Drivers who thought that maneuvering a big vehicle such as a pickup or a van was difficult will respect the skills that truck drivers possess. Handling such a large vehicle requires years of practice, and the truck driver's job gets more difficult when he attaches a trailer.
Apart from the tremendous dexterity that truck drivers possess, they also have to endure countless hours of driving, dealing with suppliers and lack of sleep. Nobody can argue that truck drivers tolerate a lot on the road and are fallible like other drivers.
The big difference between a truck driver making a mistake and a sedan driver are the consequences. When a driver of a regular sedan gets stranded or stuck, the repercussions are less than those of a truck driver, who has to deliver large cargo on time and be responsible for a vehicle that costs several hundred thousand dollars. The last thing that truck companies want is for their driver to get stuck, but truck drivers make mistakes like the rest of us.
We wanted to find out the types of sticky situations that truck drivers get into, as a result of making a few minor but costly mistakes. Our search led us to discover truck drivers who got stuck in the most awkward situations that left them stranded and embarrassed.
22 Cliffhanger
After years of driving, every truck driver reaches the end of the road and calls it a day. Sometimes, the end of the road comes before the truck driver intended. While transporting cargo, the driver of the pictured truck wasn't planning on reaching the end of the road, literally.
The driver was looking ahead, not at the road when the truck's front wheels tipped over the edge. Fortunately for the driver, he stopped before the entire truck tipped over the edge. At least, he now has an interesting story to tell.
21 Flying High
Although companies use rigs to transport heavy loads, overloading the vehicle can lead to a mess. When a few men overloaded a truck, they found themselves tugging a rope to haul down the vehicle to prevent it from tipping over.
While the men were tugging on the rope, another group was off-loading the cargo from the truck. The incident occurred while the truck traveled the winding mountain roads through the Malakand District, north of Islamabad in Pakistan. That should teach them not to overload.
20 Testing The Cold Water
Russia has garnered a reputation for having some of the coldest winters in the world. Drivers in Russia have acquired impeccable driving skills due to maneuvering vehicles on some of the most inhospitable environments.
When a truck driver tried to traverse over snow, he discovered that he was skating on thin ice and dipped his truck into the water. The freezing temperatures froze parts on the truck, preventing him from driving it. SUVs and tow trucks got the truck out of the water.
19 Tight Path
Some drivers are so determined to reach their destination that they'll maneuver the truck over the most inhospitable roads and the narrowest corners. The driver of this truck wasn't going to let the narrow path deter him from his mission, as he soldiered onwards.
Say what you want about his decision to maneuver the truck through the windy, narrow path, but that takes a tremendous amount of skill and guts. Although the driver's result was unfavorable, we commend him for doing whatever it took to get the job done.
18 Mudslide
Some incidents aren't the trucker's fault, yet they end up stuck. Mother nature has a way of proving her point, and when she does, you don't want to be around. Unfortunately for drivers who were on the Californian highway when the mud cascaded across the roads after heavy storms, they got stuck in six feet of dirt.
The authorities reported that they might need several months to clean up the rolling river of mud that swept across the highway. The incident also affected residents.
17 Floodwater In Africa
Regardless of where you are in the world, bad road conditions can dampen your mood. For truck drivers, bad road conditions are more serious than for regular drivers, as getting stuck results in them failing to deliver their order on time and incurring exorbitant costs to get out of the mess.
When floodwaters swept across the Kainuk bridge in Kenya, three passengers climbed out of the cabin and on top of the truck. Fortunately for the passengers, a concrete beam held the vehicle, preventing it from washing downstream, according to The Star.
16 Lowered Suspension
While on the road, truck drivers have to be cognizant of many factors to avoid an incident. One of the most important factors that they should consider is clearance, especially while traveling through the city. The driver of the pictured truck had other things on his mind when he was driving under a bridge in New York.
Maybe, he thought the clearance was sufficient but found out that it wasn't when the trailer snapped in half. Apart from inconveniencing himself, the driver caused a commotion on the road.
15 Chilling At The Beach
Veering off the intended route can result in the truck driver wasting time to get back on course and could result in him getting stuck. When a Pepsi truck driver took the wrong turn, he ended up on the beach. That's not the worst thing that could've happened to him, but his situation got worse when the tide approached.
The Pepsi driver was stranded on Pavilion Beach after he tried to turn around, according to the Boston Globe. A tow truck helped the driver to get off the beach. Nobody got hurt during the debacle.
14 Tight Turn
One of the biggest problems that truck drivers incur besides finding parking is turning on windy roads. Since they can't see the margin of the road behind the curve, they struggle to judge the turn they have to make before getting into the corner.
This truck driver isn't the only one to get stuck on this bend, as Smugglers Notch Resort in Cambridge, Vermont to the Stowe Mountain Resort road is notorious for trapping drivers. The problem has occurred so often that authorities will fine truckers who get stuck on that road.
13 Stuck In Snow
I prefer the sun, as opposed to cold weather, and I'm certain the most truckers feel the same. After all, handling a truck on good conditions has inherent difficulties, so truck drivers aren't looking to make their jobs more difficult.
When the cold weather rolls around, truck drivers are holding tighter onto their steering wheels, as the vehicles are prone to spinning out of control in snow. Considering that two trucks got stuck on the same road, it's evident that the drivers are not the ones to blame.
12 Underground
Trucks are ubiquitous. Roads aren't the only place that you can spot a truck, as a grocery delivery truck took a road clearance sign at face value. The result of his endeavor was getting stuck under the elevated subway line at Beach 106 Street.
The driver spotted a sign that stated '12 feet of clearance,' but he was unaware that MTA crews had erected a cradle under the track roadbed as part of the reconstruction project. The cradle lowered the clearance by a foot, resulting in the truck getting stuck.
11 Tanking A Tanker
A trucker who was driving a two-trailer tanker up Casper Mountain got stuck on a hairpin turn and caused problems for other road users, who wanted to get to the mountain. The driver was delivering oil to a site near Hogadon Road and Casper Mountain Road.
The authorities stated that the driver was unfamiliar with the area and encountered a hairpin turn and got stuck. The blockage impeded cars in both directions. The authorities stated that the incident caused unspecified damage to the highway.
10 Twist And Turn
Driving in the wrong direction not only waste the driver's time but can lead to bigger problems when he or she tries to turn around. A truck driver found himself stuck between two gates when he tried to turn his truck on Torrington Avenue in the United Kingdom.
The best option that the driver should've chosen was to drive until he found sufficient space to turn, but he didn't want to waste time, so he delayed himself longer by getting stuck. Sometimes, the longer route saves you time.
9 Tram Tracks
The problem when a truck driver gets stuck is that he or she causes a tremendous amount of inconvenience for others. A trucker in the United Kingdom took the wrong turn after he tried to get onto the highway. He got stuck on tram tracks, forcing tram commuters to find alternative arrangements.
The police showed up at the scene to ascertain the commotion. The truck was stuck for several hours in a business city center. Tram commuters were peeved that the driver forced them to seek alternative transport arrangements.
8 Dumping The Rubbish
Some truck drivers are victims of equipment malfunction and get stuck as a result. A driver of a dump truck got trapped in a sinkhole on a Melbourne road in Australia after a burst water main caused the bitumen to collapse, according to the Daily Mail.
The authorities used a crane to haul out the truck from the sinkhole. 110 houses were without water while the workmen attempted to fix the road. The truck was stuck in the sinkhole for five hours before the authorities got the vehicle out.
7 Almost Home Free
A B-Double truck that transported beer got wedged under a low-lying motorway bridge in Sydney, according to the Daily Mail. The cabin of the truck got wedged against the concrete bridge, with a bent exhaust pipe while the trailer suspended at an angle.
Before the driver had gotten stuck, he had passed under a motorway bridge and thought that he could carry on driving. The only problem was that the subsequent motorway bridge was lower. Two fire and rescue crews arrived at the scene.
6 Slippery Slope
Operating a truck in good conditions is difficult, but bad weather makes a job worse. Truck drivers have an arduous task of maneuvering a rig through rain and snow. Nothing is worse on the road than not having control over your vehicle due to an unpleasant terrain.
When the driver of the pictured truck traversed through snow, he stumbled upon a slippery slope, resulting in his trailer to veer off the road. That swerve could've been dangerous for pedestrians.
5 The Transporter
Besides transporting boxes and furniture, truck drivers have a huge responsibility of delivering cars to dealerships. The execution of the driver's plan isn't always successful, especially on windy, narrow roads that have ditches.
The driver of this truck got himself into a heap of trouble when he took the corner short, ending up in the ditch. The rescue team struggled to get him out of the ditch since the space they had to work with was limited, and the cargo caused them more headaches.
4 GPS Failure
Most of us have been victims of GPS failure. Technology has allowed us to enjoy traveling to an unknown location without carrying a map or stopping at the gas station to ask for directions. Although technology helps us, it fails us at times.
The driver of this truck found himself stuck between a rock wall and a hard place when the GPS led him down a narrow road. The homeowner was disappointed that the GPS' navigation resulted in the truck damaging the side of his house. Somebody's going to pay.
3 Lowering The Bar
A truck got stuck under a bridge near Angela blocked traffic on South Bend's Michigan Street. Although the truck driver caused traffic, he didn't cause further grievances to the fire department, as he wedged himself out of the mess.
The truck driver said that he hadn't forgotten to lower the bed and didn't know how it rose, according to WNDU. The good news is that nobody got hurt during the accident, and the truck didn't cause any damage to the bridge. The incident was unfortunate, but it ended well.