roadscholar88
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What do you find to be the top three issues facing the trucking industry this year? What do you think should be done to resolve these?
PayWhat do you find to be the top three issues facing the trucking industry this year? What do you think should be done to resolve these?
I don't know if what I'm going to post is an 'industry issue' or a 'driver issue'. In my view they could be two different things.
IMHO, these trucks are getting too damn easy to drive.
We dont have a 'driver shortage', we have a 'qualified driver shortage'.
Nowaday's any darn fool can get a CDL, with the advent of cd players in trucks, Air ride, A/C, power steering , cell phones, fifth wheel unlatch w/the flip of a switch, and the worst offender of them all; the auto-shift transmission. The roads are full of idiots, and nin-com-poops that should never have anything bigger than a rider lawn mower.
Years ago, the biggest stumbling block for anybody was having the ability and skill of knowing how to shift a truck.
but with that now gone, there are more and more people that 30 years would have never thought of driving for a living.
I myself, dont want to see more drivers, I want to see less but better skilled divers.
I dunno, I came away with different thoughts on what he said. I didn't hear that anyone who drives an automatic is a nin-com-poop I heard that if one is too incompetent to shift a manual gearbox then they are too incompetent to handle the other responsibilities that come with the industry. Sort of a test of competence. Like they are dumbing down the driving factor to get more people qualified to perform the job. I would tend to agree with him and have even had management basically tell me that.The implication that I'm less skilled than another driver because my truck happens to be an automatic is one of the more ridiculous thoughts I've read.
How do you get a restriction to drive automatics only? Shouldn't it be a requirement to be able to drive both?I on occasion use a truck that has an auto-shift tranny, and true, the docks are not easier, the roads are not easier, the trailers are just as long and wide with the auto. What I was trying to say is the introduction of the auto into the trucking industry on the scale that has happened the last few years has enabled many more people that would have never otherwise given driving a thought in their minds as a way to make a living.
The company I work for now has many drivers that have the restriction on their CDL that limits them to automatics only. I asked them if they were required to learn how to shift would they ever have considered driving truck, and everyone so far has answered no.
How do you get a restriction to drive automatics only? Shouldn't it be a requirement to be able to drive both?
That's crazy. If you're going to drive a truck, you need to be able to drive both. What if your truck breaks down and they gift you a standard shift?Here's how it works:
If you take your CDL test in an automatic then you are restricted from driving a standard shift truck.
If you take your CDL test in a standard shift truck then you can drive both. You have to take the CDL test in an auto shift truck you do that and you can't drive a standard shift truck.