Knights of the highway

many will spot yah while backing in. some will unhook while at a dock it's tight.

 

Helping other drivers...

Went to a port to load a road grader. Dispatcher calls me and asks if I would be willing to help 2 drivers by loading their machines for them. These drivers refused to drive the road graders on their trailers because "they didn't want to be liable for anything." I told my travel agent that I would not help them. He offered money. It's not about money.

I get checked in, break down my Rgn, walk into the sea of heavy machinery and find my road grader. Fire her up and drive her onto the trailer. There are 3 drivers watching me. One of them asks me if I would guide him onto his trailer because he has never driven a road grader before. Sure!

After we get his grader loaded, the other two guys come up to me and ask me if I will drive their machines on for them. Nope. I don't want to be liable.

"You're an A Hole!!!"

Yes I am.

If someone is unwilling to lift a finger to help themselves, you and I can't help them. It is against the code to wipe another man's arse because he doesn't want smelly fingers.

 

I still see some truck drivers helping others. I think most of them are oo or small fleets. Im sure there are some in the megas that would help too. Anytime I see a accident I feel like I should at least make sure they are alright but it can be hard to do so. I've only seen one major accident that happen directly behind me right as we were all approaching traffic. The driver must of been following too close and didn't have time to slow down or he was going too fast with too much weight and had to swerve off the interstate. Was a loud BOOM. I seen others pull over and didn't want to congest things anymore. But later that night another company driver passed by that accident and said the guy probably didn't make it. His whole front of the truck was mangled. I wish more car drivers knew what it was like to drive a truck. I really appreciate those that do and you can tell them apart when you are driving with them.
My biggest issues with other truck drivers is that some of them cut you off just as bad as some of these car drivers. If they are trying to pass someone and there are cars behind them they will respect the car drivers more then the trucky they are trying to pass. As soon as they get a opening they swerve right in and the driver behind has to hit the brakes just to increase the opening/ following distance. That ticks me off.
Another thing with I don't care so much anymore is the blinking.
I allways blink a driver thru or thank em with my marker light when they are trying to pass or signal me to pass. It's a sign of appreciation and what you should expect from a professional driver.
But Soo many times there is no thank you or there is no go on ahead, you've got the clear.
I know there are still good people out there. But generation after generation it seems they are getting dumber and having less and less respect and morals.

 

There's a difference between a surface of slippery ice and a stinkin whole.

 

Well, you drive for Swift, so we naturally feel sorry for you, and will stop to help.

Alright I'm joking. I truly mean no disrespect. But I have to agree on the phone thing. I'm not quite old enough to know what driving was like before cell phones, I've had one since I was 16. Which is 20 years now. But I think these smart phones, (which I happen to be using one now), are the root of all evil. They occupy so much of one's existence, it's sickening. Go to a restaurant sometime and just look around. Instead of having conversations, everybody's looking at their phones. Maybe I'm getting old and cranky, but it seems the people younger than me have very limited social skills. Not all of them, mind you, but a majority. It's not just a trucking thing, it's our society as a whole. Throw these people in a truck for weeks on end, and it's a recipe for what we have today.

I'm certainly not blaming those younger than myself, it's the world we live in. And it sucks.

I began driving truck in 2001, when I was 18, doing local work for $12 per hour. If someone would have told me it would be like this 16 years later, I would have chosen a different career. But who knew? The fact is, I still love what I do, and I will help a person out if they need it. Just the way I was raised. But more often than not, I offer help, and get told to mind my own business. It gets discouraging, but sooner or later, I may need the help, so I keep trying.

 

Look old man, I got started in the late 70's and as you describe it, it was close to that.

However here is things that have changed.

we got sleepers that were large, air conditioned and heated.

we got laptops, phones and other devices that let us stay in the sleeper and only to come out to get food or go to the bathroom (sometimes needed to relieve themselves, a driver may just get out of the door and piss right there).

we have a disconnect between this being a career/profession and it just a job.

we no longer talk to each other as brothers, it is more like a b*tchfest if we get together in line or waiting for something at the buffet.

Society has changed a lot, when I was a kid, I lived in a community. We had our store, we had our local doctor while living in a city. This all started to disappear in the 70's, by the late 90's much of that was gone and kids (drivers) today grew up without a community.

What it hasn't been was the mega companies.

I also agree with Moose and his post.

 

Reading some of these posts makes me think of that age old question. What came first the chicken or the egg? I refuse to blame the trucking companies for the condition of today's trucking world. I have said this in many threads my father was a trucker. I grew up around truckers. (even a Ga state public service commission officer was a family friend that attended the same Church my mother did). It is my opinion the so called mega's are like they are because of years and years of experience dealing with thousands and thousands of people that should NEVER have been allowed to obtain a Commercial License. Millions upon millions of dollars has been wasted on fixing things that should NEVER had been broken to start with. Simple things like movable 5th wheels. I remember a time when most of the time these 5th wheels were free. Not any longer. Too many morons that pull them up then take out a fareing. No common sense whatsoever. This situation is getting so bad that there was a meeting at a MAJOR carrier recently and ALL the depts heads were told to be there. The carrier operations and safety depts were at each others throats because operations was carping because safety was pulling too many drivers off the road. I am not at liberty to say the carrier but it is in the top 10 in size. They are giving serious consideration to loosing their standards just to keep enough warm bodies in the drivers seats to service their customers. Most of us that have been around trucking for long know how this one will end! Folks stop blaming the carriers. They are pure *******'s but not the cause of this.

 

That's the greatest quote ever!!! Words to live by!! With your permission of course, I'm stealing that as my new motto on life ! Lol. Love it!!!

 

By all means, have at it.

 

So is the real problem deeper in our culture; in our education system? Perhaps it's a failure of mentoring or just a lack of people able to be effective mentors, not just in trucking, but in general.