Has anyone ever seen evidence of the driver shortage?

where did i ever use the term "real driver'. We have been talking about GPS units. There are probably a lot of things that were done in early years that many drivers cannot believe. But remember, we did not have such devices in those days, so one had to rely upon road maps, or shipper/receiver giving correct directions

 

Every city? No. But most of the major cities yes. I got them. Back before gps was available for the public every truck stop carried them. Going to chicago for the first time? Stop at the gary fuel city and get a fold up map. Same for philly, puttsburgh, buffalo, cleveland, detroit, etc etc. Sure as hell was quicker to stop before the curry and get a map than stop five times and wait in line for the pay phone with your bag of quarters trying to get ahold of recieving. Not sure why i still carry them in the truck. Old habits die hard? But they don't take up much room. A boot box holds them all.

 

Your very first post in this thread was heavily emphasising superiority and looking down on drivers younger than you. It's the tone of your posts causing you problems. What's that saying? Something like it's not what you say, its how you say it.

 

Well that's where common sense comes in. If you lack that then no matter what method you use it won't work.

 

Here is where you used the term.

 

Mate thats not a driver shortage thats a truck parking shortage there is a big difference, what amazed me was in a city as large as Los Angeles the total lack of any major trucks stops, the only ones i'm aware of are the 2 TA's on the I-10, so why aren't they building any new trucks stops in LA i'm sure they'd do very well.

 

Well, if you followed a GPS blindly into unsavory areas you may know how to use it but it seems you didn't do so well in making use of it. Like anything, there's a learning curve and many put too much faith into the electronic device.

You can't beat it though for knowing that your turn is 900 feet ahead when you're in unfamiliar territory, visibility sucks and the street signs are covered with wet snow.

 

that cruize gizmo was that shaft you pulled up, with the ratchet you turned to fine tune the rpm.

or the T handle under the dash

or are you referring to the T handle you used to shut the engine down?

They had both in pre 70's model trucks

all i remember is 120 degrees in bullhead, havasu to parker into needles or blythe and rarely ever having to stop and pee.

most guys used it for traffic, bears, road conditions and noise in the night while listening to the A.M.
I think it is a tool that still has a use although the role has changed to road condition monitoring.

 

I am going to have to disagree with some of your premise.

The drinking and drug issue is more of an outgrowth of the MADD people and the anti truck people. trucks are large objects that create large scenes when they have accidents. People drink today the same as they did in the past.

To expand on my point, look at cops. The have no regulatory statutes that demand they be monitored, yet they run the same highways we do, often exceeding 90 mph. In house studies show they are subject to the same to substance abuse problems as the average driver/citizen. While it is true that most LEO agencies will fire for a DUI, some active duty report for shift with a measurable BOC. so far Madd has not gone after them

Regulations are the product of select groups with a desired outcome. It does not take a negative action by a group to have regulations forced on it.

The bigger picture is regulations bring jobs to the government. It is not the past performance that brings these rules, but it is a natural outgrowth of a growing and more crowded society.