Educate your spotters!

[thomasinnv]

Usually, instead of "Stop", my wife says "You should have stopped"

that happened once, JUST ONCE! Now she hollers "stop" a half block before the obstacle. I would rather get out and walk back a half dozen times than have to explain to a park manager why their cute little tree is under the back end of my bus. Don't ask!

[larryh]

No I cannot tell when I'm only 4 feet from a ovject hell I might not even see the object.

Have 7 TV camers and 12 inch screens inside cab in co-drivers position.

247 ft long 27 feet wide and a tad over 555,000 lbs

[buswarrior]

A fine way for the spouse to get even with the busnut for all manner of indiscretion and bad behavior?

Driver takes care of reversing.

Spotter, at best, is for crowd control if there's lots of potential pedestrian traffic.

GOAL!

Get Out And Look.

Last thing that a man should have done before he says, " Oh, #$&@$ "

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[demodriver]

Larryh what is it that you are hauling?

And more importantly whats the power plant?

[larryh]

That was about 1/3 of a body press for automobiles and the power plants are 3 500 hp cats all controlled up front in the tractor until making sharp turns or straddleing bridges to spread the weight then add two more operators for turns over 30 % angle all else done from tractor and yes the DRIVER TOTALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MANUEVERS no excuses over 35 years and no scraped paint on units except was hit by wayward  auto drivers when parked guess hard to see something that big LOL

[Jerry32]

I don't have wife so don't have a spotter. just mirrors and a back up camera and a trip outside to see what I am about to do. Jerry

[artvonne]

  While I agree that its the drivers responsibility for most things, when someone is standing "out back", knows to stay in your mirrors, watch overhead and all around, and still waves you to back into something, they get some of that responsibility. But its YOUR responsibility to train them (AND yourself) HOW to communicate. Teaching them and not following it yourself is rather pointless.

  If wifey (or whom ever) is going to be a spotter, there have to be solid ground rules you both go over and that you both understand completely. Nothing wrong with knowing a few common hand signals. Nothing wrong with radios, nothing wrong with clear communications, nothing wrong with burning into their brain for spotters to stay in your mirrors. Waiting until its oh dark thirty and trying to back up in a tight space and having a driver and spotter that have no experience or communication skills is just a recipe for disaster.

  Shoved it 5 feet eh, woulda liked to have seen that, lol. Ive tried to teach everyone to get as far back as possible to get the best view. Standing at the bumper looking forward waving you back when your not looking back yourself, your askin for it lol.

[Melbo]

I have an acronym for this

GOAL

What is your goal to park safely SO

Get
Out
And
Look

Whenever I am in a situation where I wonder --- Even with my BEAUTIFUL spotter

If I have a question I Get Out And Look

HTH

Melbo

I did not notice til now that BW already did this one silly me

[demodriver]

Agreed 100%
I will post a picture when I get home.

  While I agree that its the drivers responsibility for most things, when someone is standing "out back", knows to stay in your mirrors, watch overhead and all around, and still waves you to back into something, they get some of that responsibility. But its YOUR responsibility to train them (AND yourself) HOW to communicate. Teaching them and not following it yourself is rather pointless.

  If wifey (or whom ever) is going to be a spotter, there have to be solid ground rules you both go over and that you both understand completely. Nothing wrong with knowing a few common hand signals. Nothing wrong with radios, nothing wrong with clear communications, nothing wrong with burning into their brain for spotters to stay in your mirrors. Waiting until its oh dark thirty and trying to back up in a tight space and having a driver and spotter that have no experience or communication skills is just a recipe for disaster.

  Shoved it 5 feet eh, woulda liked to have seen that, lol. Ive tried to teach everyone to get as far back as possible to get the best view. Standing at the bumper looking forward waving you back when your not looking back yourself, your askin for it lol.

[prevosman]

It will be 50 years in December, and in that time I learned if we are to get another 50 years under our belts I bear the full responsibility. She will not be a spotter, I will not ask her to be a spotter, and I will never get mad at her because I was the one that was responsible for whatever I hit and damage.

Of course she also does not work on the coach, do repairs around the house, fix the cars or do the landscaping. I don't do dishes or laundry. And we both couldn't be happier with the division of responsibilities. Keeps us together.

[gus]

The fact remains that,  if the spotter is not a driver who understands the limits of changing direction with a large machine, they are little help except to avoid collisions with unknown objects!

I've seen countless spotters in RV parks try to direct a large RV to move an impossible direction at the last minute, this usually results in a very heated exchange of opinions and descriptions of the other persons ancestry!!

[demodriver]

Some back ground on my wife.

She does mechanical work (shes more mechanical inclined then some on here) , she drives and builds derby cars, runs heavy equipment, and PULLS TRAILERS FINE.  She knows what it takes to back one up and has common knowledge of things!

She is not like a single persons wife on here so its not even a camparison.

I never said anything was her fault either, I said it was my fault for not educating her as to what I needed.

IM DONE WITH THIS THREAD.

[gus]

demo,

My comment was in no way directed at your wife, just a bit of info on what I have seen at RV parks.

[artvonne]

I never said anything was her fault either, I said it was my fault for not educating her as to what I needed.

IM DONE WITH THIS THREAD.

  I dont believe anyone is pointing fingers, I think rather, we all been there or at the very least came close. You havnt said, but I imagine your wife feels awful, I cant imagine the horror of watching that transpire, its a sad day. Or hillarious perhaps, watching that Toyota get balled up, dependin on your disposition.

  But while a few are saying no spotters etc., watch NASA once in a while when they move stuff around, they have a crap load of spotters. Same around any airport. And stuff still gets wrecked. I say chalk it up to experience, have a few beers and laugh it off, aint nothing crying over it nows gonna fix. And ill bet a Franklin shes one hell of a spotter after this. Guys always said, you aint a real pilot til you wreck someone elses airplane. Or maybe that was about ground loopin tail draggers, there are those who have, and those who will. lol

[desi arnaz]

I don't have wife so don't have a spotter. just mirrors and a back up camera and a trip outside to see what I am about to do. Jerry

you can have mine.........