Newbie/Wannabe Attitudes

Agreed, your entering a profession, not a frat house. Dont be suprised when you get in serious trouble for stuff you think is cool. It can kill somebody or yourself. I had to take 3 drug tests before i even got my permit todrive for my employer. And about the equipment value, the trailer i pull was 200k alone :/ tends to make ya not want to mess up

 

About 15 yoa. Back then it was not hard to buy beer or liquor, if you looked older than what you were, AND most of the stores didn't have to worry about anything except if you had the money. I will say this, I would not go drinking and drive around, or barhop. A couple of us guys would get together go out to a farm field, or a lake while fishing, and do our drinking there, camping out.

I thought I was getting something over on my parents. Till the night that I did drive after a New Year's Eve party at my friends house. I almost took out a concrete bridge pillar, made it home, then to bed, parents are asleep. Next morning major hang-over, sicker than a dog. Mom asks if I tried drinking some milk? I told her that she always said that was bad for you if you're sick and puking. She smiled and said, yep, helps get it out of ya'..

 

I did? First off, Kittyfoot started the discussion with:

That's what I replied to. And each subsequent reply was answering questions or statements directed towards me. In no way was I spamming the thread.
As far as I can tell we were having an interesting discussion on an important topic in the other thread. It got locked for a reason that wasn't my fault. Kittyfoot renewed the discussion and on it went.

Where did I defend marijuana use? I point out hypocrisies. Here's another one. Smoking cigarettes while driving. If restricting substance use is done in the name of safety, then why in the world do they allow smoking cigarettes while driving?

Reaching for cigs, reaching for lighters, disposing of finished cigarettes, less then two hands on the wheel for non driving reasons, and probably the biggie... possibility of dropping a lit cig between your legs.

It's nothing but a distraction, and completely unrelated to the job of driving. Yet a first day driver can drive around all day smoking cigarette after cigarette, but I can't hold a cell phone while I'm being given directions to a shipper. LoL! --I'm ok with the hands-free law, but it's still hypocritical.

I'm not calling for a ban on smoking while driving, but I can certainly see how smoking cigarettes in trucks is more dangerous then a guy that smokes a joint at home over the weekend. How is that observation defending pot smoking?

 

Now THAT'S a drug test I would support!

 

Too all of you 18 wheelers out there who are taking this profession seriously, my family and I want to thank you!!

 

Thank you Scott for trying to bring some sanity to the discussion. I never expected to be able to be a pot smoking driver. Maybe I should have quit 10-20 years ago but I don't see how that is anyones business but mine. With regards to breaking laws, everytime I was in the scale house last week the truck next to me was overloaded. In addition every trucker out there was running over hours. Factor in the number that speed with the over hours and overwieght and you have a myriad of illegal issues truckers overlook on a daily basis. Kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.

At no point was I looking for acceptance for my bad behavior, just some cold hard facts on the consequences. Believe me I will pay dearly for my mistake, already have. Some of you though act as though you have never done something stupid or broken a law. Lots of glass houses out there, be careful when throwing those stones.

I was fully ready to leave that bad habit behind for good and start a new fresh clean life. I still will but probably not as a driver. You may not think so but I was very good at the job, obeyed the rules better than most, and I will miss it even if it was just to be temporary for me. In the end, everybody lost in some respect, and I have to live with that. So please, next time it comes up, consider that it may not be some raging pothead looking to stir things up but a regular guy that made a stupid mistake. The short simple answers would have sufficed.

 

Ehh...Marijuana should be legal and should be treated like alcohol. Don't smoke it within 8 to 12 hours before a driving shift. But we all know that won't happen. I will make several pharmaceutical companies go out of business ...

 

I believe you CO. I've seen it happen several times over the years.

Good luck with whatever direction you take!

 

Scotty there is a big difference between smoking a cig and talking on a cell phone. The smokers I know like myself keep thier cigs in a shirt pocket and don't have to look for them or down at them to light them. A cell phone requires one to look at it to dial a number or see who is calling. Also studies have shown that talking on a cell phone is basically the same as driving drunk. One more to remember smoking tobacoo is legal and smoking dope IS NOT according the Federal Government. Also drugs like dope's residude and such stay in a person's for days if not longer depending on how much is consumed.This makes it virtually impossible for the LEO's to know the drug was last used. Booze on the other hand stays in the drinkers system for a few hours.This makes it easier for LEO's to estimate when the last drink was consumed depending on body size.