2 million mile driver

Lived in a truck 20 years.Its no life.

 

Yes , it’s important.

I hope when I drive my last mile, it will be as I am now - accident and injury free.

And - why did it take the driver so long to back up?

 

It's taken me 18 years to hit a million. Mostly all local work. I've had a few tickets, although none were driving related. ( Overweight, no permits, no log book, things of that nature). And one fender bender that wasn't reported to anyone. (Other fellow ran off after I sideswiped the Toyota Camry he was driving. I presume it was stolen)

Would I do it again? You bet. I look back on those 20 years, and I'm not bitter about any of it.

 

During my heyday, (80's-90's) as a regional driver, the most I did was maybe 80,000/year, and that was P&D, or burning circles as a dump truck driver, you'll rarely go more than that. OTR could easily see 100g's /year.

 

I have over a million as a bus driver. I hope I never hear “When are we gonna get there?” again!

 

I do about 35k miles a year. I hope I never make it to 2 mil that means I worked myself into the grave.

 

Take 2 million and divide it into pay and hours.
Did you make a million dollars for that 2 million miles?
What was the hourly rate if pay?

 

When you start thinking of it in those terms, it gets really depressing. Makes McDonald's look a little more attractive. But, then again, working at McDonald's won't afford me the lifestyle I have now. Which I love...

 

Some people take pride in their profession and the million mile stickers are part of it for some companies. The sticker doesn’t get you anything, but the 3 Million safe miles can be the difference in working for Swift or UPS, HUGE DIFFERENCE in pay and quality of life. While I do have 32 years without being involved in an at fault accident, I don’t have any stickers on my rig. If I wanted one I would have one regardless of what others think about them.

 

Yeah the sticker don't mean anything to me, I dont have them, nor do I want one. It just means someone out there might think I'm a really good driver or something. I prefer to keep the bar set low, and be an overachiever.

I've seen many people with the million mile stickers, and good on them for getting it. But I've witnessed some of them backing up, and wasn't impressed at all.

Those that impress me are those that just go and get it done, quietly and efficiently.

Lately, I've been running a pretty regular route, and I'm always around the same people. There's an older fellow doing it, and he's one of those guys that just has that 'it' factor. Got a beautiful truck and trailer, and he can wheel it with the best of them. But, to speak to him, he's the most down to earth person I have ever met. Never gets excited, just does his job. His co-workers all grumble about him being the slowest driver they have. You won't see him doing 75 mph with his hair on fire. Ever. He's usually in the right lane, chugging along at 60. All night long. He doesn't stop for naps, until the day is done. Meanwhile, his co-workers are pulling over every trip for coffee or fuel, or a nap. But, he never brags about anything either. He let it out once that he's driven about 3.5 million miles, accident and ticket free. Those are the guys you wanna look up to. Not the guy with the stickers who constantly remind you of how great they are.