I don't want to start an argument here, but... more screening of new drivers

like the guy on I-80 in utah flyin' by at 60 on ice, while everybody else is doin' 25.

 

everybody has their stupid moments--and everybody has to start someplace
some people get it after awhile and some dont

 

What tells you that's a new driver? There are drivers with years under their belts, who drive that way.....

Years ago, during a snowy, icy December day in Wisconsin, where traffic was barely moving about 30MPH, I was passed by a big yellow Pete, pulling an empty flatbed, doing at least 65. Owner op truck. No way should he have been going that fast.

 

:smt075 See a stupid person keeps standing there and getting hit



and a smart person would move or hit back....





American Trucker

 

Well, I started my trucking career before there were Truck Driver Schools. We would have to serve an apprenticeship of some sort. Maybe you'd work on the dock or the garage, moving trucks around the yard until you got a chance to ride along with one of the old guys, who would cut you no slack, while you became familiar with the size & weight. The law when I got my commercial license said you had to have a job requiring it before you could get it. But even in these good old days there was always a percentage of drivers that weren't worth a ####. But as the decades rolled on and trucks became easier to drive, more people ventured into the business where it has become saturated with people who shouldn't be in anything larger than a Mini Cooper. As the trucks became more fool proof, the seats were filled with more fools. Now don't everyone get their dander up, I have and to this very day, met some fine drivers with very little stick time. Some folks are Drivers and some never will be. I always give every truck I encounter as much distance as possible. I never cruise along side of or pass on the outside of a curve. Forty-two years without an accident and never in the ditch, running coast to coast and Canada, it couldn't have been luck...!

 

Preach it Brother Trucker!!!!!!

Drivers now days, both 4 wheeler and big truck, are too busy with a phone stuck in their ear not paying attention, THEN they see their exit at the last second and instead of doing the right thing, go to the next exit and coming back, they just cut over as everyone else is supposed to get out of THEIR way because THEY are in a hurry.

 

Some darn good posts in this thread, I cant even say anything its already been said!

 

I don't want to start a war here, but I see more stupidity amongst the somewhat experienced drivers than I do in the brand newbies or "old hands". An example, if you will....

Back in 2003, I was running south on I-81 here in PA. Fog so thick you could cut it with a butterknife, slap it between two slices of bread, and serve it as a sandwich (I was a Werner driver back then, food occupied alot of my thought processes). I had a TRL driver on my front door, and we were moving along. Not quick, you understand. Both of us were flashing our hazards, keeping snug up against the breakdown lane, and watching for anybody who was stopped. And sure enough, seemed like everytime I checked the mirror, some idiot was flying down the hammer lane just as fast as his big truck would go. Bear in mind, that TRL driver? A voice on the cb, and occassionally a set of blurry, dim tail lights whenever I crept too close (well within a truck length). We are talking thick fog here, gang. Me and that TRL driver kept at it, and finished our trips on time. I'llbet good money most of those other idiots, the ones that kept passing us, where involved in the big big accident on I-68 in Maryland that morning. Some of you might remember that one. 4-wheeler struck a Swift truck, caused a (I think I remember this right) 50 vehicle pile up. Fog listed as a contributing factor.

Oh yeah, judging by the chicken lights rolling past me, most of those drivers running through the fog like it was a clear summer day...were owner/operators...just sayin'.

 

I thought all the problems in this industry these days are because of newbie drivers?

 

One of my regular exits is a perfect example of what you complain about. First 99% of trucks on the interstate in this are are in the leftmost truck lane no matter how little traffic is on the road, no matter how many trucks are drafting them in the same lane, and no matter the time of day. This is the trucker equivalent of the 4-wheeler crossing 8 states in the left lane at 55 mph. Don't tell me about the POSSIBILITY some vehicle will merge while you are in the right lane when it is 3 am and there are no other vehicles in the same zip code.

Anyway, at this exit you get a 2 mile warning that the 2 right lanes are EXIT ONLY, thru traffic must move left. Most trucks drive under 2 overhead signs with bright yellow background EXIT ONLY and an arrow pointing at your head and they still swerve at the last minute. Stop staring at your hood ornament or your GD cellphone.

But this is trucking so the problem must be DOT doesn't give more than 2 miles of warning about the exit or the signs aren't big enough or the arrows painted in the middle of the exit lanes aren't clear enough. Whatever the problem, it's always someone else's fault if you are a "real truck driver.'

I've noticd that since trucks are coming with automatic headlights, like cars, the drivers have no problem leaving the headlights on all night, even when parked.

I guess these drivers really believed it when their mothers said they were special little snowflakes. You are what you do, not what you wish you were. Shape up and act like an adult with a job not a slacker teenager waiting for an allowance. The rest of us would appreciate it.