Dan Rather blasts trucking, industry blasts back

If you think that's a mill, sit in on a CR England CDL meatgrinder.

 

ATA upset that Dan Rather put the light on their CDL mills and busniess model!

 

My Girlfriend went to a CDL School in Atlanta and she said it great. They helped her with all kinds of stuff and she got a good trainer at my company, a man who is my friend also and helped me learn to back better.

It was when she had to team it was hard because she had talked to a guy for over a month before she got of her trainers truck to hammer out details and as soon as she agreed to team up (which is required in my company) he told her she was going to have to "do what he said" and if she didn't he would ruin her reputation because his dispatcher was his friend.

This happened shortly after she got on the truck with him and indeed the dispathcer would not get her a ticket to take a bus back to Chattanooga.

She called me and I called my dispatcher and begged him to help her get to the right person to get off that truck, he finally did.

She is now on my dedicated fleet and a hard worker.

The problem is that with the students , they don't give them enough information, only one phone number and one extension so if something happens they don't know who to call and even if they call, sometimes no one answers the phone.

Trucking under good circumstances is a daily adventure and it would be funny to watch celebrities do it when faced with doing trailer inspections in a blizzard and having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night on a team truck who is not your partner.

I did give the Dan Rather producers this link and also to other trucking forum to observe the conversations.

This is the ATA's dirty secret and my objective was to take the conversation off the forums and let real people read about it because I knew they would be appalled.

If you have not written Dan Rather yet this is the email viewer@hd.net I also suggest ripoffreport.com which I directed a trucking publication to look at yesterday who interviewed me about the ATA's response.

I am also told that the ATA is saying on XM/Sirius that I am not credible.

No one has called me to ask me that directly from their camp or to provide evidence. I have it if they want it. I have provided Dan Rather with everything they have asked for which includes written statements, pictures, emails and police report also other people who are mentioned in my story.

"Dan Rather & The Truth about Trucking" is a good title because that is the name of Allen Smith's Audio Book which is how this who thing began.

Allen & Donna Smith responded to my email when I was in distress and provided me a place to write my story to help others. Dan Rather contacted me through them.

Allen & Donna have devoted all their spare time to advocate for Student Truckers. They deserve a lot of credit.

 

now i see that DAN RATHER has created a storm, now i didn't watch his broad cast but apparently it was pretty bad.

let me say this , getting upset over a news cast is a total waist of time, you can fill volumes with the lies and misinformation you get from the news media most cant even spell truck let alone no what it is or what it involves.

DAN RATHER is not the first to have a news cast about trucks , BARBRA WALTERS also had one a few years ago with the same old tired lies about trucks , she had trucks going a 100 mph in a quarter mile and thats about normal for the news media and the truck was even loaded now don't that just rip your britches.

now it may be true that some get into a truck as a last resort because there not working and there homeless, well if you find yourself in that position what better way to get out of the rain and get something to eat, the truck has a heater , its got a ac, and its got a bed and you make a little money not a bad thing if your in trouble but the news media makes it a bad thing , CONSIDER THE SOURCE if your in trouble, homeless, hungry, with a family which an awful lot of people are right now you do what you have to do to survive and in spite of what the news media says it not a bad thing to survive.

years ago you watch the news to get the news but some where along the way it became to get the gossip and the lies, and they deliberately stir up fabrications to make there story more enticing to the people who will listen to get there ratings up a lot like a truck driver story.

do yourself a favor, don't get an ulcer or make an enemy over a news broadcast it just ain't Worth it , besides my truck will only go 96 mph loaded , thats news ain't it .

everybody have a great day in spite of the news media.---southernpride

 

No, you didn't watch the program, which had nothing to do with speeding or anything, other than a odd blurp from that "trucks are involved in 4500 deaths each year (but we will leave out the part that four wheelers cause 80% of those)"

Watch the program, THEN share input.

I've always said that the ATA is like the UN's Human Rights Council, if only Iran, Sri Lanka and Darfur were the only members. I'm pretty sure we can all agree that the ATA is not good for trucking.

 

I'd like to see them do more than CDL mills. How about ripping the guts out of this industry ??

Did anyone bother to do the math on the CRST bit ???

70% student drivers...their statement.

Student drivers team for .22 a mile (split), stated by CRST students within this forum. About $550 a week, maybe a tad more, if they're lucky.

When you figure the per diem ($59 a day now)... what's left..... Taxes ???

Even the #### Government recognizes that CRST drivers are working for free. And gives them a refund larger than what was paid in.

Hang a sign on the Corporate Doors.... "Will Work For Food".

And that's just one company.

They're not going to talk about this though. Because people that earn as much as Dan Rather, will not stand for a head of lettuce being priced at $8.

Hell no....

 

Thanks, Desiree. You've done a fine thing with this.

Though I had a good experience in my training (I went to a program at a nearby community college, Crowder College Transport Training), during a training week at my first company, I met many students who had been through the CDL mills, and was appalled at how little they knew and how they were passed through all the same. That I had to ride with some on them during the driving part of the program, well, let's just say it was hair-raising.

I was lucky, because I did my on-the-road training with my partner, whom I know, love, trust and respect. Some of the stories I've heard from people about their trainers, or from trainers about their students, were horrifying. I sometimes wonder how anyone at all makes it through these mega-carrier programs, regardless of how sincere and committed they are.

I hope getting some exposure through the Dan Rather program, and any follow-ups they might do, will curb some of these outlandish and unsafe practices. Thanks again, Desiree.

 

Hello! There have been two "Dan Rather Reports" on trucking. The first one is here:

http://www.blip.tv/file/2759448?filename=Rsap121-DRR433Segments1And2509.flv

Would someone please give us the link to the second one:
"Dan Rather Reports" Presents a Follow Up Broadcast Examining the Safety of Commercial Trucking

Thank you!

 

You can find both here.