Wife avoids disaster

broker

Seasoned Expediter
Have put 3,000,000 plus over the road miles under my belt and have never had the dreaded "front steer blowout'
Only 3 months into this for the wife and she gets it.

First let me tell you a little about Kathy.
60 years "young", came from a white collar job, never held a CDL. 5'4" 120 pounds.
I taught her how to drive a class B and she passed driving test first time out. Passed written class B and Hazmat also the first shot.
I have been very patient with the little errors and educate her everyday on different subjects concerning cross country trucking.

Could not have been more proud of here than today.
Going down I-55 in Mo. with the cruise at 64 (speed limit 70)
I'm doing paper work in the passenger seat.
BAM, driver front explodes taking the tread clean off the tire.
She calmly takes off the cruise (not using the brake peddle), put as much weight on the steering wheel as she safely can, eases over to the shoulder (not jerking the wheel) while gently depressing the brakes. Had the truck stopped safely on the shoulder in less than a 1/8 of a mile.
End result, only the tire was a casuality.
Didn't even scuff the aluminum rim. Tread didn't even get a chance to wrap around the brake lines.
As I'm calling in, she is getting out the triangles and setting them up.
Stayed focused and cool as a cucumber the whole time.
In other words, she remembered everything we had talked about, should this ever happen.

Tire guy shows up and looks down the hiway, commenting how little of the tire was on the road. He also thanked her for getting the truck as far as she could from the traveled portion of the road. Said not many aluminum front wheels go undamaged from this, at that speed.

After looking at the tire, he said it looked like a defect.

Heck, we still made delivery on time (had a spare in the box).

I can be soft at times and while Kathy and I prayed thanking the Lord for being with her at her time of need, we shared tears of joy.

I told Kathy I could not have done anything any better than she had done and how proud of her I was.;)

BIG JOHN
 

cheri1122

Veteran Expediter
Driver
Way to go, Kathy! Every woman who read this is proud of you too, for proving that it can be done.
You are very blessed to have each other. :)
 

inkasnana

Expert Expediter
Good job Kathy! :D
If, God forbid, something like that were to happen while I am driving I can only hope that I can remain as calm!
 

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
Never having been in that position myself, I'd say, "way to go Kathy, I a not sure how i would have responded. And to add to what Cheri said, I'd have to say that any trucker reading that should recognize what you did and be proud!! Good job!
 

miker

Seasoned Expediter
wow! great job Kathy, I dont know if I would be able to remain that calm myself
 

wallytrucker1

Expert Expediter
Sounds like a GREAT display of a professional drivers skills(oh yeah, we are just trk drivers...lol) and a great job of training on your part John. You two sound like a great team.. good luck out there.
 

cruzer

Not a Member
BREAKING NEWS:Backup on Interstate EO! Every one has stoped to congradulate Kathy on a fine job and fine job it was.I joined EO just today and already found someone who is wellcome to run my front door anytime.stay safe!
 

wellarmed

Not a Member
So Kathy,he told his side now you tell us just how long it took you to get that paper work back in order and to pry his cold whitenuckled hands off that dash.LOL ,stay safe
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Let us add our "Good JOB" to everyone else’s! I have had a blowout on the front tire of a pickup but not on a truck. Pickup was bad enough as the sound scares you to death. Very impressive and I hope I can stay as calm as you if it ever happens to me. Great inspiration to us all.
Thanks for posting this BigJohn!
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Excellent Kathy! You can practice the Blown Steer Tire Reaction Drill with me anytime!
 

Crazynuff

Veteran Expediter
So Kathy,he told his side now you tell us just how long it took you to get that paper work back in order and to pry his cold whitenuckled hands off that dash.LOL ,stay safe

Now we all know if they were running team he was safely restrained in the sleeper .
Excellent display of driving skills by Kathy . We need more like her out there .
 

broker

Seasoned Expediter
I did not know my hubby was going to put this on EO.
I am a little embarrased but at the same time proud of myself.
I am very humbled for the praise some of you have sent my way, thank you.
How did I handle this so calmly? Pretty simple, I trust my hubbies advice. I wish all could have such a teacher. Not only does he take time to tell me things, he has me practice them as well.
We had a run in N.D. once and came upon black ice as he was driving.
He talked as how to drive on it for awhile. Then he pulled off, put me behind the wheel and for 50 miles I drove on the black ice.

His words of what to do if this ever happened came into my mind the minute the tire exploded and that is what it sounded like.
Not a tire slowly going down but an explosion and in a blink of an eye, no front tire.
He may make it sound like I was cool as a cucumber but trust me, my heart was racing a thousand miles a second.

First thing I did while I put the triangles out, was thank the Lord for blessing me with a husband that is so caring, knowledgeable and patient.

If I may, I would like to thank our truck owner for having the spare tire in the box. Without it, the load would have not been deliverd even close to on time and it was something that could not have been transfered to another truck. It was true emergency frieght.

Sometimes the outcome of a situation has some luck involved with it. Not in this case. It was the excellent training my hubby gave me and the confidence he has always shown, that I can do this.
I also believe I can do this.

You go girls.;)
Kathy
 
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mjolnir131

Veteran Expediter
why to stay cool when you need to. as little Dougy Adams always said ..."Don't Panic", hope those are friendly enough letters, good job

Wellarmed your probably right that whole temporal dilation slowdown thing works great for the driver but it does not work so well in the co-driver seat
 

Tempest

Seasoned Expediter
Great Job!!!!! I am thinking in similar situation I would be in desperate need of new boxers :eek:
 
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pelicn

Veteran Expediter
Great Job!!!! Thank you for posting of the experience, many can learn from the description.
 

Yesteryear

Expert Expediter
Good job Kathy! Not only did you have a great teacher in your husband but you had the power of prayer and the lord watching over you. ;)
 
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