe it's construction. There's plenty of construction going on. So we should be adjusting our speed for that. But I guess in my mind, I'm thinking about inclement weather. That's a big one, right? We'll see that a lot in the winter. We can avoid and be a lot better driver. If we just adjust our speed to a safe, a safe speed. Um, along with that, I thought that I had is just, maybe we need to adjust it because we're going to a new place. We're less familiar, familiar with our surroundings. Um, and instead of blowing past our exit or where we're turning into a place, if we're going a little slower, we might be able to, to catch where we need to go. So, um, yeah, that's kind of just a few of the, the techniques that I feel like we could use. To, to help be a better driver. So any that you'd want to add to that list, mark

Mark: 1:10:31

don't crash,

Ty Walker: 1:10:32

don't crash, crash. Bad.

Mark: 1:10:38

Don't go on vacation. Get off the road. What are you doing?

Ty Walker: 1:10:41

Yeah. Yeah. Why? Why is everybody going on vacation? We're going on vacation next week and I'm actually pretty

Mark: 1:10:47

I am too, actually,

Ty Walker: 1:10:48

Oh, you are next week.

Mark: 1:10:49

we're driving back to Nebraska at the end of next week.

Ty Walker: 1:10:52

got it.

Mark: 1:10:53

Yeah.

Ty Walker: 1:10:55

Yeah, we're going to go up to Stanley Idaho. a it's up by like sun valley? So like north of, uh, twin twin falls that area. So that'll be fun. So, anyway, thanks for having me today, mark. One last thing, I guess I'll end with the same ending that I had with our safety meeting is just ask yourself. Like, or my habits or my patterns. Are they, uh, are they good? Are they bad? Are my actions that I'm doing each day? Are they forming these habits habits that are good? Or should I adjust them? Because if we do it a little bit each day, um, it's just going to become who we are. Right. So we can become better drivers just by making small steps each day. So,

Mark: 1:11:45

absolutely. All right, Ty, thanks for joining me again.

Ty Walker: 1:11:48

Thank you, mark. It's been a pleasure.

Mark: 1:11:58

Thanks for listening to another segment of Ty Walker's safety minute. In that segment he mentioned one of our drivers had someone pull out him in front of them and they had to make a quick stop. It just so happened That that driver was Jim target. So surprised. Mr. 82 year old truck driver, who sounds like he's 82 on the radio, I think. Um, and there are probably some people listening to this right now that may be questioning my judgment. He is, I absolutely feel one of the safest drivers we have in our fleet. And also one of the most. vigilant. That's why he still drives today for us, so I'm going to try, I'm not, we're recording this before we post it. Obviously we're going to try to post a link to the video in the show notes for everybody to, to be able to watch it something, the the video. And how well Jim was avail, uh, able to avoid this ax, the potential accident, it could have been pretty bad. And who knows, who was in the vehicle that pulled out in front of him? You know, it was a pickup pulling a camper, make your judgment, right? It could have been anybody. It could have been someone like Jim, it could have been someone like your mom or me I'm Emmy. I don't know.

Grace: 1:13:27

Uh,

Mark: 1:13:29

I know where the corner was in Preston, Idaho. They should have been able to see Jim in a gigantic semi that said Stokes on like, there was no reason for them to pull out in front of him. And he did a great job of defensive driving to avoid that accident.

Grace: 1:13:46

They, I noticed this a lot with cars, people pull out in front of semis. Concrete trucks or stuff like that. So, so fast because they don't want to be behind them and have to go around them.

Mark: 1:14:02

Yep, exactly.

Grace: 1:14:03

But that's probably safer than pulling out as they're hurdling towards

Mark: 1:14:09

you I just don't understand. Jim was empty that day. Had he been loaded? I don't know that he would have been able to stop. And that's why you're right. They're doing it because they don't want to end up behind whatever they're pulling out in front of, which is at this particular location where it happened from there all the way to the south end of Logan, which we're talking about a 50 mile stretch is four lanes. There's passing lanes. Like there was zero reason to pull out in front of if, if you let him go by and then you pull out, you're going to be able to pass him.

Grace: 1:14:48

Like

Mark: 1:14:49

forever please, please don't drive distress. Maybe that guy had a little rat terrier on his lap, right? I mean, I don't know. I I don't know why he apparently just didn't see him. that's what I'm going to say. Or she shouldn't say he just, cause it was a pickup truck pulling a camper doesn't mean it was a he right. Women In trucking, we've we've covered this anyway. So I hope we can get that link to work. If not all you drivers, Tyson out that video, um, in an email right towards the end of June. uh, It was kind of the beginning of the summer. And we were roaring it warning everybody about, be aware of other people on the road. So anybody who's driving here has seen the. video. I'm hoping I can link that in the show notes for, for all of our other listeners. So grace, do we have a question from the road? this week? Yes,

Grace: 1:15:52

it is. I have a chip in my windshield and it's pretty big. Do I need to a new windshield and who replaces them? Glenn Thomas truck, 6 77.

Mark: 1:16:03

When Thomas, he lives in Pocatello, Idaho. He drives predominantly to Texas for us at Amy's kitchen. gosh, he's coming up on a year of employment there. a hell of a good guy? So he dropped his truck off. to get The service done to it last week. And he told me he had a couple of chips in his windshield Freightliner, did the service to it. Me and dusty looked at the chips and they are pretty large. like I'm going to say the size of a quarter. Okay. But they really hadn't started spreading

Grace: 1:16:37

yet.

Mark: 1:16:38

So dusty has gotten pretty good at filling chips and windshields. What causes a windshield to crack after you get a rock chip is there's They call them spiderwebs, right All the little cracks that come out from where the main impact was. If one of, if you get some moisture in there where that crack exists now, and then it freezes what does water? do. And it freezes,

Grace: 1:17:04

it expands,

Mark: 1:17:05

it expands, and then it cracks the windshield. it goes Quite often, if you get a rock chip, um, and it's cold outside, but you've got your defroster on your windshield is heating up and it's expanding and the windshield cracks. So in this particular case, we didn't need to replace Glenn's windshield, but It would come wintertime, we replaced quite a few windshields, gravel sand on. the roads. There's rock on the road happens all the time. We average one windshield per truck per year, every year, which is not that dissimilar from A passenger vehicle, right. We're putting between 120 and 170,000 miles per year on every one of our trucks. So you figure, we get an average of 145,000 miles out of a windshield. One a year. sounds like. a lot In our application. If you look at it per mile, it's really not. So whenever you have a cracked windshield, a lot of times I'll ask the drivers to send me a picture and we can make a determination based off the picture, whether it's going to need to be replaced. If we do replace them, we have two options. One is Freightliner that we share the parking lot with the other one is Bob's body shop also located in Treemont. Actually, Let me take that back. We have three options. We also may use, Wow. I am They're based out of Logan. So, and those, these options are kind of in order of cost, right? It's least expensive for us to do it at Freightliner. Next is. Bob's The third one, her name is Lena. Yeah. Remember what the name of the glass is ever I have her saved in my phone. As, as Lindsey glass girl. Oh, Leslie Eikon glass,

Grace: 1:19:09

icon,

Mark: 1:19:10

Yeah. Leslie Jensen, with icon icon, icon glass. One nice thing with icon is if a guy is not going to be in Monday through Friday, that's the thing with Freightliner and Bob's is, is it, the truck has to be there Monday through Friday during business hours. If someone's not going to be until Saturday. Destroyed. It's got to be replaced icon. We'll do it over the weekend. They'll do a Saturday afternoon if we need. So that's the deal with the new windshield. We took care of Glenn's problem, and I believe he's on his way to Texas as we speak. So keep coming up with your questions from the road and I'll try and try my best to keep answering them Again, you can email those to me. Uh, call me, send me a text. All right. Well, as always, thanks for joining us for another episode of driver to driver a Stokes trucking podcast. Be sure to rate and review us on whatever service you're listening to us on Come to the yard. I have a new list. driver to drivers stickers, four inch by four inch. Feel free to slap them on any truck, car, trailer, Bumper

Grace: 1:20:27

street, sign,

Mark: 1:20:29

bathroom stall urinal, Just don't deface property

Grace: 1:20:39

cat. There was one time I had, I was taping something and I had like tape lying on the floor. Sticky side up. He stepped on.

Mark: 1:20:52

it.

Grace: 1:20:54

Oh, he freaked out. He freaked out. I had to like wrangle him to get the tape off.

Mark: 1:21:04

That is outstanding. Yeah. put them wherever you'd like. I like mine on my laptop. It's very prominent Um, there. It's on all sides of the USU truck and trailer. Yes. Driver to driver is Stokes trucking. podcast. Well, Thanks for downloading and listening to another episode. Um, The next episode, episode 18 is going to be, what's it going to be grace,

Grace: 1:21:33

the football episode,

Mark: 1:21:36

state Aggies football episode. Can't wait to get into that one. Uh, we're releasing it right before the season starts. So we will talk to you again in a couple of weeks.

1:21:58

Thank you for listening to driver to driver. Uh, Stokes trucking podcast. For more information on Stokes trucking, please visit our website Stokes trucking.com. You can also learn more about us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at Stokes trucking. The intro and outro music is I can't keep still. The bumper music between segments is fetch me another one, Both performed by the caffeine creek band Driver to driver is a frankfurter studios production