We have been invaded and here is the proof!

@bryan21384 mentioned that getting a cdl was to easy and I agree with him. On top of that we have a problem with new drivers getting minimal experience in overall driving conditions. Owner of a Towing company east of Charleston told me he makes good $$ from companies whose drivers get scared crossing the turnpike here in WV, so scared they park the truck and report the truck has issues and they cannot drive it any further.

Owner told me his mechanic has found no problems with the truck, and ended up driving the truck as far as into Kentucky to get the truck and driver out of the hilly section of the state.

Newest truck I’ve ever driven pulling a load was a 2011 Freightliner rental to pull our lowboy from WV to mobile, Alabama and back, after starting out in a 1973 Cabover Kenworth I was surprised at how far they have came with trucks, especially how it rode and handled out on the highway. More like driving a pickup than a semi, no wonder these newer drivers get so comfortable and relaxed and most likely forget what they are driving….

 

I can't even understand this push on rules when so many of you have #####ed and moaned about every little regulation in the industry, constantly saying the government is too involved, and they need to back out. Now you don't like the visual of a certain sector of humanity and its time to follow the rules now. Some rules are OK. Ones that protect safety, perhaps even morality, I can live with. Arbitrary rules.....suggestions. Rules moreso designed for control.....suggestions. If they want to enforce this pettiness, fine. Whatever. My issue is how its being enforced. Use of tax dollars to go on a hunt to find all of these folks seems wasteful when there are more pressing issues in my view. I could see if they were out here causing mass trouble and starting wars and riots, ok. If they're just existing, working, not causing trouble, they should be left alone. I hope all of you slow down to 55 when the sign says so. Lol.

 

Really good point. Put it in drive, set the cruise, and go. Automatic braking, collision avoidance, gps telling them every turn to make, etc. It would be easy to let the mind wander for some.

 

The driver comfort is real. I'm in a Volvo now, and its like a Cadillac lol. The CDL training is the root of the real problems in trucking. Even in 2010 when I got started, I had only spent 7 weeks in a truck before Western Express sent me solo. 3 weeks in school, 4 with a trainer. With the benefit of retrospect, if I had to do it all over again, I would have opted to stay with him at least 1 month longer. I had not seen enough to be on my own. Then I was pulling flatbed. I still was lost on how to secure certain loads, once I got on my own. I think it started to click after 5 or 6 months solo. 5 years in was when I felt I was a true pro.

 

Well ya know, I think about that fedex driver I passed on I-70 in Ohio west of wheeling couple years ago. Now fedex is a big company, and you would think their drivers are all professionals. But… when I eased by him and seen his left hoof up on the dash I was really disappointed.

Professionalism seems to be a thing of the past especially with these bigger companies, just see to many laid back like it’s a perfect world and nothing bad is ever going to happen…..

 

Oh, it's definitely a loaded question, but not a "gotcha question". Just something to make you think.

People from different countries face different processes and costs to immigrate to the US. Some of those are policy based - the EU/AUS/NZ citizens are more easily able to secure visas and average time to get a green card is relatively low while South American countries tend to have higher barriers to get a visa (ie having to go to a US Consulate in person) and average time to get a green card is closer to 10 years. People who are here on Temporary Protected Status often end up in limbo - while in theory they have the same pathways, in practice USCIS puts them in a holding pattern that requires scheduled check ins, repeated fillings, etc. While there are no extra 'fees' for this, simply having to take a day off work comes with a cost.

And that's if everybody is playing fairly. When you look at just immigrants from N. Ireland, there is an odd correlation between acceptance and stated religion. I'm not saying USCIS discriminates against Catholics - the Catholic Church says that USCIS discriminates against Catholics and has since at least the early 90s. And let's not forget the USCIS official who put a 19 year Somalian woman on a plane to Mogadishu without a deportation order (valid or otherwise), with only the clothes on her back - clothing which would have at best gotten her killed the moment she stepped off the airplane, and at worst I shudder to contemplate. USCIS seems to want to challenge the Chicago PD for most bribes and horrifying scandals.

You naturalized in the early 2010s, and if I recall correctly you got a CDL almost immediately upon entry on your work visa (circa 2006?). You almost certainly would have been issued a non domiciled CDL, which you wouldn't be eligible for today. Dollars to doughnuts, if you'd been driving on that non domiciled CDL the other day in Oklahoma you would have been arrested. And that's if you got a visa in the first place. We've effectively shut down legal means of immigration over the last 20 years. Movie and music pirating hit it's peak in the early 2000s, then came Netflix and Spotify and piracy dropped to negligible levels. The cost of streaming has recently gone through the roof, and so has pirating. If you make the legal process too onerus and costly, people will opt for the illegal path - particularly when it is enabled like illegal immigration is enabled by American employers.

 

Because you keep saying it’s so bad that we try and have some sort of rules here to keep people from flooding in illegally because you’re such a humanitarian. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why the rest of the world can enforce their rules but we can’t.

 

I’m not talking about just the trucking industry. I’m talking overall immigration law. If they’re not legal to be here for whatever reason then it doesn’t matter what they’re doing for a paycheck.

 

I never had any training. Grew up with my kinfolk who was a self employed water well driller, learnt everything the oldskool way. The old 21W Bucyrus Erie drilling rig I grew up was from the 1940’s and had poured Babbitt bearings on the shafts instead of roller bearings we all use today, so I was taught how to pour new bearings, and align the shafts.

The truck it was mounted on was a 1960 IH B170 with 9:00-20 bias ply tube type wheels. So I learnt from a young age how to change them which came in handy later in life.

My first truck was a 1973 Cabover Kenworth. 335 Cummins with a 9 spd. 10:00-20 tires on Dayton wheels, truck and the 42’ flatbed that came with it. Bought that truck in the spring of 1987.

Back then we didn’t have a cdl here in WV as we do today, cost me $25 for a Chauffeur license to drive it.

I can still remember the slogan I heard from some when the cdl was becoming mandatory… to keep the best of the best on the road. Well, in my opinion they sure missed that by a mile from what I’ve seen over the years.

Many of my mentors were WWll vets, guys that could do things with a truck that seemed unimaginable, but, they had trouble writing and the cdl mandate caused them to find work elsewhere other than out on the road. 2 men told me they were afraid they couldn’t pass the written test because of their lack of reading comprehension. Back then it was all written not electronic like I hear it is today.

I’ve been very fortunate over the years, never had an accident of any kind to date, but the oh lords have been many trying to avoid someone else’s mistake or carelessness.

Over 38 years now and still don’t call my myself a pro, just a normal guy with a truck trying to live in a fast paced world we all are trying to survive in…..

 

The gps was my point in these pics, Kentucky put these signs up for a reason. But, these signs are useless is can’t read them and understand what they are telling you….