When the latest economic crisis caused me to seek other employment I was forced into driving a tractor-trailer over the road. this is not a new profession for me but is one that I had hoped I would not have to do again. It is and was a good profession but it is hard being away from my family for long periods of time.

I was a professional driver for about 12 years before I quit in 1998 for some work that kept me close to home. When I say I was a professional it was not only me it was the majority of drivers i worked with. We always tried to place the safety of others above the safety of ourselves. Constantly trying to make another drivers trip more safe than if he were on his own. It did not matter if the other driver was a tractor-trailer driver or operating the family vehicle going home from work or on vacation.

We treated each other with the repect we knew we all deserved but got from noone except another professional driver. We all knew and understood what we were up against with the police and DOT (Department of Transportation) all being against us. The four wheeler operators hated us for being on the roads, and dispatchers forcing us to do the unthinkable delivery while safety departments in our companies trying to make us become safer drivers when they only knew what they read about driving.

We had each other on the road. If we had problems other drivers would offer help. If we were tired other drivers would talk to us on the CB (Citizens Band) radio. We would pull into Pickle Parks (rest areas) and have cook outs together and watch sports on tv. We were a type of social group closely akin to a family without being related.

There were things we would do to help each other while driving down the road. Blink blink, flash flash and all that other trucker trash was one of the main things to help another driver. I am sure that you know what I am talking about. It is when a truck passes another truck on a four lane highway. The truck passing turns on his turn signal to come back in front of the passed vehicle. If it is clear the vehicle that was passed would flash his headlights off and on. This told the lead driver that he had cleared the pass and nothing was in his blind spot. He would then pull back in the lane in front of the passed vehicle and would flash his trailer marker lights thanking the driver who helped hime over.

Now, so many of the “younger” drivers on the road are not doing this. When they pass you they do not wait on you to tell them it is clear. They just pull back in with no regard to the distance between your vehicle and theirs. Maybe they think they are “professional” enough not to need help. I don’t know maybe safety directors have forced this attitude onto new drivers.

Many drivers do not even monitor their CB radio. no matter what you think, this radio is a definite lifeline in the trucking industry. With a Cb radio information about road conditions or hazards are immediately broadcast. It takes time to stop a tractor-trailer and knowing before hand that you may have to stop or slow down is paramount to safe operations of your vehicle.

I guess technology is ruining the profession. I can try too raise a driver on the CB radio to tell him of a problem and get no answer. When i pass the driver I will however see him oon his cell phone. This is a practice that is unsafe for operators of cars. It is a very dangerous practice for commercial drivers.

I do not know how we as a close knit group, a family of professionals have grown so far apart. I really feel that it is the federal governments fault. I feel the downfall of the trucking industry cam about with the inception of the CDL license.

It is not the license that is a bad thing. It is the regulation’s and requirement’s for receiving a license. When implemented I think the governments thoughts were in the right place but as normal their guidelines were to lineant. How can you send someone to school for 4 weeks or even 6 weeks and teach them what they need to know to operate such rigs. The pilot of an airplane or the captain of a barge or freight ship have to have more experience than that.

Many of these drivers get their license have never driven a car in snow or ice, some have never driven across steep, winding, mountain roads yet they are licensed to operate this vehicle. Someone told me that it was up to the companies who hired these drivers to train them. I’m sorry, I don’t see that because a company looks out for profits not ability to drive. they look for more experienced brokers to get loads than they do drivers to move the loads.

I worked as a trainer for a company for a few years and every trainee that I tool back to the company and said they needed more training were released to drive their own truck. Maybe they made it or maybe they didn’t. i never heard. I do know there was few trainees that I released immediately after my training with them was over.

I know everyone has to learn sometime as the saying goes. From the looks of many of these drivers on the road they would greatly benefit from some of us old hands teaching them the basics rather than someone in a school telling them they are ready because they know the Federal Regulations.

To be a true professional driver you must be able to become one with the road and all it has to offer which includes flashing lights and information from other drivers on the road. Not a 30 minute conversation on the cell phone with whomever.