Safe Backing of Tractor Trailer Rigs

(11 min.) Backing a single trailer or a set of doubles with a semi tractor is probably the most dangerous, intricate, and time consuming set of maneuvers that any big rig driver has to master, sometimes numerous times daily, day in and day out.

Big rig backing is not an ability any of us are born with. It is an acquired set of skills and to acquire these skills, one has to practice, practice, and then practice more. Another truism concerning backing is that no matter how many hundreds of thousands of miles you drive in the forward position, not one of those miles is going to help you at all when it comes to backing.

Topics included in the safety video are: overhang, tractor 5th wheel hook-up with the trailing components, proper hook-up of the air brake hoses and retraction of the trailer landing gear, parameters, limitations, physics, the math involved in proper safe backing techniques, different situations where backing a big rig becomes necessary, backing tasks, hooking-up/unhooking requirements, specific backing maneuvers, and backing and alley docking.

Program comes with a CD-ROM of written materials, including test questions and answers. English title also includes PowerPoint presentation.