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Truck repairs
Had a situation last week where one of our guys was forced to drive a truck into a light pole. Some charming and delightfull woman driving a load of kids from a daycare pulled right out in front of him and put on her brakes to talk to someone, stopping right in the middle of the street. The brakes on the truck had also failed, the master cylinder exploded, which was weird because I had just gotten out of that truck and told the driver to go home, he was not feeling well.. Nothing wrong at that time!
Fortunately, he was not going fast, and, no injuries occurred. The truck, however, different story. We have a 1/4" thick "C" Channel bumper that I made, and it had a 12" V in the center. Radiator, passenger side fender, hood, core support trashed.
Since we only carry liability on this vehicle (it did not make economic sense for full coverage) we are repairing the damage ourselves. So, headed off to the bone yard, got a front clip, removed all the bad metal, bolted it on, aligned the fender/hood, and getting ready to sand it down and paint this afternoon. Cost for parts, $500.00 plus small odds and ends......
The truck will run and work Monday and was purchased as a spare. Years ago, I was going to H/S and a girlfreinds dad was one of the best body and fender men in the business and he showed me how to do body work on a '67 Camaro and old Jeep CJ3A with a 327 Chevy that I had. Never thought I would be needing to use this talent again, but sure came in handy.
Now the issue of what to do with the driver...I think on one hand he did a great job putting the truck where he did and not getting any one hurt. On the other, he paniced at the last minute, as he did not use the emergency brake, or throw the truck into reverse, even though it would have wasted the tranny is far better than hitting anything... I think we are going to take some defensive driving classes as a company, at the Cajon Speedway. Driving a stock car is the ultimate challenge in teaching drivers to use their heads in short and fast situations.
What would any of you guys do in this situation?
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