Don't Be A Dick to Truck Drivers

First, there were regulations on hours of service. A truck driver could only drive so many hours before having to rest for so long. When I started driving way back in 1986, I could drive 10 hours then had to rest for 8. Now, that 10 hours of driving could be divided any way I wanted, as well as the 8 for rest, effectively making it where I could drive up towards 24 hours if I worked it right. What made it good was that we had paper logbooks. If I couldn’t get it done on time following the HOS (hours of service) rules, I’d just get a new book and have 70 more hours to work with. We couldn’t, and still can’t, work more than 70 hours in 8 days.

Thanks to Werner Enterprises and the advent of the Electronic Log, along with the change in HOS where we couldn’t work more than 14 hours after starting our clock, it’s much harder to work those extra long days and make those extra miles. And when you get paid by the mile that can really affect the paycheck. Now, the FMCSA is instituting a new rule to the ELD mandate – if a truck moves more than 5 mph it automatically goes onto the DRIVE line. What this means is: if I am on a DOT mandated 30-minute break it could possibly put me back ON DUTY and the time I had already spent on break doesn’t count. When a driver is on a tight schedule, and most of us are, that can make us late to a pick-up or delivery.

That is just part of what a driver puts up with. Along with the tight DOT mandated rules, a lot of companies are now employing Collision Avoidance Systems and inward-facing cameras. What the CAS does is tell a driver when he is too close to the vehicle in front of him and if he gets too close it will slam on the brakes. Any driver that has any experience at all knows how far away he is from the vehicle in front of him and knows how long it will take to stop in case of emergency. I know that I don’t need to have some computer software tell me where I am on the road. It is for those inexperienced drivers that shouldn’t be operating a bicycle much less an 80,000-pound vehicle. Oh, yeah! This little piece of equipment is also tied into the ELD software, so it is also a tattle-tell to the company about how you’re driving.

The inward-facing camera is, in my opinion, an invasion of privacy. I live in my truck. That camera shows everything that is going on inside the cab and the sleeper (if the sleeper curtains are open). Companies will say that it is to protect the driver and the company in case of an accident. What it does is show what the driver was doing in any given incident. If I touch the center or fog line, my camera will record an event. If I hit a pothole and jar the truck hard it will record an event. If I swerve to miss an object in the road it will record an event. Any recording can, and will, be used against me. I could be lighting a cigarette, taking a drink of coffee, anything and that is a distraction and used against me. If I’m looking out my side window at my mirrors – yep, distraction.

The laws regarding cell phones is another part of it. I must have a hands-free unit to talk on the phone. I have no problem with that. I cannot text and drive – no problem there. BUT, if I pick up my phone to hit a number to call, if I touch my phone to talk into it (so I am not texting and driving) and the camera records an event of any kind that is used against me. Now, include the CAS that just might slam on the brakes because of a road sign on a curve in-line with the radar on the front of the truck the camera will record an event. It all works together against the driver. All in the name of ‘safety.’

Think about this for just a second: every day I must inspect my truck to make sure that everything is roadworthy. Every day, before I even start my truck. That is DOT regulation. If I don’t and I get pulled behind a scale and inspected, they check my logs and I get a ticket for not following the rules. Do you check your vehicle out every day to make sure that there is nothing hanging off it, that all the lights work, that there aren’t any leaks? I highly doubt it. It doesn’t matter anyway. You don’t have to do that. Your POV (privately owned vehicle) doesn’t have to be roadworthy to be driven down the road. Mine does.

In the unfortunate case of an accident, guess what, I get a drug test. It doesn’t matter who is at fault, either. I am forced to pay out of my pocket for a drug screen to make sure that I am not doing drugs or drinking while driving. Do you? Nope! You can be high as a kite and as long as you can act straight you will get by with it. It is almost impossible for a commercial driver to get by with doing drugs or drinking on the road. We are subject to RANDOM drug tests. That means that we can get pulled over for no reason what-so-ever and given a drug test. Yeah! Makes my day when that happens because I don’t do drugs.

With all that being put out there for you to ponder, here’s so more for you to think about: most drivers are on a tight schedule. We have only so much time to get from point A to point B. There is no give most of the time. A lot of us try to drive about 5 mph OVER the speed limit (which is allowed in all states) so that we can make our pick-ups and deliveries on time and still have time to actually eat, shower and sleep. I don’t know about a lot of these newbies out here on the road but I have never had the time to eat right, sleep right, shower every day, or even take the time to have a healthy emptying of my colon.

When I’m trying to get somewhere it never, ever fails that some POS in their little powder-blue Prius decides to cut me off, slow down in front of me, not let me pass, etc. It NEVER fails. I’ve had old men drive 10 mph UNDER the speed limit in front of me then, when I try to get around them, they speed up so I can’t just to slow down again when I get back behind them. I’ve had people pass me on the right on the shoulder just to hit the brakes a quarter mile down the road to make a turn. This, my private citizen friend, is interfering with interstate commerce. It is interfering with me delivering the goods that YOU buy.

With three lanes of traffic there is a hierarchy of where to be. The far-right lane is for grandma and those that are lost. You know, the s-l-o-w drivers. The center lane is for those that are doing the speed limit or a little more, keeping it going. The far-left lane – hammer down! This lane is for those that are in a definite hurry to get nowhere fast. If there is a line of cars half a mile long behind you and no one in front of you – YOU ARE IN THE WRONG LANE! Move the hell over to the right. Don’t impede traffic because you are a self-appointed speed cop. Yes, it takes a truck a ways to get up to speed but, after we get there it’s balls to the wall. We will probably be going faster than you if you only go the speed limit. Don’t pass us while we’re getting up there just to slow us down once we get to road speed.

Remember this: there is absolutely NOTHING that you have that hasn’t been hauled in some form by a truck. Your car was delivered to the dealer by a truck. That cell phone that you’re using to report a driver for being rude – hauled to the store by a truck. The clothes you wear, the food you eat, the TV you watch, the desk you sit at, the equipment you operate, everything in your life was hauled by a truck at some point. Everything. And you want to screw with a driver because you don’t want to be behind him because you think he’s going to slow your dumb ass down. Let me tell you something, cupcake. I have to be there. You have nowhere to go with all day to get there. You could have started earlier to get to work. You don’t have to be first to the stoplight. That truck is what keeps the WORLD going. Without trucks, the world stops.

I really don’t care if you like trucks or not (especially in California, New York, Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois). Commercial drivers have more laws to follow than you could imagine. We are regulated more than most industries. We don’t get paid near enough to be gone from our families for days, weeks, or months at a time and put up with the crap that a lot of personal drivers give us. If you honestly believe that trucks are dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed on the road then stop buying things. Don’t go to Mike’s Mini Mart and get a 4-pack of Red Bull and carton of Marlboros. Don’t run over to Walmart and buy that new T-shirt that has the picture of Iron Maiden on it. Don’t shuffle off to Fred Meyer and get groceries. That new iPhone has no place in your pocket. The PS4 and all the games that go with it need to be forgotten. ALL these things are hauled by a truck.

Professional drivers are tired, over-worked, under-paid, stressed people. There are bad drivers out there to be sure. I’ve run into a lot more of them in the past few years. Too many ‘schools’ are pushing through people that shouldn’t be allowed to operate a bicycle in a wide-open field. We, the old-timers, are still the White Knights. We are still the professional drivers that would love to stop and help a stranded driver, a hitchhiker, someone who’s broken down on the side of the road. We can’t. We don’t dare. It’s too dangerous for us, it could make us use up valuable time off our tight clocks. It doesn’t mean that we don’t want to, we just can’t do it anymore. Why? We can’t because there are too many people in POVs that would kill us, literally.

Think about what you’re doing while on the road. It isn’t rocket science to operate safely and courteously on the highways of the nation. If a semi-truck is being rude to you it’s probably because he’s been treated pretty badly by several POVs that day. It’s easier for a car to slow down and regain speed than it is for a truck. You are not going to be delayed very long by staying behind a truck for a mile or two. We’re governed at a slower speed (this means we can only go so fast and no more – usually between 63 and 70 mph) so you can always get around us if need be. You are not the center of the universe nor are you more important than anyone else. Be aware. Prepare. If the sign says that a lane is closed in two miles, move over now, don’t wait till the last few feet then force your way in because you got a few cars forward. If your exit is coming up, get in the right lane half a mile or more before it, don’t wait till your almost past it.