Definition of a 'Super Trucker"

The survey I saw, stated that the most likely group to have an accident (based on experience only) was the drivers with 4-6 years experience driving a commercial vehicle.

Over confidence was the main factor.

Aside from that....our younger drivers do tend to have more accidents, due to their age and lack of experience driving any type of vehicle.

My pet peave....drivers with a lot of experience making a move under less than ideal conditions. While they may be confident of their abilities. They can not be confident of other peoples abilities and reactions when they make that move.

Other stats: DOT claims that the same 10-12% of drivers, make up for more than 50% of the accidents. You would think they could get that 10-12% off the road.

 

I'm sure there's surveys out there that will tell you just about anything you want them to tell you. It's funny that the subject of experienced drivers being careless or over confident is almost always brought up by drivers that have less experience. I'm not defending any driver with bad habits but in my line of work hauling gasoline you don't get experienced by having bad habits. The oil companies don't need that or want that and believe me there's 50 drivers waiting to take your job. I use to say that experience drivers are drivers to learn from until another driver pointed out this. An experience driver with a good professional record are the drivers to learn from.

It's true that after awhile a driver can become complacent in his job and carry on with bad habits. A good company will recognise this and put into place a good safety program to combat that. We always said if you think you've learned all you can it's time to get out of the truck. And we always say that if you get complacent just look behind you and see the tank with thousands of gasoline that's just inches from you.

So I don't think just because you get more years under your belt that your going to be less professional. I believe it's up to the driver to learn everyday and drive better than the day before. That's what I've seen drivers do that make the most money.

 

I don't consider my 20 years as "less experienced". I do however try to keep myself informed. And looking at charts, studies, graphs, and any additional information I can find keeps me that way. Experience tells me that I would rather run Long Island all day, as to even think about driving LA for one minute. Regardless of what the majority of truck drivers think of the east coast.

I can put you in direct contact with a "Gas hauler" with almost 40 years experience, clean DAC, clean MVR, who quit his job...because he had a brain fart one day, and almost struck a Bic to check the levels inside his tank.

Experience, common sense, and STATISTICS will prove that is a DUMB mistake for anyone. And it is time to find another line of work. He pulls a reefer now.

 

The statement you are refering to is a generalization and no one is perfect. My idea of trying to do the next day better than the one before is how I got by before retirement. We all screw up once in awhile but the object is to know when you screwed up and change. This job is never complete and you can learn something new everyday. In my opinion that's part of being a professional.

 

Just the same lil' fellow who is trying to justify his flip flopping on the swift driver subject.

Just proving once a Swiftee always a Swiftee.

First off, I want you to show me 1 truly Independent O/O who would jeopardized his livelihood? Willingly.

It took me 3 yrs before I would sing on any O/O under me, and then 5 more years of speculating about putting a driver in my old truck to drive for me!!!
Because, to be quite frank with you, there ain't much out there to pick from these days as far as company drivers go. They want the money, but forgot the You gotta earn it part. and I am not even gonna start on the majority of them showed up looking for the interview!!! SOOO Please, give it a break already! You are starting to sound like the Poster child for the ATA. Or Maybe the presidential hopeful as much as you flip flop around a subject.

 

Don't take this the wrong way but,everytime I hear a trucker say in person or on the cb,that he learns something new everyday,well,then I ask him about what he learned yesterday,the day before and so on,you know they ussually can't tell you because it is just a saying that is a myth. We do have to constantly remind ourselves of prior mistakes and make sure we learned that lesson and not repeat. My son told me that a driver he knew ran a motorcycle off the highway 95 in bangor the other day,alot of broken bones and a wrecked bike though. He is gonna survive. I told him see,that's why I have always told my sons that drive truck and others,always check your mirrors twice,not once when you change lanes,when you are tired check three times,although you should not be out there tired.Please watch for cycles,I have rode one almost all my life,I want to stay upright and on the bike on the road.To me a supertrucker is just that,a caring,safety minded individule that is the best at what he does,they may drive faster than some,I do myself,I always stay with the flow of traffic but not in the middle,just like nascar racing,you run in a crowd and something really bad can happen,and by not being there I avoid it and hope I read it myself in the paper and I was not involved.To me,a super trucker cares to pride himself in being the best of the best. Most guys and girls with those supertrucks earned them thru schools of hard knox until they finally succeeded,and crafted their trade as far as possible. That's a supertrucker to me,nothing less or more. He or she is really just one of us.