Basic Control of Your Vehicle
Basic Control of Your Vehicle covers the low-speed, high-consequence moves: starting, backing, turning, parking, and recovering from a skid or brake fade.
Backing and turning
- Back toward the driver's side so you can see, and get out and look when unsure. Use a helper and agree on hand signals before moving.
- Right turns: swing wide enough for off-tracking, but keep the trailer out of the curb lane and watch the rear wheels in the mirror.
- When parking, set the parking brake, chock the wheels on a grade, and turn the wheels toward the curb.
Grades and skids
- Before a downgrade, choose a gear low enough to descend without riding the brakes; use engine braking.
- If brakes fade, shift down and use an escape ramp - gravel, sand, or a water bed - rather than continuing.
- In a skid, steer in the direction you want the front of the vehicle to go, and avoid hard braking.
Worked example: On a long 6% grade the pedal starts to feel low and you smell hot brakes. Brake fade is developing. The correct response is to downshift immediately, let the engine slow the truck, and take the escape ramp if speed is still climbing - not to pump the pedal and hope.
Traps: holding the brakes all the way down a grade; backing on mirrors alone; turning from the wrong lane; overcorrecting a skid; forgetting to chock wheels before working under a parked unit.