to me one thing that would help is to keep our trucks clean and in god working order. i know with winter its hard to keep them clean but i just think is makes me feel better to see a nice clean truck. then one that it looks like the drit is the only thing holding together





this can also be said for some drivers i have seen

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keep the shinny side up

You can't stop for people on the shoulder anymore. It's just not safe. I may stop for a truck driver but not a 4 wheeler. And usually if the driver is on the side of the road actively trying to get someone to stop I won't. If the guy is under his hood working on it I may think about it.

Sorry guys

I too was trained by the "Knights of the highway" We had a bunch of great drivers who were close to retirement. They took great interest in me and shared years of knowledge with me that would have taken years for me to learn without them. They knew I could drive....but my attitude around customers is what they stressed the most. 30 years later, I can see that those guys were true professionals.
The image could be helped greatly if drivers would think more of the image they project to the public.
1... wear nice clean clothes ( not sweat suits)
2... wear nice shoes or boots (not flip flops)
3... keep you hair cut and neat (at least keep it clean)
4... try to smile and great your customer nicely
5... remember you represent that name on the side of the truck. You are the company!

My husband and I were southbound on 97, south of Redmond a bit, in a snowstorm. We came to a hill with a rig hauling hay stopped at the bottom.

It wasn't the best of conditions but we stopped, making sure we stopped in front of the rig a ways and walked back.

It was an old fellow by himself trying to chain and he was literally about done in, about ready to drop. We chained for him and boy was he grateful. He was hard headed enough to stay out until he had dropped.

He offered to pay us and of course we refused, we were really glad we stopped and helped.

We got over a couple of more hills and stopped for a fellow with doubles that was chaining. We didn't have to help him with the chains, just shined our headlights so he could see what he was doing.

I know on the interstates it is hard to stop and sometimes if you are heavy it's hard to get stopped. If you holler back on the c.b. though someone behind you might be able to get stopped.

We had a driver stop for us, northbound on 17 in AZ. Right where it nice and crooked. We blew that 5" air line from one of the breathers. It split right open and we were trying to find a way to fix it. This driver that stopped had a plastic milk carton that was just right to go around it so we wrapped it as tight as possible with duct tape, turned around and went about 40 miles back to Phoenix and got the repair done. We were awfully grateful for that driver stopping. He was a nice fellow to visit with too.

Anyway, "What goes around comes around" has certainly applied to us.

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I feel the same way. Most peoples personalities don't change, simply ignore the bad and focus on the good ones.

There is NO "we". There is only "I". You can't make any of the other drivers do anything. You can't even "shame" them into it.

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5... remember you represent that name on the side of the truck. You are the company!

If I see a driver that is endangering the public, throwing trash or talking extremely bad trash on the c.b. I will and have called their company. Doesn't matter if they are an o/o either. I haven't run into one company so far that doesn't want to hear what I have to say.

DOT# or MC# + Safestat = Company Contact Info

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So far I haven't seen an independent being an idiot, not saying they aren't there, just haven't come across one yet.

I can't get out and thump them anymore so I call them in. I call in drunk and reckless 4-wheelers also.

If more of us were willing to check the idiots, professional or not, then it may make a difference. Throwing up ones hands, though, doesn't help.

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I know for a fact there are some drivers out there that need to go back to 1st grade personal hygene. How about taking a shower now and then? The people you come in contact with every day won't have respect for you if they can't get close enough to you to speak to you!

I have given this a great deal of thought when I am behind the wheel and I have come to some conclusion for the most part I am hoping that about three quarters of all the truck driver I see are good clean respectful people who quietly go about doing their job.drawing little attention to themselves. They make no noise so you rarely notice them.

The other twenty five percent are loud and vocal and ignorant and stick out like a sore thumb. Unfortunately the don't care to change and I doubt there is much we can do to change that. They have lost all respect for themselves and now are only capable of spewing out obscenities on the CB while wondering why the whole world cant be more like them.

I doubt there is anything we can do to change them they are just lost souls. I am guessing that with the advent of these corporate style truck stops with there fast food restaurants get back in the truck and drive mentality has made drivers more out of touch with one another. So there can be no peer pressure if you never see or talk to your peers.

The other part is that most of those drivers aren't drivers for all that long the big companies thrive on that so there is always a new batch every few months. Lastly the truck manufactures have done a poor job of building a truck that meets the basic human need for hygiene.

As for us as drivers being able to police our own industry I just dont know how you can do that.In the end all you can do is represent yourself well and hopefully others will follow.

Well my dad used to tell me if you want things to change start with yourself....