Speeding Tickets

I'm 57 and started driving semi trucks sometime in 1980. I see a lot of trucks pulled over these days and I know it is because they were speeding. The term I like to use is "driving like a maniac." I remember being in their shoes when I was younger and had so much to prove to the world. I was out of control from the day I was born and it took me many years to slow down and reinvent myself. I had my license suspended before I was 17 due to having earned at least 6 speeding tickets, some of which cost me some jail time. When I started driving semi's, I was awarded several speeding tickets along with one head on collision in 1981 and a reckless operation. That was in less than 1 year of commercial driving. If that isn't enough, your learners permit that you get when you are 16; It got suspended. I was charged with driving a vehicle without a licensed driver. You could say that I had a lot of trouble getting out of the chute. My last ticket was in 1996 going into Blythe, CA.

I have worked very hard to get where I am now and in October of this year 2016 I will have 20 years without any charges on my CDL. I'm reminded of what it was like when the CDL was instituted back in the late 80's. I knew a few drivers who's driving records had caught up with them. Before the CDL came out, if you had accumulated too many tickets you could simply go to another state and apply for a drivers license and you were back in business. These drivers were now faced with paying back every ticket they had been awarded in all states that they had held a license. For some it ended their careers.

In hindsight, especially after that accident, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had simply learned how to slow down. After all, I wasn't making any better money by putting my license on the line. The money I made from speeding and dodging scale houses was the change I had in my pocket. After that accident, nobody worth driving for would even look at me for over 3 years. I'm not OTR anymore but if I was I wouldn't accept a load from a shipper that I knew I would have to break my personal boundaries i.e. sleep, hours of service, speeding etc. to deliver on time or beat traffic or weather.

Everyone today is in a hurry driving like I used to drive; driving like a maniac, going absolutely nowhere, following too close, driving too fast for conditions and not paying attention to the big picture. I just kick back and set my cruise to no faster than 3 miles over the speed limit. Can I get away with more? Probably depending on where I am but I have come to the conclusion that speed limits are posted for a reason and I have even more recently subscribed to driving no faster than the posted speed limit which in todays world usually means that I'm the slowest person on the road. And when the road starts getting congested, I remind myself that I don't have anything to gain by passing other vehicles and I don't have to drive the speed limit. It's only a limit and I can drive slower if need be.

For me, it's not what I can get away with but rather what is the law? It's a matter of principle. If we look around us we have little by little become a nation of impatient law breakers who have no respect for the other driver. This is exactly how I was when I was younger. Do you think I'm exaggerating? Think about it.
I'm probably going to sound a little harsh here but it's an uncontestable fact.

When you speed, you break the law.
When you break the law, you are committing a crime.
Speeding is a criminal offense.

If you are a speeder who has charges on your record I would like to encourage you to reflect on what you have gained by speeding other than violations. Today is as good as any to reinvent yourself and simply say "No More."

I haven't seen any blue lights behind me in many years and what's nice for me is that when I apply for a job today, within 48 hours they are calling me and asking me "When can you start?"

 

Thanks for your post. I too have been sober for many years. We should start a group for truckers and sobriety. I have a whole lifetime of stories regarding trucking and bars across this whole country.