From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Wed Jul 14 2004 - 08:01:33 PDT
A vehicle is only as safe as its operator and the environment it is
operated in. The more difficult the vehicle is to handle, the more
demanding the circumstances, the better the operator had better be. A
friend of mine in the Naval Reserves suddenly found himself in the
driver's seat of a tractor trailer, with no training. Forgetting about
the damage he did to the gearbox for a sec... obviously he had trouble
doing anything by driving in a straight line. I think he was just
instructed to drive it a little bit on base, but as one of those articles
said "even an inch" is too much if the driver isn't trained.
I am an excellent driver and I trust these vehicles to do what they are
designed to do, but if I don't know how to adapt my driving to their
designs... I am no longer an excellent driver. I like the big trucks,
but I for one as a collector wouldn't go bombing around in anything
bigger than a 1 1/2 ton unless I had some sort of training. Not to
mention if I were to drive these things in combat or convoy conditions!
BTW, I went through the same thinking when I got my first Weasel. Even
before I had it running I bought the operators manual and a 1947 tracked
vehicle driver's manual. I learned a LOT from both and would recommend
such reading for anybody that is new to a particular type of vehicle.
Steve
>For the past three days The Detroit News has run a front page, headline
>expose' on unsafe army trucks. I think that these articles will be of
>immense interest to our group. The address below will take you to all
>three days stories. I'll bet these will juice up the e-mail some.
>
>http://www.detnews.com/specialreports/2004/military/
>
>Dave McConnell
>
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