23 year veteran trucker fired!

You gotta beat that ticket ....

 

You see, unlike many drivers, I am not afraid to point out what doesn’t make sense in the CDL manual. Let’s be clear. The CDL manual is NOT perfect. Some of the information is outdated or inaccurate.

I’ve known since I was 16, the age I became a legal driver, that driver manuals teach to look at your side mirrors every few seconds (around 5-15 seconds, for example). I probably practiced it for a few weeks, and then after some time I discontinued it, like most people, including 95% of you guys who are pretending you actually do it. I mean, c’mon. When was the last time you saw a driver looking at his side mirrors every 5-15 seconds? If anything, he’ll be texting on his phone, talking through his bluetooth, or even watching a movie.

Anyway, I am absolutely NOT saying to never look at your side mirrors. Obviously there will be times when you must look at your side mirrors like when making a lane change. However, I do not find it safe to be on the freeway and looking at your side mirrors every 5-15 seconds. Your liability really is ahead of you. If someone hits the back of your truck, that’s on them, unless of course, they can prove you did something wrong like an improper or last-second lane change. Oh, and always, always have a dash cam on your truck. Trust me.

 

Huh !!!!! What’s this supposed to mean ? I live looking at my mirrors. Im basically like a center of the radar, looking all around and some. Anything I see out of the ordinary, I will focus on but still doesn’t keep me from constantly looking at my mirrors. What are you going to do when something in front of you happens, which way are you gonna go ? By keeping up looking at your mirrors might determine your fate.

 

So, if someone is tailgating 5 feet off your bumper, why do you care?

 

Tailgaters are annoying and usually easily detectable in your peripheral vision. What do you want me to do? Take an exit? Move to another lane? Lightly brake on him? I just let them be, and move on. They’re lucky I usually have a big following distance in front of me because my normal speed is 62. Even when I do brake, I don’t just floor my brakes unless I really have to. I’ve seen some folks hit their brakes hard unnecessarily and the vehicle behind him almost rear-ends him.