CDLLIFE READER THOUGHTS: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very serious and ever growing problem in this industry and the only way its going to change is if its addressed at a corporate and governmental level. There is a growing trend among most major companies to allow more and more inexperienced drivers to become trainers and it has started a dangerous snowball that if not stopped soon will grow into an avalanche of epic proportions. Its extremely scary to me when I see a trainer and trainee to think that the trainer quite possibly has less then a year experience. How on earth can a safety department honestly believe that a driver with 6 months can possibly relay enough information to a student to allow them to be adequately prepared to not kill themselves or others!?!? Its not possible! We have all but lost the brotherhood because on top of not being properly trained how to drive, there has been a disappearance of driver etiquette nation wide. Between poor training , public image of us due to the disgusting actions of so many drivers and an increase in spotlight crashes that have brought out the rathe of God from DOT, this passion, this livelihood that I have pursued since I was 5 years old is becoming more of an annoyance then a love. There are so many things as drivers that we can do to make it safer, cleaner, and overall more professional if we would just stop spending all our extra time badmouthing each other on the cb, and social media sites, and start acting in a productive way. For example, take time if your parked on a ramp for your 30 min break to pick up some trash off the shoulder and dispose of it at the next truck stop or rest area. I know its not yours, but if drivers who are guilty of throwing trash see a fellow driver spending his time picking it up, maybe they will stop littering. Also, instead of yelling at other drivers in truck stops on the cb because they are wasting 5 mins of your day, and then flipping them the bird, get out and offer to spot them, this should be a given but again the brotherhood is dying. Also, I would encourage everyone with some moderate experience to take time a couple times a year to stop at a couple high schools and talk to teenagers about the handling characteristics of a commercial vehicle and explain why we do things the way we do when it comes to turns and setup. Most people in the general public dont understand what we are doing and its important that we start explaining it on a national level. These are just a few of hundreds of things we can do to start slowing that snowball down and I think its important we take this seriously. I for one have spent my 14 years doing everything I can to help our image by being accident free for 1.4 million miles and have tried to pass as much knowledge as possible to all of my trainees. I am not ashamed of my views on this and have asked cdl live to leave my name attached to this. I hope this starts a positive forum and I sincerely hope that this sparks a bit of good will towards each other that will be the start of a new brotherhood! God bless and as always be safe out there! - A concerned driver.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 14:10:07 +0000
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