Almost head on

azdryheat wrote:
I just wish that car/motorhome drivers had to go through the same training as commercial drivers. I work driving motorhomes for a dealer and had to get my commercial license. The training would be an eyeopener for the average driver. Slam the truckers all you want but I spent 30 years as a cop and saw car drivers doing dumber stuff than the truckers. Pull my toy hauler across the country and you'll see what I mean.

Not buying it in the least. We live near a major, overloaded truck route that is a four lane surface street, with huge traffic counts, cross streets, and lights. Hundreds of 18 wheelers an hour. Unfortunately, I'm on this road way too much, and have a lot of free time, while stuck in traffic, with nothing to do but watch the whole game. There are clearly professional truckers in the bunch, but a significant minority of the group are clowns. Clowns who tailgate so severely that they couldn't stop in time if their life depended on it. Clowns who are yakking on cell phones as they drive. Heck it's great to see a clueless clown with an autoshift rig. I've watched in awe as one clown went stoplight to stoplight, and autoshifted through eight gears with one hand on the GPS buttons, and another on a burger. That is some master's level clownsmanship right there. I was actually in the motorhome watching that show, I had two hands on the wheel as I stayed with him from light to light. Clowns who don't pay attention to basics, like the fact that they need to be heading straight,but are actually in a right turning lane. They only figure it out after running a half mile in the right turn lane, having passed eight signs, and ran over eight right turn arrows painted on the road. Next we all have to wait as traffic comes to a halt, as they attempt to merge left with 75' of big rig into a straight only lane. Clowns who block the box at intersections. Clowns who cause lots and lots of accidents, usually just minor ones that jamb up the road for an hour or two, but fatalities are pretty common too.

Nope, the whole "professional trucker" claim no longer is valid. Are the majority competent? sure. Is there a significant minority, of who knows 20,30,40% that are clowns? Absolutely. It only takes reading the annual report for one of the big carriers, and read language about how they have finally cut turnover to less that 100% a year, to understand that trucking companies go through butts in the seat like you and I go through paper towels, and a lot of those seats are filled by clowns.

My son got his degree in Safety Science. As he was coming to the end of his final year, he had a professor who had ties to the industry and was really pushing him hard to interview with some of the big names in trucking. I really pushed him hard to stay far away. He got a great job in another industry, but still deals with a small fleet of truck drivers as part of his duties. The other day, after another company accident, and another driver who was fired over a drug test, I asked him if he still thinks about his chance to go with a big national carrier. He just laughs, and says "I can't imagine what a special circle of He## that must be?"