the attitude of the "new breed of driver"

Yes, and I've had plenty of people ask me how many log books I have...

 

I am going to disagree with you here...opening remarks.

The real blame for the drugs and "must get it there" attitude goes to the dispatchers! You either got it there on their schedule...rules be ######...or you didn't have a job! No IFs, no ands, and no buts....just your butt on the line.

Thank you dispatchers and slimy company ethics....that is what brought the government down on the drivers...since the drivers didn't have the $$$ to fight the big companies, the government had to step in.

Now don't forget to give some credit to the special interest cry babies...like Mother's Against Tired Truckers and the like!

 

IMHO--for the most part this entire old vs new--is just a continuation of what we used to call the generation gap--many if not most of the drivers my age know exactly what I mean--face it WE are the Rock-n-Roll Devils music generation--were we raised different? YES--was society different? YES--did we rebel against alot of it HELL YES--did most of us settle down--grow up etc? YES
Of course it was a different time when we were coming up--maybe better--maybe worse--but it was a different world--but as for newbie drivers--IMHO--NOT A #### THING HAS CHANGED--the numbers have just grown exponentially over the years--due to the fact there are so many more people now--therefor more trucks etc.
I wish I had a Dollar for every time (when I was a kid) I heard my Dad or Grandad or any of the old timers look at a guy--they had never seen before and instantly decide he would never make it! Therefor--while I am now arguably a VERY OLD HAND-(in more ways than one)--try climbing out of a B-Model Mack in the early 70's(not long after coming home from the service) with Long Hair a ZZ Topp beard! What do you think those old hands said when they saw me?--only real difference then--they weren't so quiet about it! difference also then--this wet behind the ears newbie(and ex-army ranger)would rather fight than F*** in those days. LMAO.
The fact is most of us here--are who we are--because of the person we wanted to become--good or bad--and this generation coming up is fighting the same fight--thus all the negative comments--THE ONE THING THAT HASN"T CHANGED IS:the creme always rises to the top--those that have some sence and are willing to work hard--struggle--and learn will survive in this business--and the others will fall by the wayside like they always have.
The other major difference I see today is the amount of people driving--who started at a much later age than we did--for whatever reason--and while they may be a newbie--most of these folks are--already who they are--and handle themselves with as much class as anyone else--and I still think for every young newbie--with a bad know it all--the world owes me attitude--or I know it all--there is another young kid just off the farm--who will bust their butt to do things right--or a kid just out of the service(and #### glad to be alive--just like many of US)and THANK YOU) with a work ethic as good if not better than alot of us.
SO IMHO--things aren't really all that different now.--I am sure some of you will disagree--and that's fine--------------
Just my $.02

 

Listen, I agree. I am a sociable person. I like to talk.....to whom ever about what ever...

Just too many times when I walk into a truckstop to a tv room, I hardly ever see the new breed conversating with the well experienced drivers and vice versa.

Maybe the young driver doesnt want to talk to the older driver because he gets the impression that the older driver does not want to talk to him.

Maybe the older driver doesnt want to talk to the younger driver cuz he hates the new breed.

Face it, we are all the same. Young should listen to old. Old should HELP young. Not put them down.

There is friendly, respectful ways of telling a driver how it is.

 

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

"Can't we all just get along?"

Now where have I heard this before? Someone help my memory is fading...getting OLDER you know...might be early stage Alzheimer's...or senility!

I see and hear it today...just like I did when I was training/Mentoring...the "new-breeders" (I like that term...has a certain panache to it) come out of truck school (no different today than 16 years ago) with the attitude that the school taught them everything, and everything was absolute! The schools, in order to maintain their "dominance" over the "average trucker"...instill in the new students mind..that "these guys use shortcuts and cheat whenever they can"..(meaning us real time drivers)...and what the school is and will teach, is "by the book".

Then why don't the schools teach anything more than just enough to pass the DMV driving test...what about docking, traffic management, negotiating highway hazards and construction...you know...the real world stuff we deal with day in and day out.

 

I agree. It comes with experience.

Many come out of the school and they know everything. They will go years that way and the more they drive, the more their head swells....until they have their first accident. UT OH!!! KNOW IT ALL IS NOT PERFECT. ....then they come back to reality and become humble. Eventually the good and bad experiences make them a better driver.

I know this from my own personal experience.

 

No cell phones 16 years ago? Really?

I've had one in my trucks since the 80's....Where have YOU been!

While there was a some dope used in those days by some, The vast majority of us didn't use it!
I also don't know where you come up with 3 logbooks either other than you heard someone else say it or read someone elses ignorant statement about such things.
Some guys would run two when they needed to get it done (I have done it myself back then) But it usually wasn't necessary.

Also not true...

Again, You've been listening to too many stupid "trucker stories". The fact is that most trucks up until the eighties were incapable of doing anywhere near 100 MPH! 75 or 80 was more like it and then only if you were one of the "few" that had a very fast truck!

The term "mindless sheep" comes to mind...Most of the newere drivers will just bend over and take whatever the company tell them to take and the companies like that. (a lot)
Most drivers that have been around a while know better than to take the peanuts offered by companies these days.

The big companies that you so worship are actually to blame for a lot of it, A combination of poor training resulting in a rash of accidents and the "old guard" who were actually truckers dying off and leaving their "bean counter" kids in charge has led to the current level of greed that is responsible for many of the problems that the industry faces today.

I tend to agree with you here because if you are really a "trucker" and not just a "truck driver", You live it 24 hours a day...That's not to say thet you don't have other interests but that your primary focus is on what you do, Or in the case of some of us...What you are!

Good analogy...

I have to ask you Scottie, What seems to have crawled up your butt lately? Because it seems that every time I see a post by you it's some kind of rant about how the "old timers" ruined the industry and that the new breed is here to save the day!
That's simply "not the case"...Just like it's not the case that everything is to be blamed on new driver.
New drivers are not all necessarily "new breed" the "new breed" as they are called are the ones tossing crap out of the window instaed of walkng to the trash can 40 feet away or tossing bottles of piss out the window or bags of fecal matter or just generally acting like ######## that think the world owes them a living.
There have always been "new breed" types in the industry but not in the sheer numbers that you find them today.

If you are one of them...Shame on you! If you are not...Then let the comments about them run off of your back because they don't pertain to you!
There are a lot of us "old timers" out here that are just as disgusted by the "old new breed" as we are with the current "new breed" and we are the ones that you will be happy to meet when you find yourself in a situation that you don't yet know how to deal with!

I hope that what I've said here rings a bell with some of you guys "old" and "new".

I knew plenty of guys that took dope...Most of them are dead now or are in such poor health that they can't even think about driving a truck anymore.

But it is a pretty broad and inaccurate generalization...