I am a Trucker.
I truck. I am very good at it too. It has not always been this way tho.
My first year, first company truck, first time stuck.
Early on in my trucking career I was horrible at it. Most are for the first few years. If they make it that long. In other words the highways are really not a safe place at all. Just being brutally honest with you here. A very large percentage. I would even say as many as half the big rig drivers should not be operating heavy machinery of any kind. Especially not an 80,000 lb machine hurtling at 70+ mph towards a mini van full of kids on their way to soccer practice.
From drowsy and distracted driving to just not knowing how to react. To not freeze up during an extreme situation. Experience comes over time. There are many young drivers. I was one once.
Good Driver Gone Bad
What makes a good driver a really bad driver at the same time?
Treating a man like a machine. I can honestly tell you I would be a horrible driver again if I were forced to drive long hours, in bad weather, during rush hours, while tired. The ELD and big companies guarantee this will happen. The geek dispatching the drivers in many cases has never driven a Prime Mover big rig. These overbearing hours of service that the a.i. electronic logging devices are programmed to dictate. Those a.i. overlord dictators programmed rules were created by a nerd who never had to live by these rules/hours.
So not only am I an awesome several million mile safe driver with the Landstar Carrier appreciation awards to prove it. I can honestly say if I were under a forced dispatch with a douchebag for a dispatcher that I would fail miserably and be deadly behind the wheel. My first couple years proved it to me and I have never forgotten that.
So sign me up for being the worst driver ever if I had to do it someone elses way.
Thanks for taking a #weekend-engagement unsafe ride with one of the safest drivers you will ever ride along with here on the Hive.
