Am I too old school?

When I become a Baptist and move to a dry county in Arkansas I'll give up beer .
Don't forsee either one happening soon .

 

Well, I'll tell ya', and not to shoot myself in the foot here, but whether you liked it or not, "old school" trucking was all about drugs. Heck, Dave Dudley sang about them in 1959. In the 70's and 80's, doctors handed out "mommy's little helper" like tic-tacs, and about as easy to obtain. I was always a regional driver, so I never really needed drugs, but I sure knew of a LOT of drivers that did. OTR and drugs went hand in hand. Fact is, I don't remember ANY OTR driver that didn't use them. While I don't advocate the use of drugs, I can honestly say, with all the crap you see here of what some drivers do today, I'm not sure we've really made any progress in that regard, aside from padding these doctors and clinics pockets. The "multi-car/truck" pileup, for one. I never remember that years ago, even when drugs were prevalent. I think, image wise, we've made remarkable improvement, we're not looked on as "pilled up meat haulers" anymore, but if we've made any progress safety wise, that can be debated.

 

Not in Wisconsin. I had a friend visit from NY once, and was amazed you could buy a bottle of booze from a gas station at 2am.

 

In N. Wis., the tavern wasn't a place to get wasted, it was actually a very important part of social life. They sponsored local sports teams, before social media, a place to catch up on news, and some of the best food EVER! Today, most of those towns are all "ghost towns" now, as when industry left the area, so did the bars, and streets are lined with empty storefronts from a more civilized time.

 

Lol. Old school....new school....whatever the heck you want to call yourself works. But remember that there are old trucking songs that talk about "taking little white pills and my eyes are open wide." Any of you old school drivers ever been cautioned not to take a toothpick from a bull hauler? My dad drove in the 60's and 70's. I remember him bragging about hiding his stash where no cops could find them. Drugs used to be very common in this industry. I am glad that is no longer true. But it is what it is, and it was what it was. If you were really "old school", you would know this already.

 

Interesting, no drug testing back in the day yet personal responsibility was apparent. Now not so much. Society being pushed towards a more violent self involved persona?

 

Most of the pills were legal over the counter back then so I guess you can say nobody knew any better at first. As they learned they were either banned all together or controlled by prescription only. Fast forward 40-60 years and we see the effects on health and society. I know many old hands that have the same experiences and stories that @Midwest Trucker mentions. Some went through some nasty wrecks that involved no one but themselves luckily. Some didn’t have one bad day trucking. Unfortunately I can say some most likely passed on earlier than they should have because of it. I also do know many others from the WW2 era that ran clean as far as drugs but very hard because of the mindset of that generation.

However, I don’t for one second believe it was ever the diesel smoke causing their demise.