Scary side of trucking

None. It's not the "good old days." With better route planning and scheduling modern drivers don't need it to make delivery on time.

 

I don't agree with it either. I do think the ratio of good safe drivers to bad unsafe and unprofessional drivers is nowhere near the same as it once was. AND these unsafe unprofessional drivers make more noise, "by noise I mean pulling stupid that casts the trucking industry into a bad light with the public" and cause MUCH more problems than they did a generation or two ago. What's more, I don't see it getting better in my lifetime either. BECAUSE of these facts I see some serious changes ahead over the next 30 or so years. I see all kinds of monitors in the trucks looking for things like the number of times you blink your eyes, your general alertness level. These monitors can be calibrated by your own history. Have an outlier day and you get stopped. A driver will have to prove to the truck they are not using alcohol by breathing into a sensor just to start the vehicle and every so often afterward. I see depending on the technology devices that can measure a driver's blood pressure and blood sugar levels REAL TIME! This will get you a call from safety. Do you have sleep apnea?? Have a bad night and your CPAP won't allow you to drive that day! Think this can't happen? Just wait! Think about these devices in regard to the history of electronic logs?? First, they were an option that became a rule.

Do we have drivers today that is professional? Yes, we most certainly do! I know several in my private life. I just think they are in the minority! That's sad to me!

 

and that's the problem...the "silent minority"

the general public, and law makers and shakers only see the jerkwad MAJORITY of idiots that are out there. meaning in the end, no real professionals on the roads.

 

when i buy any motor vehicle, i buy for one of at least, 2 reasons...styling, and price.

things like power plants, transmissions, interior layout and options, weigh in as well.

but for the life of me, i cannot fathom spending over $50,000 for a pick up truck.

oh sure, they hold thier value over the average 4 wheeler, and with a full REAL frame, they can last forever, which in several years of ownership, you get your money's worth.

but on average, how many people actually keep trucks a long time?

i can drive by ANY new car dealership, and see row upon row of 1 or 2, or 3 year old trucks, either coming off lease, or being traded in from company's that need new equipment for warranty purposes.

and many of these great used trucks, are fully equipped, and a few are bare bone trucks.

but, they are still (to me) overly priced even in the used truck market.

 

Yeah, it's not a good situation. Every single piece of regulatory change that has happened "in the name of safety" is because somebody screwed up. The people who formulate our laws over-react and pile even more onerous regulations on the trucking industry.
If I was a young person looking for a career these days I wouldn't choose trucking. Likewise if I was a young person that wanted to start a business I think trucking would be my last choice.
I've done well with trucking but I was able to work, make money, and run my company without the problems that face us now. I'd hate to be trying to start out today.
I'm not saying that safety regulations are bad. There have to be laws and guidelines. Nobody in their right mind wants to see trucking return to the way it was in the sixties but we're slowly being strangled by restrictions that do nothing for safety.
There's plenty of blame to go around and I don't have any easy solution to the problems. But if things don't change, and change soon, I don't see any improvement coming.

 

in my earlier years, i was a very good auto-mechanic.

i got out or that business, only cuz i was tired of solving puzzles, from my own customers, as well as other shops, sending problem vehicles to me.

it got really, sickening to be constantly sought after.,

i gave up that world, for the world of solace, and solo-ship.

being "free" to do things on my own, and no one to haunt me.

but that changed over the years as well.

but i did put in 48 years, before retiring, as the "one man" job was still better than a shop full of mechanics, customers, cars, tools, etc,etc.

in the end..???

i wish nearly every stinking day of my life, that i had stayed in the repair shop.

i had come to the realization, that those other shops and customers coming to me, KNEW, that i knew my "stuff", and actually depended on me for help.

i just didn't "see it" that way, when i was younger.......

 

If were that same 22 year old just fresh out of the Air Force person I was in 1980 knowing what I know now I would have stayed in, used my education benefits, and stayed in at least 20 years.

 

it's "funny" how there are so-called anti-aging creams, to make one look younger. "to turn back the time" as some advertisers say.

too bad, there really isn't any real "time machine" that we can go back to a certain point, where we made some major decision, and go back, and start fresh.