What has happened to this industry???

enough of the "new generation" bs. It's your generation that taught us.

You act like pulling a trailer is this inanely hard complicated thing. it's like driving a big car, with a long trailer behind it. people pull these things in pickups. The weight is the real issue, but it's not something you're going to learn until you actually have it. pulling an empty trailer doesn't exactly prepare you for that. Any moron can learn how to tow a trailer.

it's not our generation, it's not being image, it's just we're not you. there IS such a thing as to slow today. These parking lots are crowded, you need to be sage, but you also need to get the hell out of the way. That doesn't mean drove recklessly, but 3mph down a row of 30 spots with absolutely nobody around is a little slow. 5-10 is still just as safe.

We're also a generation raised on video games. That had a huge benefit to a job like this since we're more trained to react quickly.

What it comes down to, is we're not you. You're no different than the guy who thinks 65 in a 65 is too fast. For the huge increase in the number of ticks on the road, the number of accidents are actually pretty decent, so we're clearly don't something right. Drive what is safe and comfortable. For us, and the technology that's been added to trucks since when you were new, we can move a little faster, because it's what we learned with

 

Even if I were to grant you that, the story is NOT about reaction time.

It's about being aware. And too many younger drivers simply do not look more then 10 feet beyond the space of their truck. And I'm talking about those that drive cars and big rigs. Why is this important?

Because drivers of all vehicles (ALL) simply are getting into more and more of a hurry. It's nothing new....safety films from the 50s were warning about this, and how many people who are normally pretty calm and easy-going become aggressive behind the wheel. And as we are considered the "professionals", it's largely up to us to be aware of those shortcomings of the general motoring public and be prepared to adjust ("react", if you will...but you can't react if you're not aware!)

5 to 10 mph through a parking lot? Sure...no problem. 20-25? Idiotic. I agree with you on that one.

And of course, there are exceptions. Some old hands are dangerous. Some new drivers are excellent. But as a 52-year-old who has been in the workplace since 1974, I'll state categorically that things have changed, and not for the better.

 

You're right, things have changed. But that blame is shared. Your generation talks about how much better the working world was back then, but then tart all of us being so expendable, that if we don't push that boundary of what is sage get the job done faster, you'll just find someone else who will. When all We know is that results matter more than anything else, how much different do you expect us to think coming to this job?

If all of you want the odd days of driving back, forget about criminal minds for a while and do something about it. Get on the phone with your companies and bring up tree safety issues you're seeing with new drivers, talk to your congressman and get the ideas of better laws out there to The people who can actually do something about it.

Everyone whining in the forums or at truck stops won't solve anything, ever. If you have issues with where the industry is going, get together and get a voice. Somewhere, people forgot that we're providing a service for our company, they're not the ones doing us any favor, and that holds true for literally every job out there... And in a field with ad high of a demand this for good drivers, stand up for yourself, use your voice, if they get mad, you can always get a new job.

So if you have a problem with where everything is going, then male them fix it.

 

Lord, this is the LAST thing we need to do.

The problem lies between an individual's own two ears. It's called a mindset, and from an overall standpoint, it has changed dramatically.

 

Yeah. After all, who needs representative government, right? Why, if all us old farts had put our two cents in when and where it mattered, what would there be to rant about? I mean, we were too lazy to get off our fat arses way back in the 'good old days', we certainly haven't lost any weight in our fat arses lately, now have we?

No, the passive life watching the scenery go by, that's for us old farts.

 

I am 32 years old, so I am technically part of this younger generation, I was raised on video games, but I do take a big issue with what you are saying, I've been running trucks since I was 15, I started with a pickup and goose neck, then moved up to a big truck when I was 23 minus a little time in there to do a tour in the Navy. The road has been my home for a long time, and I can tell you having owned and operated a towing business for a couple of years, not any idiot can learn how to tow a trailer. I would know I have pulled enough of them off things they have run over, and I have repaired enough of them in my shop.

I have also seen a lot of so called truck drivers run trailers through the ditch yanking a corner too tight, over the hoods of other vehicles, fortunately never over an innocent bystander. We are toting around some really big trailers in this business, and quite frankly you may be good at it, but not everyone is going to be and once you have been out here for a few years you are going to see that.

The other thing I am going to point out to you is that I don't care how fast your reaction time is, when you are too fast, you are too fast. The truck stop is not a place to be in a hurry, it is a place to slow down and be mindful of what you are doing, it doesn't make you a bad boy for being able to whip through the truck stop at a high rate of speed, just unsafe and inconsiderate. Sowing down and being curious to others is the hallmark of a professional driver. Whipping through like a race truck driver shows the world you are a snot nosed kid with something to prove.

You are going to find as you come up in this business there is a lot more to it than just holding a steering wheel and toting a trailer around, when you get through your first couple of winters here, actually if you make it through your first couple of winters out here, you are going to find there is a lot more to trucking than yanking a trailer around. I know I did, when I was 2 years in, I thought I had a really good handle on the business, and for 2 years in I knew a lot, but it was nothing compared to what I know today.

I will tell you this much though, When I run trucks I run big horse power, overdrive transmission and I have em turned wide open where if I push em hard enough they will bust into the triple digits, and I have even been that fast a few times, but when I am in the truck stop I keep it low and slow and I take my time because the parking lot isn't the place to make time, Its the time to show other drivers common courtesy, if I need to make time I do it on the open road with not a lot of traffic around where the risk is much more manageable.

I will throw a little riddle at you too, when pulling a 10'6" spread I can literally drive it sideways, any idea how?

 

What the HOS do is they give a structure that lets a company demand that a driver drives. If they have an EOBR on the truck that lets them see how many hours a driver has, then they have a mechanism to tell them to get back on the road. It is understood and documented that a human being needs so many hours of rest to be able to drive so many hours, the mega's aren't fighiting the HOS, because for them it is a micromanagement tool to be able to say get back on the road. You're not out of hours you CANT be tired.

At the same time forcing drivers to live within those HOS that a bunch of doctors put together through their fancy little studies that they do and get paid millions for, it gives the mega carriers a liability shelter for when they force a driver to drive because all they have to say is "Well he had hours to drive, he must have been being irresponsible in his off time and not resting" so when there is an accident they shift all the blame back to the driver.

From the HOS the mega's also get a structure that they use to build their pricing and scheduling, and this allows them to train the people quoting rates to give realistic timelines for delivering loads.

It is all one big corporate machine.

When you say they move freight by the load why wouldn't they want to expand the hours? I will tell you why it is because by expanding the hours they create a system that is unsustainable, and it will eventually come back to bite them. Right now they have things pushed right to the ragged edge of their loss percentage envelope and they are fine with that.

What the mega's do when they want to move more freight is they put more people in trucks, because to them people and trucks are a disposable expendable commodity that they have created at a price point to fit into their business model.

 

everyone keeps song this is so different than just pulling a trailer... how?

before I touched a trick I see already defensive, I understood exactly what my car could safely handle, I was always ready for the unexpected and was always aware of what could turn dangerous on the road...

Where's this profound difference? If you don't have bad habits, what new things are you really bringing to driving? This also might be because of where I'm Thom, in nj, the roads are very crowded and aggressive there, so you have to learn to be really good at driving, and learn fast... But besides actually strong the trailer, it's all common sense and practice. It's really not a hard job if you're responsible

 

You're right in a sense but there is a bigger picture you are missing, it is great that you have taken naturally to towing a trailer, it is something that takes a lot of hand eye coordination, granted auto shift trucks have made it a lot easier for a lot of folks, but still it is something that there are a lot of people who simply can not do it well. If you happen to be good at it I say great, I was a natural at it too, it probably means you have a future in the trucking business. But a lot of folks just aren't that way.

You are right that it takes common sense but the problem is common sense isn't so common any more, we have a lot of people who don't know how to do a #### thing for themselves.

Now I have been all over the country up there where you live, driving up there aside from the traffic, knowing where the low bridges are, and some tight roads, it can be stressful and challenging in that respect, but the further west you roll the more challenges you are going to be presented with, like coming across 80 in the middle of winter through Wyoming in a van and a light load when the road is icy. That right there is going to test what you are made of.

Or when you are grossed out and you have to run I-90 between Billings Montana and Seattle Washington, and you get to deal with the 6 big hills that are out there in a blizzard, that is more than just towing a trailer.

I could go on and on but each geographic location you run to is going to have its own challenges and you are going to have to learn to deal with them, if you are a creative adaptive thinker then you are going to do well, but some people really get their butts kicked by trying to tackle it.

Hence forth the "Trucking ain't for sissies..." mantra.

As well where you are at in your career I would be surprised if you have done anything more than tug a van around, when you start to get into other types of trailers and freight, that is where the big challenges start to come into the business.

When you roll into a shipper and pick up 3 pieces that are 13'6" wide and they tell you the value on them is 3 million each, and you have to sign a paper stating you understand the value of the load, and then you are taking that load from Kansas to Washington State and because of road construction half of that run is going to be spent on a 2 land with a pilot in front and in back of you. That my friend is where it takes a real professional.

And even on dimensional loads there are challenges too, like when you go load up a load of tractors and they have no tie down rings on them, how do you secure that load properly with out damaging any of the machinery? (And by not damaging I mean not even so much as scratching the paint)

Then there are the loads that are long wide and heavy like a Grove RT855 crane, that puppy weighs about 93,000 lbs and is 11 feet wide. And when you put it on the trailer you had better know how to tie that sucker down and tie it down good, then get down the road 60-65 mph with it. When you get out there and do that in a truck that full of fuel you in the seat and your gear in it is 52,000 lbs, that means the gross on that sucker is 145,000 lbs! That ain't just pulling a trailer. Want to back up? not happening! Why? Because to tow that you are going to have a stinger on the back of your RGN sticks 20' out behind you then you have to make sure all of your axles scale out right, and that nothing is over.

Or some times it is just knowing what order to load things on your trailer, or how to get them off.

Even moving over to more specialized types of freight that go in a van or refer comes with challenges all of its own, things you have to check and maintain and be accountable for.

Pulling a dry box is the easiest part of this industry, that is why everyone starts there. If you are a natural at driving you have a gift, some people don't, this is why some people just don't make it in the business and some never graduate past pulling a dry box.

 

Oh also Rockstar you never answered my question, how is it that I can literally drive a 10'6" spread sideways?