Back in my day...

Just got done listening to some guy at the lunch counter telling me that he's been driving 40 years and he's about to hang it up because he's tired of steering wheel holders with no training and an elog taking the nose off of tractors at the truck stop. Not to disrespect those with vastly more experience than me, but also not one to just let that type of #### slide, I asked him what kind of trucks they used when he trained to get his cdl.

He informed me that they didn't have a cdl back then, so he had no formal training and just hopped up in his cabover Kenworth t600 with a 48 foot trailer and ran like the wind, doing coast to coast in 2-3 days and turning around and coming back the other way before spending a week at home and doing it all over again.

So maybe you older drivers can help me do the math here... 5000-6000 miles in a week, no nose to take off at the truck stop, 48 foot trailers, no formal training and on drugs... and this generation is considered more dangerous for our lack of common sense? Also I should note that this guy walks with a serious limp because of 3 separate accidents that involved other CMV. One of which, he caused when he smoked his brakes heading down Monteagle.

He's right man, it is dangerous on the road--with guys like him lol

 

What did he say about drugs?

 

If he smokes his brakes on Monteagle, God help him in the big hills!

 

I've heard so many old timers complain about that area, never can comprehend why

 

Well, maybe it is time for him to retire.
And you know us old men, we love to complain about something.

 

Hey you kids get off my lawn!

 

I used to go across mt eagle twice a week and with no jake brake and a full load both ways , brakes smoked every time , at least heading east , west wasn't as bad

 

Everything you hear at the lunch counter should be taken with a grain of salt. A really big grain of salt.

 

There used to be a couple turns on the westbound side that were off camber and decreasing radius that would catch drivers unaware. Lots and lots of wrecks. They did alot of road construction to smooth things out, and so there's nowhere the number of crashes there that it was in the past. back in the day, it was so tight that cars would slide off. It's an easy route compared to what it used to be.

And that eastbound side was steep with jagged turns. They used to have the runaway truck ramps aimed off the right side cliff. If the runaway ramp didnt stop you, that sudden free fall drop off the mountain would.

Seemed like every week, someone was getting killed there.

If you've been driving a couple years and went to either the TA or Flying J in Baytown,TX...it's rather hard to believe that a few years back, that turn off the service road was dangerous. Every single night, some driver would drop his trailer into the ditch and the wreckers would have to get them out. Every SINGLE night.

"What ditch, Six?"

Exactly. They changed the road because so many drivers had problems there. Where that chrome shop is on the corner, when making that right turn, it was a narrow turn, with a 10ft deep drainage ditch. No shoulder, no curb, no warning. I never dropped a trailer in there, but I sure as hell was worried. And back in the day before they straightened it and widened the lanes, we worried about Monteagle.

 

Until the mid to late 90s, some guys would use 'performance enhancing drugs'. Their eyes would bulge with veins, it would blow all of their front teeth out, and rot the back teeth, they would be nervous...but they would be wired up and would drive for days on end. The problem was, if they went for too long without sleep...they would black out. In those days, a long haul driver was home every weekend, so these guys would go home and crash. No matter how powerful the drug, eventually, you will sleep.