Question:
I've been getting progressivly angrier each day by the "morons" on the road. Not just the 4 wheelers but the so called truck drivers...
I thought I'd bring some subjects to the table and see if it is just my imagination or are things going compleatly down the tubes on the road?
1. Do they teach newbies to use their mirrors any more? Then why do they sit in the middle lane and refuse to move over when a faster truck approaches from behind??
2. Don't they teach that passing on the right is NOT legal? I remember when it was insulting to pass someone on the right especialy without warning the truck you were about to pass of the maneuver on the CB first! If not you would get scolded on the radio by the driver you just passed... for NOT giving him a chance to pull over and let you pass on the appropriate side..
3. Do newbies even know what consideration, and curtesy even mean? No one will admit or appologise any more for doing somthing wrong.. Everyone on the road must be perfect. I have never heard an appology recently for holding up another truck , or maybe weaving a bit into someone elses lane.. Everyone wants to fight and deny they did anything wrong! (At least not i the past 5 years or so ........)
4. Since when is 19 the gossip channel? Why did you buy that "big" radio with 120 channels when NO ONE will move that channel knob to have a conversation on another channel and not tie up the "business" channel?? (Now it's the playground mentality.. the guy with the most power, won't "let" anyone else talk unless everyone is playing by "his" rules..OR "I bought this radio and I'm gonna talk on it"...)
Maybe we should super glue all our knobs to channel 19??? This is ridiculous!!!! (I vote to go back to licences to use the CB.. I am seriously considering going ham and say goodbye to all the riff raff..)
5. Have they taken the trailer interupt switches out of tractors in 2006-2007? My truck is a 2001 and has 1 but I don't get a blink from anyone any more for turning my lights OFF and ON to let another driver know he is clear to come over! Either the switches don't exist any more or they relocated them so as the drivers can't reach them?
6. Since when is it OKAY to blind someone by switching your high beams on to tell someone to come over? Or is everyone just LAZY?
7. Does everyone who drives a truck leave their IQ at home when they leave? I have noticed a definate lack of inteligent conversation on the CB in recent years.... I hope that GROWN men would have common sence not to go around telling everyone they don't have any panties on.... or Ba ba boey calls.. or a CB rambo wanting to kick everyones arss..I have had 14 Y/O riding with me and even they are shocked that "grown ups" are talking like this.. I don't know what to tell him but there are some simple minds out there that are easily amused.. They don't know any better because they dropped out of school in the 5th grade.. Stay in school and don't drive a truck is what I tell him.... or you'll wind up like that...
8. Everyone seems to be concerned that their radio is working properly... everyone wants 3 radio checks a day, but no one will use it to ask if that truck on the side of the road might need some help?
9. DO newbies know what soap and water is for? Do they know that sweat pants are for sleeping not arriving at the shipper receiver? or eating dinner in the truck stop?? Where did everyones dignity go?? (It is okay to wear decent cloths while working, it actualy shows people you are a professional, and make a decent living, insted of a bum scrapping 10 pennies together to get a dime..)
10. PEE BOTTLES.... need I say more???? Put them where they belong.. in the trash.. AND the parking lot is not a urinal... use the appropriate bathroom..
Any more pet peeves???? These are mine for the most part.. I am getting sick and tired of drivers these days... most are new, but even "old" timers are guilty.. I asked a driver who bragged how he has been driving since 1964 to please gossip on another channel and he agreed with what I was saying but kept chatting away as if our conversation never took place... Go figure... self centered, inconsiderate, egotistical, anti social, jerks are ruling the airways....
Okay I'm done venting...anyone else care to jump in?? Or is this all in my head and I'm wrong.....LOL
Answer:
It might help you a bit to know it's not just newbies. Quite often if not most often it's those with experience.
I might also help you to know your CB has an Off switch and your tractors stereo has an on switch.
Last but not least "it's a lifestyle" and "it's what you make of it". So make the best of it and enjoy the ride, ok.

Answer:
"Trucking" is what you make of it.
It's a "Lifestyle".
You're one of the bitter "losers" in trucking.
It's all in your head.
Try chanting "I'm a happy Dweller" or "if you got it,a Truck brought it" for relief.

Answer:
It IS frustrating, aggravating, asinine and idiocy which can be witnessed daily. Some people are their own worst enemy and have no idea how many times a week (or even daily) they owe their very lives to those on the road with them who are paying attention. If you let it get to you, you will burn out in short order. There are limits to the amount of frustration, aggravation and idiocy one can handle. On the other hand, some are able to handle such problems better than others and go with the flow 90%+ of the time.
As far as the training question goes, that is questionable in more ways than one. When you have newbie’s being trained by someone who has only been driving 6 months themselves, mistakes can be passed on and learned. This only perpetuates the problems with lack of training. Then you have the situation where the trainer is in the sleeper while the trainee is "running the show" as best they can. Then you have trainees who decide they will get by until they are without the trainer and running solo then put their own brand of driving into affect. Some even go on to become the Billy Big Rigger types and are very recognizable.
Even with all that is already said, the vast majority of drivers out there are not of that same mind set. It's just easier to ignore everyone who is when you witness ignorance first hand. Set your own pace. Don't take chances you don't have. Take care of you and the rest usually falls into place. Trucking isn't for everyone, but for those who it is for, they do make the most of it.

Answer:
I agree that its not always the newbs that are the problem, although your definition of a newbie is probably different than mine because Im about as newb as it gets myself.
I always think its interesting that when newbies are discussed, inadequate training is always mentioned. Doesnt it occure to anyone that just about all the newbs driving have probably had more formal training than the old timers. I'll bet there are tons of drivers with 20+ years that havent seen one minute in a CDL classroom while its pretty unusual to find a newbie with no formal training, yet everyone blames "poor training" for the problems.
I say training has little if nothing to do with the general thoughtlessness on the roads today. I say you could spend ten years trying to train some people to be a good and thoughtful driver and would never get it. By the same token, a thoughtful person doesnt require special training to do what comes natural to them. You guys can blame training all you want, Im not buying it, I think that there are many more people on the roads today, you are bound to run into more Aholes, both in trucks and in four wheelers. I know thats not a comforting thing to think that this problem doesnt have a simple one step solution.
Truck drivers are pulled from the same pool of people as Walmart greeters, police officers, lawyers, doctors, factory workers, waitresses, etc. There are rude and incompetent people in all fields. Being a truck driver, you are exposed to other truck drivers more than the other people. If you were a waiter, you would notice bad waiters more and so on. My point is, its not just truckdrivers that are the problem, its people in general so I dont think you can blame vocational training for these issues. I think "life training" is to blame.

Answer:
Actually Walmart greeters, police officers, lawyers, doctors, factory workers, waitresses, etc. all notice truck drivers about as much as truck drivers notice them. They have to drive back and forth to work and the commonly rude truck drivers ride their azz's all the way there. While their noticing the rude people in their given fields their also the noticing the rude people in your field. I never notice lousy Walmart greeters because i don't pay attention to them.

Answer:
Some of your complaints may be valid, but some of them seem to have little going for them.
For example, as long as there are 3 lanes of traffic, passssing on the right side is legal. If there are only two lanes, then passing is restricted to the left lane only, but in many cases it is completely legal. Can't fault someone for doing something legal just because I may not be happy with it.
Sitting in the middle lane instead of the right hand lane may be done solely to ensure that they maintain a safe gap between themselves and the next vehicle. You also deconflict yourself from vehicles entering the highway and vehicles stopped on the side of the road. There can be perfectly valid reasons for being in a specific lane.
It must be regional to where you are running, but it's very rare for me not to get an answering blink of the lights from a truck that passed me that I signal. There are a few times it doesn't happen, but they are the excption, not the rule. And they get a blink from me when I pass someone. Never been an issue for me to worry about.
If someone flicking his high beams for a half a second blinds you that much, then you need to seek medical attention. if you should happen to encounter an oncoming car and it keeps it's headlights on, you could be in serious trouble. Half the reason drivers use high beams is the way that the manufacturers lay out the switches in the truck. They are much more convenient and easier to use that reaching out to the dash and flicking the on off switch for the lights. I already have my hand on the steering wheel, and can reach the dimmer switch with my fingers.
I rarely hear or ask for radio checks. I think the last time I did one was when I put the radio into the new truck 6 months ago. Where are you driving that you can hear the sdame person ask 3 times a day. Must be a really short haul you are on to stay within his radio range.
I see people in sweats and grubby clothes. But I see nothing to indicate that these are solely new drivers. Some of them are clearly drivers who have been on the road for a while. So to blame this solely on new drivers is a bit unrealistic.
Rather than tarring everyone with a wide brush, consider pointing out specifics instead. I'm not saying that some of these issues aren;t out there, but they aren't the crisis level issues that are really having an effect on trucking right now, and I certainly can't put all the blame on the new drivers.As long as the paperwork's clean, you boys can do whatever you want to out on the road" Mad Max ...1979

Answer:

Agreed, I notice these other people as I have to deal with them also.
What I was trying to get at is that truck drivers are just people, like everyone else in the world. They are no more incompetent or rude than anyone else. Although, they may be more visable then most.
Some of these other vocations require many more years of schooling, some require less, but there is incompetence in all of them, regardless of the training involved. This is why I feel that it doesnt matter what people do for a living or how much training they have, they are either dumba$$es or they arent and school will not fix that and experience will not fix that. The wisdom of age may have a bearing on how people act but thats about it..
Whats that comedian say? "You cant fix stupid", I agree with that 100%.

Answer:

Not just newbies doing this - in fact, I have noticed it is more often than not the old timers doing this because they don't want to get in that right lane and have to slow down for entering/exiting traffic.

Where is passing on the right not legal? Used to be illegal in Wisconsin, but either that isn't the case anymore or it is never enforced. And just what is a person to do when some moron won't get out of the middle lane and the inside lane has a truck restriction on it?? Hmmm??

Again, not just the newbies doing it - I have seen many a driver with 5, 10 or more years experience behaving in just this way.
This is what happens when you have no enforcement of the rules and when that majority of the users of this radio band are uneducated dipsticks who do not have the intelligence to understand that they might even be doing something wrong or the decency to care. .
Come on driver, everyone knows that it is too difficult to actually reach to the dashboard to flip a little switch. Why do you think so many truckdriver morons flash the high beams to tell you to come back over?!?!?!

See response to #5.

No they never had it to begin with or they wouldn't be driving a truck for a living.

Come on driver, ye doth protests too much. Why would you expect a truckdriver to be able to carry on an intelligent conversation? It's not like he had to have any kind of quality education to get this job. In fact, he probably does this job because it is the most money he can make for his lack of education. It's either drive a truck or work in a factory you know. Not to many nuclear physicists saying "if I couldn't be a physicist, I'd be driving a truck". You want intelligent conversation at work, go get a job that actually has an education requirement.

Again, you are expecting WAY too much. A significant reason many of these morons are driving trucks for a living is because they not only don't have the educational resume to do anything else decent, but they lack the social skills required of most other jobs. And of course, trucking doesn't demand that anyone have social skills, and doesn't punish those who don't. That is why all the misfits, losers, outcasts, and uneducated miscreants not only survive but thrive in the trucking biz.

heh heh.., BINGO!

Remember - to many truckdrivers, especially Billy Bigriggers, the CB is either an "extension" of their schminke, or a surrogate for it. And nobody wants to find out that their schminke doesn't work!

What do you expect from the lower caste of society? And just who do you think taught the newbies that this was OK? VETERAN truckdrivers. So don't be one of those shortsighted people who blame all the ills of this business on the newbies.
One of the things that really grates on me and it isn't just about truck drivers are morons who won't take their hat off at the dinner table. Where are your damnned manners? ******* barbarians.

But that would mean they would actually have to get out of their truck and...*GASP*... WALK SOMEWHERE!!! Come on, you can't expect a 400 pound lazy SOB to do that now!!

Quit complaining, trucking is what you make of it! Like it or leave it.
Answer:


Uh-oh! Looks like a cat fight in the making!

Answer:
Not really. For some reason, I have a set of really hyperactive seat belts in the new truck, and if there is the slightest sign of a bump on the road, it holds me back firmly and I can't reach the dash panel. I know I am safe, but it means that if the road is bumpy, I am gonna listen to whatever radio station is on the XM, because I can't reach the darn thing! LOL!!!As long as the paperwork's clean, you boys can do whatever you want to out on the road" Mad Max ...1979

Answer:

If you can't reach the darn thing, better you do nothing at all than use the brights.
Answer:
Post subject: Professional vs Steering wheel holder. Which 1 are you?
=============================================
Neither one.
I'm a expert site seeing dweller on a perpetual vacation...
I don't have a "JOB"... you people do...
Don't blame me if your working for a living. It's not my fault...

Answer:

so the newbie is supposed to keep his eyes in his mirrorsto honor the seasoned veteran by promptly moving over

the seasoned veteran should have been looking in his mirrors?

Answer:
I agree with you on most of the issues you stated, however...
It's NOT the "newbies" committing the offenses...It's the "experienced" drvrs.
Some companies do NOT want their drvrs "flashing" other drvrs over when it's safe to pass,simply b/c ...
If that drvr who is doing the passing gets into an accident or something the carrier don't want their drvrs to be blamed somehow.(afterall, this is a "sue-happy" society & people will try to sue you for anything...even when it's their own fault.)
As far as Asking the drvr on side of the road if they need help...
Well, let's face it...there are just as many "psycho(s)" drving trks as there are drving cars.
They probably don't want to take the risk of being attacked or robbed.(and I personally don't blame them for that.)
Or...Since they know they're NOT a mechanic & there's probably nothing they can do to help the broke down trk or drvr,(maybe offer a few tools or a few jugs of water if overheating), they just don't say anything.
All of the large carriers have qualcomm or cell phones in the trks & the drvr can send the company a msg about their breakdown.(besides, sometimes the drvr is outside of the trk anyway & not able to hear people asking.)
What gets me is...The folks that wait until AFTER they've PASSED the broke down vehicle to ask if they need any help....Knowing that they are NOT going to turn around & come back to help.