I would not want some of those "old timers" to teach some of the things I have seen. By the same token, some younger people are not receptive to learning. I knew a man who once said, "The older I get the less I know." He told me that he thought he knew everything when he was younger. The older he became, he found the less he knew. I think many of us are like that. Unless people are receptive to learning, you will never teach them anything. This country doesn't always appreciate the experience and wisdom of older citizens. They often consider them old and senile without anything to contribute. There are other cultures where elders are revered for their experience and advice.

 

I answer different to that statement. I was once broken down on I-59. I had the situation under control. As I was working on my truck I heard a noise. Three trucks had stopped to see what was wrong. One driver got his tools and helped me repair a fuel line. The drivers had been told by a northbound driver I was broke down.

Twice I had drivers pick me up beside the road, take me home, and let me out at my front door after I had to leave the truck sitting. One time was only about 40 miles, the other time was 300 miles.

I have had drivers pick me up and take me to get parts, and then make sure I had a ride back to the truck before leaving.

There have been many more times than this I have been helped. Some of the times I didn't have a cb, and used my thumb to get them to stop. Other times I did not ask at all. Drivers told others I was beside the road with my cab up, and trucks would stop to help.

This was in the mid-70's. There were a-holes then as well, but the percentages of a-holes compared to the amount of drivers were much smaller.



On the subject of flashing. I sometimes drive a Sterling. The daylight running lights are almost as bright as the driving lights. This keeps me from flashing. I have turned off the headlights and not been able to tell the difference. I have driven from where I unload back to my pickup several times with only the clearance lights on, and not know I was driving by the DRLs.

I have pulled the fuse to the DLRs in the Columbia I drive regularly. This way I can flash when I need to. Personally I do not like DRL's. Before I pulled the fuse on mine, I had drivers look in their mirror and come over on me thinking I had flashed them. I have had to hit the brakes several times to keep the fender intact.

Since pulling the fuse I have not had that problem.

One company I leased to told us NOT to flash other drivers. Their thinking was if you flashed, and the other truck hit you or something else, then me, meaning them and their insurance company, could be blamed because of my actions.

This is the same company that told us to stay in the second lane and drive slower than traffic. This way we would not get hit by merging traffic, and by going slower that traffic we would not be tailgating.

He did tell us to turn off the cb so we wouldn't hear the cussing from other drivers.

The top dog over all of safety told all company and O/Os this.

This is the type of training that is out there.

I don't know which is worse. The training I got, which was here's the bills, there is the truck, now go, or what is being offered up in many places today.


I do know I have never seen such selfish, unprofessional driving as I have witnessed the past couple of years. A driver asked for directions the other day. He was made fun of, cussed, and taunted for not knowing which way to turn. I tried to help, as did one other driver, but the super radios walked all over us. When I got close enough to talk the driver did not respond. I guess he turned his radio off. I would have.

What do you think his opinion is of his fellow drivers. He was either new, or had not been in the area before. Either way he needed help, not foul language and ridicule.

Oh I am so proud to be a driver, I say sarcastically.

 

I drove a New International with DRL. The DRLs are close to regular headlights but when you flip the switch from regular to off they dim for one second before the DRLs kick in. Ihave had people help me when I have broken down either stopped or asked on the cb if I needed help. I have been driving 6 and a half years. With respect I give it to all even if you dont deserve it. For example a fellow driver gave me clearance to come over, yes I could have blink my clearance lights but I grabbed CB and said "thank you for giving me clerance sir or maam.He was shocked said "dont here that much out here as far as sir or maam. It is not about newbies or old school drivers, some people are just the way they are and dont want to change. There are good drivers and bad drivers. We as a whole need to get along teach if you can or take constructive criticism, but without the name calling. If we could help each other with directions, routing let's do it. Every does not know the back ways and shortcuts to get from point A to point B. Drivers ask what is the best way to run to a certain destination lets not say don't you have an atlas. They probably have one just wanted other drivers opinions who knows a better way. My hat goes off to GMAN, yoopr, and some others on this forum. They help if they can if not they point you in the right direction

 

Volvo engineers must have been thinking about this when they added the low beam flash/clearance flash buttons to the steering wheel of the current VN series.

Since the DRL's are the amber turn signals, the driver is able to signal during the day with a quick flash of the low beams. Since they are located on the steering wheel, the driver doesn't have to take their hands off the wheel. Pretty nifty IMO. 8)

 

I have seen a little of both in my few years of driving. I have seen drivers who give all of us a bad name many a time and can only shake my head in embarrassment. I do remember about 6 months ago or a little longer I was having problems with my truck staying running while going down the road if I let off the throttle. One day it stalled out on me at a stoplight while I was on a 6 lane local road(3 lanes east-3 lanes west.) While putting out my triangles another driver stopped in the middle lane to see if I needed any help. The company he drove for is known to have drivers who are downright jerks in this area so it really shocked me that he was stopping to try and help. If I ever get the chance to return the favor, I will certainly do it.

As for flashing the lights, I hardly do it anymore, usually the passing truck is already well clear of me. If I see you peeking in the mirror then I will give a flash but that's not the norm around here, they just putt along in the middle lane after the pass is made. I have had a few who I was going to give a flash to but they decided they needed over sooner than I could flash and chopped me off which leaves me to wonder, why even flash anymore??

 

I'M NUMBER 1!!!!! Thats the new mentality. I'M MOST IMPORTANT!!! I DONT HAVE TIME!!! No one has time, no time for a pretrip, no time to fill both tanks, no time to scale the load, no time to use loadlocks, no time to properly submit bills, no time to completely fill out daily logs, no time to be nice, no time to smile, no time to be courteous, no time to make a good first impression. I have no time for these type of people, but I may need them to get the job done and hopefully can make them not only better truckers, but better people.

 

All this talk is why I stay up here.
Only time we see BS attitude up here is from the odd southern truck, and they're the one you see in the ditch a ways up the road.
I may have treacherous roads, but I also know that about 75% of the trucks that go by me would call me family or at least friend.