How many Million Milers do we have?

According to my old comic books (log books) I am still a rookie. Had a DOT cop call my log book a comic book because he laughed so hard when he looked at it.

 

Ha Ha Ha, were getting old, but aint it cool, ha ha ha

 

Been driving since 1977, couple of moon's ago, probalbly working on 3 time, had million mile safety award from 2 separate companies, past 2 million dont know. Just worry about the mile were working on right now. Been to all the states except Hawaii, getting to Alaska required a trek through Canada so I count Canada as been there also. As far north as Pruedue Bay and as far south as Key West, As far West as San Francisco and East Sidney, Nova Scotia. Think that about covers it.

 

Back in the day, we all called them comic books.

 

I don’t remember stumbling on this post but your words give me a reminder about the importance of learning not just from those that never had a hit of bad luck, but to pay attention when people admit to thier mistakes as well.
I know there are some drivers out there with lots of miles that would have you believe they never do and never did anything wrong, never made a mistake and everything they say is 100% the only way. Problem is if push comes to shove many of them would have the other guy running circles around them, couldn’t correct a bad situation or even lessen the blow if worse came to worse.
Those folks that made mistakes and learned from them will most likely have better advice because of that experiance.
A good example I saw recently was a driver in a truck all decorated with million mile, safe driver. I saw this after I finally was able to get rolling good again after the setback he caused when he cut left almost hitting the suv that was already beside him. Yep he got a million safe only by shear luck but I think that guy telling you to pay attention not just for a split second before you merge but always know what’s coming, what’s there and teaches you how to estimate approaching speed. But also has the horror story about his contact with such and such will actually have a much more lasting effect

 

Being a million or a multi million mile driver doesn't mean anything these days. Companies use to offer things like big belt buckles and gave you a diamond for every ten years you were there. Or other types of trinkets from the company.

I can remember at Walmart Transportation. Once you did 20yrs I think it was. They would order you a blue truck to your liking. And only you drove it. But they switched up and said you would have to slip seat with the other drivers at the DC. So some started leaving just because of that.

Most companies don't have ceremonies for million mile plus drivers anymore. Hell some don't even give out an award. Its just a nod or a pat on the back. And how long before you get to the next delivery.

 

I mean... I'm currently sitting at just under 800k, myself... this year's been pretty slow so far, though, so I'm probably not gonna hit my first million until my 8 year mark rather than the 7 that I've been trending towards if things keep up like they have been for too much longer. As for whether that'll be a clean million or not... that honestly depends on if we're speaking officially (what my MVR reflects) or honestly. If you go by what my MVR says, it'll be a clean million with no tickets or accidents whatsoever. If you go by what's actually happened, I'm technically sitting on a clean 400k because I dun goofed and caught an overweight about 2 and a half years ago

 

I "probably" started driving in 65. I would have been 8. I wasnt strong enough to toss the bales of hay on to the wagon, but I was tall enough to reach the clutch. Started driving army trucks in 75. Went to basic, then to medic training, then to jump school, then to ranger school and the FIRST thing I did after I was a fully trained airborne ranger medic was change the front tire on a deuce and a half...

Got my CDL in 84 - 2 years after my dad died. He was a trucker all his life, only worked at one company. He would have beat me silly if I had gotten my CDL while he was alive, so I was a computer programmer until then. Went out on the road for 2 years and then went back to programming for a while (writing truck dispatching software). Went back to driving full time in about 97 (did some part time stuff here and there between 86 and 97). I got somewhere north of 3 million safe miles, 2 million accident and ticket free (last accident - nonchargeable - was in 98 last ticket was 04) . I havent been stopped or even checked at a scale in 5 years...

 

1968 drove Ford, Mack & Oshkosh Dumps etc [class two]. 1977 obtained a class one license, first load out was to deliver textile cloth in front of Macy's dept. store at 4:00 AM in Manhattan, NY from Ma. truck too big for the textile district! Not long after that lived on the road for eight Years meat, produce, whatever!. 1985 bought 1st truck 1981 IH 9670 followed by 3 Kenworths, IH 9900IX, Western Star, and my last truck a 2016 Peterbilt bought new BIG MISTAKE! DPF, between the The Pandemic, 56 years, and an estimated 5 million miles I called it quits and gave up my Authority. 2nd BIG MISTAKE! But I did get a 32-year safety award from OOIDA, no accidents! All gone but not forgotten. I guess the road never ends.

 

Congrats!
I have a question(s) for you though! I'm learning about the industry as my husband and I prepare to purchase our own truck in the near future, Lord willing. My husband has a squeaky clean driving record, but I'm terrified of someone hitting him and he getting blamed for it. There are so many attorneys there just salivating at the opportunity to cash in on a big payday by taking advantage of a situation like this (like the Texas Hammer for instance) and trying to turn it around so the driver is at fault. Maybe I'm totally wrong about this, but it seems like it would be easy for something like that to happen because after all the optics matter more than the facts sometimes. I guess my question is, when these people were at fault by hitting you was it a big ordeal? Did they try to put the blame on you? Was there fear of losing your license? Or was it just a typical they were at fault and they acknowledged it?
You'll have to forgive my ignorance here because I know almost nothing.