Unsafe Truck Drivers

Nope. I drove an 18-speed long-nose Pete right outta da womb, HomeTime.

Don't tell people who have been doing this 10x longer than you, what they should have done. As an experienced driver, it sounds as if he did the best he could. I've been driving long enough to picture what he described.

We watch and prepare for the actions of others. We aren't psychic and we aren't driving each others vehicle. Crap happens. Sometimes out of nowhere, sometimes when you least expected them based on the conditions at play. A good driver will anticipate...but never know for sure...and just has to focus on what he's doing while simply being aware of his/her surroundings and prepared to react accordingly.

5-7 second lead time can still = you almost rear-ending someone if they have great brakes and you are heavy.

Every situation is different, and unless you were one of the parties involved, you don't know crap about his. Period. End of discussion.

But there is no excuse for bad grammar.

 

What about the 4 wheelers or 2 wheelers that drive like ########. We all have to deal with bad drivers. As truckers we need to try and stick together. I had a 4 motorcycles cut me off because they missed there exit. (I was in right lane) They were passing me on left and all in a sudden realized there exit was to my right. I've had sports cars cut me off with inches to spare then slam on there brakes. For the most part a toot on the air horn or a call on the CB will put a truck driver back on track. cars just don't care. Although i do think truck drivers need to drive safely, we need to stick together.
-Cody

 

As a truck driver, we have skills and experience that non-truckers drivers don't. I ride a bike, and those bikers were stupid. Cars do that to me all the time. It's part of the job and you can't let it get to you. Why? Because there's some really good psychological explanations for why people drive the way they do when they don't drive for a living.

The average person lives in a bubble. A primary radius of home in which the majority of their time is spent. Driving to work, the store, soccer practice, whatever. Anything they learned in the book or during drivers ed that isn't used within their bubble is simply forgotten over time.

We, as professionals, who drive every day, all day, utilize far more of our training every day than those people. We retain more because it stays fresh in our mind and in our actions. If all you had to do was drive in a straight line every day for 10 years, I bet you'd have a hard time docking a trailer even though you learned to do it to get your CDL.

For example: As a regional driver that delivers to stores a dozen times a day, I guarantee I can wipe the floor with any long-haul OTR driver in a backing comparison. Why? Because I do it every day, and a lot of the places I go to are places most of you wouldn't even try to back into. You'd be unloading out in the street.

The point of this explanation is to tell you why we are expected to be the better driver, because we ARE the better driver. You have to highest license in the nation. The lady in Camry with her 3 dogs in her lap while talking on the cellphone does not.

 

Just for poops and giggles, I'm gonna throw my Haypenny in the mix... I drive a 62mph governed company truck. Yes, there are plenty of times I wish I could go faster; to get somewhere before my clock runs out, make a pass, get good runs at hills. But it's not my truck, and I knew the deal when I signed up for the job, so I can't really complain.

My own truck will not be governed, but I'll probably drive about the same speed most of the time, and here's why, $$$. I'll take my fuel savings and go to Brazil for 2 months during the winter, and you can fly around at 70 all you want. Plus the increased wear and tear as well as stress. Just doesn't seem worth it. I don't get as many breaks as the fast trucks, but I usually see them throughout the day as they pass me multiple times, then sometimes at the truck stop that night...

Listening to Kevin Rutherford on Sirius has helped me understand the tremendous amounts of money being burned to run fast; it makes sense of course, but hearing hard numbers and real-world experiences drives the point home. I want the choice to run fast if needed/wanted, but I'll choose to run slower and make more money and have fewer stressful near wrecks.

Now, if the company is paying for the fuel and maintenance, I'd happily go faster and make more money!

 

Highest liscence in the nation but the National Labor relations board lists truck drivers as unskilled labor. If we are really unskilled labor as our government says, why should more be expected out of us? Just throwing this out for conversation purposes and in no way do I support driving like a 4 wheeler does.

 

Until we get a serious voice at the barganing table in Washington, that is the status quo. Unskilled labor means we're nothing in the minds of those who make up the rules, laws and regulations as they pertain to transportation.

 

Orlando is horrible. Heard a story once that this Averitt Express driver drove down on the wrong side of the Orange Blossom Trail just so that he could get out of one side of the shopping plaza in order to get to the other side. I've driven there a couple times ... I always end up asking myself how half of those drivers get their CDLs ... btw what company was it?

 

How funny Is this.....It was a Averitt truck .. Yes Orlando ranks right there with Chicago.... I Was on Orange Blossom Trail today... No trucks driving on the wrong side.. just a bunch hookers walking up and down the road.... bahahahahahaha

 

What do you mean by a serious voice?

 

He means we're all supposed to talk like James Earl Jones, not Pee Wee Herman!