18-21 year old truck drivers

And I just realized this is a 2 month old thread, so I apologize.

 

Even though it is two months old it is still a good thread.

Each individual is different as to their level of maturity.

I started driving when I was 13, on a farm permit. Started driving the hopper at 14, drove dump trucks, construction trucks until I was 17, drove trucks while in the Army for 10 years, drove my constructions trucks, delivery trucks, etc. Then I came out here OTR and found out that some of the worst drivers I had ever seen and not a one of them were under the age of 18-21.

By the time I was 20 I had 15 men under me, had deployed, seen combat, and returned back alive. Did I do a lot of stupid stuff when I was young, sure, but I was responsible enough that the Army put me in charge of others lives.

One of the best drivers that I had work for me over the past 5 years was only 18 when he started, he had been working the farm since he was 16. He never tore anything up, customers loved him, he always made the most our of every day. The only thing that sucked was that he could not legally go interstate until he was 21. When he turned 23 he bought his own truck, I helped him get his authority and he is off on his own doing great. Looks like he was really immature to me. I have had men drive for me that are broke on Monday after I paid them on Friday, but not that eighteen yr old man. He is now married, has a kid on they way, and bought his first house with $20,000 down. This is a kid that never wanted to go to college, he was good at math, could read and write, but sucked at the other subjects our PC system wants them to take. He just loved machines, respected machines, and understood machines more than people. So here is by most peoples view, a flunky, who did not finish high school, (he was a freshman 3 times), that decided to work hard, save his money, invest wisely, and he makes more money than my son working for the government with a master's degree, he makes more than my wife that is a teacher with a master's degree, he makes more than my daughter who has a BN and is a RN. He makes more than my daughter who is studying to complete two masters degrees. He did all of that without accruing $30,000.00 to $50,000 in debt.

No it would not be good for 18 yr olds to learn how to drive a truck, or would it?

 

Teen truckers? Bill would drop big-rig driver age to 18

Interesting. Some snips:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Parents may hesitate to hand teens the keys to the family car, but Congress is proposing to allow drivers as young as 18 to get behind the wheel of big rigs on the nation's interstates

Federal regulations currently require drivers be at least 21 before they can drive commercial trucks across state lines, but a bill introduced this week by Republican senators would allow contiguous states that join together in "compacts" to drop the age threshold to 18 for interstate trips. There is no limit on the number of states that could join the compacts.

After four years, the Transportation secretary is supposed to report to Congress on whether teens have "an equivalent level of safety" in comparison with older truckers.

In 2013, all drivers ages 18-20 had a fatal crash involvement rate, per 100,000 licensed drivers, that was 66 percent higher than drivers who were age 21 years or older, according to the Transportation Department's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, although the total number of crash deaths among teens has been declining since 2002.
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A decade ago the Bush administration looked at lowering the commercial truck driving age to 18, but ultimately decided against doing that because the public comments the government received were overwhelmingly against the idea.

 

I have nothing against the younger crowd getting into trucking. I mean, if I have to live with Europeans and Mexican Nationals hauling freight, why should I get bent out of shape about young Americans?

A couple of points though.

Do you know why auto insurance is so expensive for the 16 to 25 year old crowd? Because insurance companies base their rates on statistics. And insurance companies have realized that the 16 to 25 year old age group is more accident prone.

Secondly, if the 18 to 20 year olds start driving and are still driving after three years, there is a good chance they may make a career out of it. And if you do that, you may be selling yourself short. You young guys need to try to be a business owner, entrepreneur or the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs.

But no, I am not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

So all driver 18-20 per 100,000 drivers are out there killing themselves, that I guess would be a reason for the fatalities to have been declining. Can you see how these statistics are often times screwed. If those statistics were true then why did all of my kids, not have an accident during those ages. Maybe the answer is that I taught them to start driving when they were 13 and 14. Took them out on back country roads in the pickup and had them get a little wild in the gravel. Took them into the pastures and had them cut donuts to their hearts content. Explained to them that it was ok to have a little fun now and then as long as there was nobody else around to hit or kill with their automobile. I believe it matter not what the age is, but what the training is. It is like noob truckers that have not have proper training, they too are in the statistics of higher accidents and fatalities. So as we can see it is not about the age, but about the lack of training. I don't know about you but they actually had driver's ed in high school when I went. Now with budget cuts, a lot of schools do not have driver's ed, and parents are too busy to train their kids how to behave let alone drive. These kids are a lot like trucking, kids teaching kids, greenies teaching geenies. Looks like they will fit in just fine, and least wise I won't have to watch them end up on the system because they could not find a job. Most that will come into our industry will leave shortly just like the rest, it does not take the younger man as long to jump ship when he sees it is sinking. Those that love the life will stay, that is why they came in the first place, and chances are they had already been driving equipment for many years before they even turned 18, and most likely will not be one of the statistics.

 

It took into the 3rd page for someone to enter the age old argument of "if they're old enough to die, they're old enough to ....". Same argument for being allowed to purchase and consume alcohol, same argument for voting. We know the different statistics on the drinking (some states allow it, some restrict it to alcohol level), and now we see how well the younger crew did and does with being allowed to vote!

With all the advances in technology, the availability to be "well informed" at everyone's finger tips....the past 10 years haven't done so well for this country and the younger voting block....have they? IMHO, the only thing that is consistent with making available a younger work force....the younger they are, the more likely they are to be led like sheep. Increased regulation, increased taxation, loss of personal liberties, loss of state sovereignty....which path is next?

 

So you are saying that the younger people are more gullible than the older?

Is it their fault for increased regulation, increased taxation, loss of personal liberties, loss of state sovereignty?

Could it be that they are more alert?

Could it be that the open minded ones are receptive to instruction?

Could it be that they are already tech savy?

Don't know my kids and I have had great debates over the situations in our nation and the world. I tend to agree with them that it was the past generations that screwed everything up for theirs. I don't envy the job that they have to do to fix those screwups. Maybe the younger generation just might surprise you, maybe they would actually stand up for themselves instead of getting screwed over. While a might gripe about some of them for not working, I respect their stance that I can sit at home for free vs. working and paying somebody to do so. I guess my daughters paying us rent each month for $500.00 each is not being prudent. One of my daughters is going out to buy a new car with cash today, I asked her if she wanted me to come along, she said she wanted to do this one on her own. Wow that younger generation really don't know what they are doing, do they?

All of my kids bought their own cars, we did not but any but their first $500.00 clunkers. They worked, saved their money, and bought what they wanted. They worked, went to college, and are doing what the want, is that not the secret of life? Do what you want to do, but what you want to buy, live life to the fullest while being responsible.

Looks like what I have been saying, age really does not matter. PROPER TRAINING DOES!!!!

 

Hey G? Is their really gold at the end of the rainbow in Emerald City?

 

And see this why, in my opinion, lowering the age is not going to fix the driver shortage they claim is prevalent. Insurance companies will require a young driver to have a near perfect record before they will insure them which will disqualify a good portion. Then you factor in the hike in rates companies will be levied with and they're not going to bother.

So what does that leave us with? The megas who insure themselves and have little overhead on who they can or cannot hire. They flash the "EARN 60K A YEAR, BECOME YOUR OWN BOSS WITH OUR LEASE PURCHASE" and the majority won't have the sense to actually research these claims because they're chasing the $ at this point. Now you have a group of inexperienced automobile drivers, a portion which likely already have an accident or a ticket, and you're going to throw them out there for 3 weeks with a trainer who has 5 months of experience himself and could care less if this guy succeeds or not. They "complete" their training, get a truck and run it in the ditch in 2 weeks because of lack of experience and knowledge, and the company gives them the boot. Now how exactly is this any different than the current situation these companies have?

So with all this being said, I do still hope that they adjust these regulations to allow younger drivers for the sake of the ones who are intelligent and responsible and have a genuine interest in the industry. But at the same time I don't at all see it alleviating the current issues these companies are fighting.