Bad news for manual lovers

@ [h=2]SHO-TYME[/h]LOL...I don't know what it's like now but, ten years ago that was a SCARY thought

 

For everyone screaming about how you can shift the autos, not necessarily. I drove an 08 Volvo 670 with iShift and all you could do was hold the gear you were in (so it wouldn't downshift in crap weather on an incline). There was no manual shifting mode and the trucks CONSTANTLY got stuck on uneven turf anywhere there was ice. Despite that, it was a decent truck to drive. It skipped around the gears much like a driver would and only took what she needed.

I also had the displeasure of driving the Eaton Fuller 10sp "Ultrashift" which would be more appropriately named without the "f". Such garbage. They used EVERY gear, every time - loaded, light, uphill, through the tolls, you name it. I also had a truck that ate 3 transmissions before International figured out the wiring to the computer was the problem. The company had 100 of them and every driver I knew at one point got stuck in low range and the thing never shifted into high range again and had to be towed.

I overheard the company owner bragging to the shop guys about how he didn't care since since it was all warranty work and that this was his big plan to keep rookies working there for poor wages... Who in their right mind would hire on a driver with 2 years experience who can't shift a gear on a road test?? Lots of young guys were too scared to try after only driving autos straight out of school and he knew it!

I hate the Peterbilt I'm driving now, but at least it has a manual shift mode - just one push of the stick and away we go.

 

US Xpress tried that... The company went to helm and they switched back.

A lot of people wonder why it even matters... Because 90% of accidents aren't from shifting. They are from sideswipes a d backing into things. What in the heck does that have to do with transmissions? Well, the people who can't learn to shift, also suck at anything else complicated, and would do absolutely insane things with their trucks. So they went back to manual transmissions to cut out the idiots who were to lazy or stupid to learn to shift.

Shifting is the main skill that teaches a driver to be precise and disciplined. Without that, drivers just act like its a big car and end up getting in wrecks and getting a crazy number of tickets. I dare you to find a single company who runs automatics who is in the top 25% of CSA score. Most of them can even get in the top half, let alone top quarter.

 

I love how you guys think shifting is this difficult complicated thing that makes you that much better. I've done it, it's not hard. I know hearing that is a blow to your trucking ego but it's true.
Auto just gives you one less thing inside the truck to focus on which means you can focus more on the outside like traffic, low bridges, turns and other obstacles.

 

These auto's are just going to get better, But this isn't to help NEW drivers, IMHO over time it is to eventually eliminate the driver..


I think most if not all of you are missing the big picture.. Chew on that one

 

Here's my company CSA score and we use autos

https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms/Data/carrier.aspx?enc=CwJmKxnGHN5FcGOEOM1N8Q==

https://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/sms/Data/carrier.aspx?enc=8ZEfQ6aicEsGTQiuE+wdmw==

I got no clue how to read them

 

Bingo! I was thinking the same thing. What character traits in a driver do you want, and what types of characters do autos attract?

Undisciplined, lazy, apathetic, impatient, unintellegent, unmotivated.

I would prefer someone who is curious to learn as much as possible regarding his trade, someone motivated to learn, and confident, intelligent, and with enough patience to learn.

We all know mega carriers don't care about keeping drivers more than a few years. They would rather not spend an extra dollar on a driver; they would rather spite the driver and spend that dollar buying a lawmaker who will write more legislation allowing a larger supply of cheap labor to burn through.

 

Well, if drivers are displaced by robotic trucks someday, I'm not at all worried; because I and a few others like me are hard working, educated, and multi-talented enough to quickly re-tool ourselves for something else. It's the lazy and unintelligent that should be worried.

 

True for an apprentice, who thinks looking down at the shifter may help him find the right gear (it won't).

A driver that has it mastered doesn't have to even think about it. It just happens.Even while scanning traffic, scanning gauges, mapping a picture of the route in his head, talking, thinking about the trip plan, crunching numbers in his head on that load offered, listening for maintenance clues, AND chewing gum!

It's what professionals do.

 

All hail the supertrucker.