Could this be a problem??

Cattle prods like driver cams, bendix braking, the stupid lane thingy that lets you know someone is beside you so you the driver doesn’t have to monitor the mirrors, are designed for people who have no business ever operating any vehicle on any road to be able to drive. Stupidproofing anything breaks both the laws of nature and the universe. Why do you think that the machines are always out to kill all humans as soon as any machine gets any iota of intelligence? May be science fiction, but certain laws can’t be broken.

 

I am considering a rear view camera with recording. Make backing a bit less stressful, and not as many GOAL trips. . Front braking warning audible I like. Some idiot cuts in tight. I might not notice if close enough. If leaned back..
Those two I would like. Audible if I put my turn signal, there is goober in blind spot. Just getting back into driving truck again. I am NOT checking my front mirrors enough. Just not back in habit yet. But getting better.

 

all i have tosay is "Clear the Roads".

 

Some people only have previous experience on donkeys or camels. Maybe elephants ( the heavy haulers).

 

And they still say it.

 

I'm just wondering when Lane Keep Assist will become standard in trucks. What a joke if that ever happens.

 

I spent 6 hrs with my Dad. 3-4 hrs practicing backing and a round trip from Detroit to Port Huron. Took the driving test the next day.

 

I thought about rigging some kind of rear view camera for backing, but that was before I actually started backing trailers. I quickly learned that situational awareness, mirror mastery, and yes, even occasionally getting out and looking were more than sufficient for backing up a trailer to a dock door. There’s a reason that you never see trucks with backing cameras: they aren’t useful or needed.

 

What happens is COMPLACENCY.
That is a big reason there are so many accidents like these multi truck pileups and rear end collisions.
A lot of new drivers, especially inexperienced ones think that all of these safety devices will keep them out of trouble.
Then you add in the demand for cheap labor. I can remember trying to get a OTR driving job and everyone wanted at minimum a year or more experience.
Tankers, forget it, you needed at minimum two years of verifiable OTR experience before they would even consider you.
The company I drive for today all you need is to be able to fog a mirror.
I also know that everyone deserves a chance. I started driving a log truck in the woods of Florida. I was petrified about getting stuck or hung up in a ditch!

 

Fun fact - there really aren't any more regulations on licensing than there was 15 years ago. Yeah, there's some hoops to jump through, but the ELDT rules pretty much mirror what the CDL Mills were already doing, they just get to charge more now.

I'd also argue it's not that the quality of driver is going down. Rather the quantity of drivers has gone up. Back in the early 2000s, if you left Chicago at 0300 heading to GB, you'd be virtually the only vehicle the entire way. Now it's constant traffic - not bad mind you, but enough that you need to think/adjust for following distance and cruise control use isnill advised. Until a few years ago, you'd never see trucks parked at the Wisco scales- now it's full by 2200.

Have 3 people dancing in a room and they're unlikely to run into each other. Have 30 dancers in the same room, someone's toes are getting stepped on even if the average skills are better. Add in cell phones and someone's loosing an eye.

20 years ago, a company would struggle to make a profit with incompetent drivers. Now with automatic transmissions , GPS, and 24 hour road service any idiot can make a truck profitable provided all they have to do is drive.