Like most moving companies, Get Your Move On has a lot of trucks on the road every day of the week. It is important that drivers operating a vehicle of any size put road safety as his or her top priority.
Our organization places a great deal of emphasis on employee training, especially for drivers. We make sure our vehicles are well maintained, equipped and that our drivers have the knowledge and tools they need to do their jobs well. Although we train our truck drivers as best we can, people driving cars on the road can also contribute to safety. Several of our most experienced truck drivers offered some excellent advice on how people driving cars can make the roads safer by helping out truck drivers.
Blind Spots
The most serious blind spot for a truck driver is on the right side of the truck, which tells you that car drivers should only pass a truck on the left. If you’re thinking about passing a truck, make sure you drive through the area of the blind spot quickly and once you pass, do not slow down.
Leave Enough Cushion
Due to their size, trucks take a lot longer to come to a stop than cars do, therefore when you’re approaching a stop, cutting in front of a truck could easily get you rear-ended. A 40-ton truck going 60 mph might need 120 yards to come to a stop. Before moving your car in front of a truck, make sure you can clearly see the truck’s full front in your rear-view mirror.
Trucks Have No Rear-View Mirrors
Trucks do not have rear-view mirrors, so truck drivers must rely solely on their front windscreen and both side mirrors to view their surroundings. If you don’t see the driver’s face in the side mirror, then he/she can’t see you. Construction Zones Are More Difficult Construction zones often narrow the usable part of the road, which makes it more difficult for trucks to get around. When driving in a construction zone, do not attempt to cut behind or in front of a truck. It’s important to always keep a safe distance behind any truck.
Right Turns Require Extra Space
Because trucks are so large, they need more space to navigate a turn. Right turns are especially wide. Truck drivers need enough space on city roads to make those turns, which are much tighter. Give them the space they need so they can more quickly move out of traffic.
Lane Changes
In traffic, cars tend to zoom past trucks to avoid being stuck behind them. When you encounter a truck trying to change lanes in heavy traffic without much space, flash your lights to let the driver know that you are letting him move over.
Show Patience
Truck drivers usually drive at a constant speed. They don’t intend for you to get caught behind them, but they are driving as safely as they can. Show some patience and wait until it you are sure it is safe before trying to pass the truck in front of you.
Moving is very time consuming and it can certainly get expensive because there are so many details to work out, and one of these details involves how to handle over-sized pieces of furniture. You need to determine ahead of time whether your furniture will squeeze through the doors of your new home, and if not whether it will fit through a window. It may seem like a minor detail, but if this is overlooked during the moving process, it can end up costing you a lot of stress and frustration, not to mention money. With everything else going on, this is definitely something you don’t need. What we suggest is that you take a look at our recommendations so that you can plan in advance how you’re going to move your large pieces of furniture.
Planning A Move Involving Large Furniture
Before you move it is important to determine whether your furniture will fit through the door and/or window so that you can plan accordingly. If it will not pass through either, you may be able to disassemble it, use a rigging service or sell those pieces and replace with new furniture. Drawing up a floor plan will help to make your move easier. You need to measure the size of each large piece of furniture before moving it. Measure the doors, corridors, windows and hallways of your current home as well as your new place. You must figure out how you’re going to move those pieces out of your current home and whether you can move it into your new apartment or house. You need to plan the exact route your movers will take in moving each of these pieces out of your old house and into the new one.
If your sofa is just too large and will not fit through the doorway, you may be able to dismantle it. Plan out the route and how you’re going to move it ahead of time. What areas of the home does your furniture need to pass through? It might be that you will have to lift and turn a large piece of furniture, like your sofa, vertical and on an angle to get it out of the house and into your new place. Envision everything in your mind ahead of time, down to the last detail. You do not want to move your sofa out of the room and down a flight of stairs before finding out that there is not enough room to rotate it so it will fit through the front door. This is why you must plan the route for every large piece of furniture before moving day. If you don’t think you can do this yourself, call your movers to send someone out to look at the furniture ahead of time so they know what needs to be done to move it.
If Your Furniture Will Not Fit
If you’ve already started the process of moving or you know that certain pieces of furniture will not fit through the door or a window, here are some ideas of how to proceed:
Tempe, Ariz.—On Sunday, October 23, more than 20,000 people from across the state gathered at Tempe Beach Park in support of the Autism Speaks Walk in Partnership with SARRC. The annual event raised an estimated $875,000 that will go toward supporting autism programs and research. Half of all monies raised during the walk will stay in Arizona. It was the state’s largest annual autism awareness event.
“One in every 68 children are diagnosed with autism so this is a health issue that impacts many families here in the Valley and nationwide,” said Dr. Daniel Openden, SARRC’s president and CEO. “Events like the Autism Speaks Walk not only promote awareness about autism spectrum disorders but also raise funds for critical research and programs for those impacted by autism. SARRC would like to thank all of those who supported the event, especially our many sponsors and supporters who raised funds.”
“Although I served as the 2013 Autism Speaks Walk chairman, I continue to support this effort each year because autism awareness and programs are critical to the health of Arizona children,” said Derek Greene, founder of Get Your Move On and the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk logistics chair. “My son has autism and we are very grateful to organizations like SARRC for all of the support they provide. That’s why we put a walk team together and supply all of the event storage, moving and set up for the event every year. We are highly committed to this cause.”
Dr. Openden added that, because of the surge in research, awareness and programs geared toward autism, there is a lot of hope within the diagnosis. “Early treatment and intervention is important when it comes to autism; everyone, especially parents and caregivers, should know what the signs are,” he said.
Even very wealthy people do not welcome the idea of spending too much on movers. The truth is that it almost doesn’t matter how small or large a budget you have to work within, moving often stretches it to the limit. In a lot of cases, a cost-effective estimate from a reputable moving company makes the most sense. But, there are cases in which the smartest thing you can do is spend more for a luxury moving company to do the job.
Fine Art & Fragile Antiques
A standard moving company will take good care of moving your artwork and antiques, but when you use a luxury moving company your can have your expensive pieces of art custom crated and packed. They fully understand how important these works of art are and that they cannot be replaced. They get that one size does not fit all and that sort of approach to packing these items will not be sufficient. Trained luxury transit experts offer custom crating procedures to ensure your valuable artwork and antiques are transported safely. Whether you have huge heavy marble sculptures, vases from ancient China, old documents or museum quality paintings, they can build custom crates and pack them properly so you won’t have to worry about anything being damaged. The staff employed by a luxury moving company normally undergoes training to stay up-to- date on the latest on care and proper inventory techniques.
You have probably seen news reports of people having all their belongings being held hostage on a moving truck while the moving company demands a ransom before they will return their customer’s household furnishings. This is a nightmare that you never want to experience. Other problems that can occur with less than reputable moving companies are damaged furniture that isn’t adequately insured, inexperienced movers who become injured lifting or moving your items, missing valuables and the list goes on.
To avoid such problems you must thoroughly research any moving company you are considering to make sure they are fully insured and bonded, have a stellar reputation in the industry for honesty and integrity, and their movers are highly experienced and capable of doing the job. Here are some steps you should take before hiring movers:
1. Obtain Three or More In-Home Estimates in Writing
When a moving company sends a representative out to your home they can realistically estimate the scope of the job. They can actually see the extent of your belongings and everything that will be going in the truck to be transported to your new residence. This way you can get an accurate estimate of the cost. With at least three estimates, you can evaluate and compare the movers and decide which company you have the most confidence in. You need to know however that companies may present their estimates differently, so get clarification upfront so you are comparing apples-to- apples. Secondly, if a company’s prices seem too good to be true, they should be looked at with suspicion.
1. Assuming that good quality packing materials are overrated
If you think you can do without good quality packing supplies, you’re making a big mistake. It’s easy to assume you can just grab a few boxes and some newspaper and you’ve got it handled, however this can certainly lead to a lot of heartache when you arrive at the new house to find your belongings have been damaged.
Once you start down this path, what often happens is that one misjudgment rolls into the next and before you know it you’re overly confident in thinking that you’re managing the packing just fine with the few things you have laying around. After awhile you’ve compromised the entire safety of everything you’re transporting to the new house.
For example, if you use old cardboard boxes that have been used many times before and are no longer sturdy, they are likely to break once they’re filled up. This will only cause you more headaches, not to mention breakage. When obtaining your packing supplies, make sure they’re clean, sturdy, dry and safe to use. The easiest way to do this is to buy what you need from your moving company.
2. Presuming that you don’t really need a box of essential items
A lot of really smart people often forget that once they’ve packed their possessions up they will all be out of reach until everything has been successfully shipped to their new house. And there are a certain number of items that none of us can do without even for a day. These items must be packed separately in an essentials box or survival kit so that you have what you need and your stress levels remain intact.
These items would be what you consider your absolute musts, your lifesavers. If you have a baby or small children, this is even more important, especially if your move involves a long road trip before you get to the new house.
Here are some of the items you would want to have on hand in your survival kit: over-the-counter and prescription medications, snacks, sandwiches, bottled water, plastic utensils, basic toiletries, spare clothing, first-aid kit, set of small hand tools, games and toys, and any other items you need for your kids and/or household pets.
November 1, 2016
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