Am i at fault for using common sense.

Weaver Transportation in Mableton, GA is the one I had. It wasn't the biggest, they didn't have the prettiest trucks but Jack Weaver was a hell of a man!

 

Hey Tony, I totally agree. Back when I started, it was more of a whim, I couldn't believe I got paid to do that. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd do 35 years in that trade. That's one reason I joined this site, was to give new drivers an insight into just what they're getting into. Are you sure this is what you want? I was lucky too, but, remember, you kind of make your own luck with this business, not to say I haven't had some situations where I couldn't believe I made it through, but I was always good at common sense, and that got me through a lot of rough patches. Not sure that's the same today.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;3982492]Hey Tony, I totally agree. Back when I started, it was more of a whim, I couldn't believe I got paid to do that. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd do 35 years in that trade. That's one reason I joined this site, was to give new drivers an insight into just what they're getting into. Are you sure this is what you want? I was lucky too, but, remember, you kind of make your own luck with this business, not to say I haven't had some situations where I couldn't believe I made it through, but I was always good at common sense, and that got me through a lot of rough patches. Not sure that's the same today.[/QUOTE]

Agreed....it was alot better then...different too. You always had the "Pinocchio-nosed" idiots , that caused ALL OF THE TROUBLE to the OP of this thread around , but sooner or later they got theirs...one way or another. The folks starting out now have alot more to deal with than you and I did. They're micro-managed to death by folks who don't even know which trailer door to open 1st. Common-sense is a 4-letter word thanks to lawyers and insurance under-writers. It's still a wonderful profession and still an honorable one..but you gotta have a much thicker skin nowadays I'm afraid.

 

I know that's right. Im semi retired now and it will be a cold day in hell before I ever go back to it. I just feel sorry for the folks who still have to deal with it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE TRUCKING, but I HATE what it has become.

 

Or the cop can shoot your dog for no reason

 

Yea if you are going to be a trucker, you better have a High Degree of decision making ability because you are going to use it often- and it wont always be according to company policy. If you go by everything a company tells you to do, you will be dead before you get to retirement age- my brother in law is a perfect example. He died at 40, leaving 4 kids behind because he would not break company policy. I knew he was concerned about it because just two weeks before his death, he came and talked to me about it. I told him what he should do but he said he had to do what the company said. I said well youre playing with matches and youre going to get burned. Two weeks later he was dead.

 

it must have been luck, sure wasnt experience, experience means nothing

shucks, 30yrs you know NOTHING; a 12yr old knows more about driving than you

 

LOL yea just ask GPS, He'll tell you!

 

I'm actually pretty good at making decisions on the fly (something my previous employer hated). I've always got multiple routes plotted out in my head, and I decide on which to take based on traffic and other conditions. So I don't see a real problem, I will just learn from his unfortunate situation, make. Sure I know policy upside-down and backwards, learn from other drivers how far to bend it, and have safety on speed-dial.

 

Good luck to you, you sound like my brother-in-law, all except for the bending. He would never do that-and he didn't. Rest his soul.