Auto vs Standard

one of the companies i stated at (flatbed company name wont be mentiond) i was getting .28 cpm

 

I got thrown into one of our rollbacks that is auto and scared the hell out of me at first not knowing if it was going to gear down fast enough to stop. Of course it did but it just felt like it wanted to thrust forward as I was slowing down. Also, it just doesn't feel right not having that shifter there, kinda like taking your manhood away lol.Don't take that as I think you are any less of a driver for driving an auto but for me it felt like something was missing.

 

Just name the company.

 

There is still quite a bit of skill needed to drive a truck even if you don't have to shift the gears. You still have to be able to drive forward, you still have to control your speed in corners, you still have to be able to back up without hitting everything. When the first truck came out with power steering did that take some of the skill out of driving a truck?

 

I don't necessarily believe the autos take the skill out of driving. I have driven many different types of transmissions and I myself like the auto, sure is nice in traffic. I believe the skill comes in to play more making it through each day safely without hitting stuff. I see so many inexperienced drivers out there that have no issue shifting, but can't back a truck for love nor money. I tend to think low wages are in part due to drivers hitting crap and costing the companies money. Although that is just a small part of it. A large deal of greed is top of the list.

 

speeding, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off. all that is hard stuff, when you gotta shift them gearz....

 

I can't remember where I read it, but one of the industry magazines published an article a couple of years ago that said auto drivers are more likely to take corners too fast than manual drivers. Given the sheer stupidity of some of the wrecks I have seen on the on and off ramps at the truck stop near my house, I can believe it. In a lot of jurisdictions, if you road test on an auto, it is noted on your license and you can get in trouble if you get caught driving a manual.

 

then i say if the dumbarsed student cannot shift, then take the DMV road test in an automatic, and get the CDL limited to automatics, then be done with the fools. everyone "wants to drive, or always wanted to drive, or had a passion to drive", but yet no one (or not too many) actually learn the operation of the truck, and only see what the schools tell them, and that is a fistfull of dollars. if one cannot shift a manual, then be stuck in an automatic, and when the job disappears, or the student jumps ships, i hope it is MONTHS till he finds yet another job, that has automatics, as after all, i said the CDL ought to be limited to such transmissions.

Automatics do have thier place in the industry, and many o/o's have expressed wanting one, after all the years of shifting. many company drivers may like to have an automatic as well, but here too, after many years of shifting.

in my opinion, if one cannot drive what he/she is assigned, then maybe perhaps move onto another job, so a more qualified driver can be hired, over the inept idiot that cannot shift. and this is what i think some newbies are...inept at the job at hand, when they seek out jobs with automatics..

so now tell me...if these newbies cannot shift, are they capable of procreating,.....?? cuz if not, then maybe they ought NOT to have any sex as well, as they certainly need an "automatic" device to do it for them.........

life ain't all full of wine and roses...sometimes you get a thorn, and vinegar....when you do, and IF YOU HAD experience, you'd work with what you have...........or get a surrogate to have sex with your spouse, since no one knows how to do that, cuz it ain't automatically done........