3.2 Travel rules: speed, distance, visibility, horns

1 Speed, distance and stopping

1910.178(n)(1) sets three things at once: all traffic regulations shall be observed, including authorized plant speed limits; a safe distance shall be maintained approximately three truck lengths from the truck ahead; and the truck shall be kept under control at all times.

1910.178(n)(8) defines "under control" in a way you can act on: under all travel conditions the truck shall be operated at a speed that will permit it to be brought to a stop in a safe manner. That is a variable limit, not a fixed one. The same 6 mph that is fine down an empty main aisle is not fine on a wet floor, in a blind corner, or with a raised load — which is why 1910.178(n)(10) separately requires the driver to slow down for wet and slippery floors.

Three truck lengths sounds generous until you remember what a loaded truck weighs and how small its wheels are. It is also a visibility rule, not only a braking rule: it is the distance at which you can see what the truck ahead is about to do.

2 Intersections, blind spots and the horn

1910.178(n)(4) requires the driver to slow down and sound the horn at cross aisles and other locations where vision is obstructed. Both halves are required: slowing without sounding leaves the pedestrian unwarned, and sounding without slowing turns the horn into an announcement that you are about to hit someone.

1910.178(n)(3) adds the rule that most near misses come down to: other trucks traveling in the same direction at intersections, blind spots or other dangerous locations shall not be passed. And 1910.178(n)(2) requires the right of way to be yielded to ambulances, fire trucks or other vehicles in emergency situations.

Convex mirrors at blind corners, floor markings and pedestrian barriers all help, and none of them replace the two duties in (n)(4). Mirrors show you a fraction of the corner and nothing about what is about to enter it.

3 The whole list, in one place

4 Three rules people are surprised by

Railroad tracks, diagonally. (n)(5) requires tracks to be crossed diagonally wherever possible. Crossing square puts both front wheels into the flangeway at the same instant, which jolts the truck and the load together; crossing at an angle takes them one at a time. The same paragraph prohibits parking closer than 8 feet from the center of railroad tracks — a distance that surprises people until they watch a railcar go past.

Elevators. (n)(12) requires the car to be properly leveled before you enter squarely, and then requires the controls to be neutralized, the power shut off and the brakes set once you are on it. A forklift rolling inside a moving elevator car is a short, unpleasant story. (n)(13) adds that motorized hand trucks enter elevators and other confined areas load end forward.

Loose objects. (n)(14) requires running over loose objects on the roadway surface to be avoided. On solid tires with no suspension, a chunk of pallet is enough to deflect the truck, unseat a load or jar a raised mast. It is also the housekeeping rule of 1910.176(c) arriving from the driver's side.

5 Visibility as a system

1910.178(l)(3)(i)(F) makes visibility, including restrictions due to loading, a required training topic. On a real truck, visibility is limited by four things at once: the mast and its channels, the load, the overhead guard's structure, and the position of your own body in the seat.

• Look through the mast, not around it. The gap between the mast channels is the designed sightline; leaning out of the truck is not.
• Reverse when the load blocks the view — (n)(4) requires it — and turn in the seat to look where you are going, as (n)(6) requires.
• Mirrors supplement, they do not replace. A convex mirror distorts distance, which is the one thing you need to judge.
• Lights are for being seen as much as for seeing, particularly in a yard at dusk or moving between a bright dock and a dark trailer.
• Give your eyes time when you drive into a trailer or a cold store. The first two seconds inside are effectively blind.

6 Narrow aisles and restricted places

1910.178(l)(3)(ii)(E) makes narrow aisles and other restricted places a required training topic, because a truck that behaves well in the open behaves differently between two racks. Rear swing is the reason: steering from the back means the tail sweeps toward whatever is behind and beside you as the front comes around.

The practical consequences are worth stating plainly. Straighten before you enter an aisle rather than steering inside it. Watch the tail, not only the forks, in any turn near a rack leg. Remember that the rack you clip is holding tons of material above head height. And be aware that a person walking into an aisle behind you is invisible until you are already reversing.

Confined spaces have a second hazard that Part 4 covers in detail: an internal combustion truck working in a trailer, a container, a cold store or a room with poor ventilation can build carbon monoxide quickly. 1910.178(l)(3)(ii)(H) names closed environments and other areas where insufficient ventilation or poor vehicle maintenance could cause a buildup of carbon monoxide or diesel exhaust as a required training topic for exactly that reason.