Pre Trip Check List ...

HB of CJ · August 02, 2015, 01:28:01 PM

We had fun discussing this recently. Does anybody, (everybody) have a large long embossed check off list before engine start? Before rolling a wheel on any trip, long or short? A hook up check list when arriving at a RV park? We tend to forget stuff.

Reason I ask is that we did this with the Crown Supercoach. Did not really need to but it was fun. Sometimes we just pretended we were in a private starship with hundreds of items to check off on ... before the Warp Core was initiated HB

A good day.

RJ · August 02, 2015, 04:44:21 PM

HB -

In a nutshell, 90% of conversion owners don't even bother with a simple walk-around DOT pre-trip, and probably 99.5% fail to even do a DOT air brake test before moving their coach.

Most of the time, all they do is make sure the electric, water and sewer lines are stored away, put down the TV antenna, make a final walk around the coach to see if they've left anything, and then drive off.

Several years ago at Arcadia, I gave a safety presentation to about 50-60 busnuts as one of the seminar offerings. I handed out to everyone there a generic DOT pre-trip inspection guide, including a full air brake check. I also offered to go with an owner to his coach and teach him/her how to do the brake check after the seminar, if anyone was interested.

Not a single individual asked for help.

On top of that, on Sunday morning, I listened and watched as people prepared to leave. Out of over 100 coaches that were there, I heard one, that's right - ONE, doing an air brake check. The single most important safety system on their coach was being ignored by the majority.

Scary sad, isn't it?

FWIW & HTH. . .

http://busnut.com/forum/index.php?action=articles;sa=view;article=40

lostagain · August 02, 2015, 05:06:19 PM

I go by the ICBC "Driving Commercial Vehicles" book. You will find it on line by Googling it. It is the book used to study for the Class 1 with Air endorsement CDL in British Columbia. I am very familiar with it because I got my class 1 CDL last year, and recently had to take a driving test for a part time job driving long haul tractor/trailers.

I have to admit to being a little lax about doing a pre trip inspection on my private coach. But I do a full and thorough one on a commercial truck. The liability for an accident caused by mechanical failure on your vehicle, commercial or private, is 100% squarely on the driver. That thought alone will make you (me at least) do a proper pre trip every morning.

JC

Red Rider · August 02, 2015, 05:10:52 PM

What a great thread! Now, is anybody listening?

luvrbus · August 02, 2015, 06:24:47 PM

I don't know not 1 single bus owner that doesn't do a pre check before traveling not a 1 and they all say the same thing "Aw Hell I'll fix it when I get there" lol I have heard that 1000's of time

Iceni John · August 02, 2015, 09:40:50 PM

I typed out a simplified 1-page version of the airbrake checklist, laminated it, and keep it in the bus next to the documentation and extinguisher. I do it before every time I take the bus out (which isn't very often, but sometimes things fail from lack of use), and I always check the compressor's cut-in and cut-out pressures because I have a slow-purging air dryer and I want to be sure it's not going to fart its last on me while driving. When some of our drivers at work wanted to upgrade from their Class B CDLs to Class A with Air Brake, I made copies of my checklist to help them - one of the examiners was impressed with it and said that if more applicants used similar checklists she wouldn't need to fail some of them!

I'm guessing that anyone here who is a pilot would be comfortable using checklists, but others may see them as a challenge to their machismo or some such nonsense.

John

yvan · August 08, 2015, 07:40:56 PM

Great thread, is it possible to get a copy of a checklist.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Iceni John · August 08, 2015, 08:24:00 PM

Quote from: yvan on August 08, 2015, 07:40:56 PM
Great thread, is it possible to get a copy of a checklist.

If you PM me your email address, I'll try to email it to you next week - it's a Word document, but sometimes I can't attach Word docs to my emails (I hate Yahoo . . .).

John

RJ · August 08, 2015, 09:39:31 PM

Quote from: yvan on August 08, 2015, 07:40:56 PM
Great thread, is it possible to get a copy of a checklist.

Yvan -

Sure! Just send me a private message with your email address and I'll send you a copy of the one on BNO (since I wrote it!), which is also the one I handed out in Arcadia. Tell me if you'd like it in Word, WordPerfect or .pdf format, or I can send it to you in all three, if you'd like.

FWIW & HTH. . .

luvrbus · August 09, 2015, 06:05:27 AM

You can also stop by any trucking co they will give you a copy of a DOT check list ,then one is available for RV's that goes beyond the chassis from the FMCA web page.

I have the Delmar Instructors version but it goes into telling you how to repair the problem with ? and answers can become boring IMO

lostagain · August 09, 2015, 06:41:04 AM

The Ministry of Transportation or equivalent in Quebec will have a pre trip check list you can probably find on line.

JC

moosemanusa · August 14, 2015, 09:55:39 AM

Its not just the private guys! How often do you see the commercial drivers do the leak down tests?

Technically when you park for your 8 hour sleep and wake up it should be done.. most dont (maybe because they dont want to be "that" guy making all the noise)..

Also how many people carry wheel chocks in their units ? unless you're in the middle of Oklahoma you're going to roll somewhere..

My local town has a large amount of commercial tourist buses, most those drivers don't even know they have air brakes! How they obtained their Class B's or A's I never know..

On that side, how does someone who doesn't speak or read English get one either? I've ran in Polish drivers that cannot string a sentence together.

Iceni John · August 14, 2015, 11:45:00 AM

Quote from: moosemanusa on August 14, 2015, 09:55:39 AM
Also how many people carry wheel chocks in their units ? unless you're in the middle of Oklahoma you're going to roll somewhere..

Generic black rubber wheel chocks are only a few dollars each at Harbor Fright - they're as cheap as you'll find, and they work fine. There's no excuse to not have them!

John

moosemanusa · August 14, 2015, 11:47:21 AM

I have the yellow ones from amazon.. dirt cheap..

In fact just ordered those and a nice set of warning triangles.. $25 for all! (for a unit that only had flares)

lostagain · August 14, 2015, 08:06:52 PM

I drive a truck for Swift Transportation as of late. Pre and post trip inspections are taken very seriously there. The problem is, of course, that all a driver has to do is put it down on paper, or on the E log, without actually getting his hands dirty doing it.

The world will a better place soon when a truck, or a bus, will do its own pre trip inspection using sensors linked to a central processor that will measure for example the slack adjuster rod travel, or the thickness of brake shoes, or the rate of static air loss, or if a light is burnt out, etc. Then the human driver will be taken out of that equation.

JC