Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean2
There has definitely been a decrease in the professionalism of commercial drivers over the years. Used to be, outside drivers of Dump trucks, you could pretty much bet anyone driving a large truck was excellent at his job. Companies could not afford the insurance costs if they hired bad drivers, not to mention, most drivers took great pride in what they did for a living.
There needs to be far more stringent testing and the penalties for violations in semis need to be a lot more serious. This is a place where 5 demerits should get your class one or 2 lifted for a year and 8 points should cancel your class 3 for a year. There should also be much more enforcement re trucks that aren't in good condition and driving infractions, particularly aggressive driving by commercial vehicles.
That said, some of the truly STUPID things I have seen farmers do with their equipment on highways and secondary roads boggles the mind. Pulling out right in front of vehicles doing 110 KLM/H is pretty common, no lights on the rear of equipment after dark while doing 10 mph and a major highway etc. Don't know who was at fault in this one, sad another person died on our roads, but I wouldn't just jump to the conclusion that the farmer was innocent.
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I drove as a profesional for over forty years, and I came from a farm background and am still very much involved in farming. In fact as I write this, I'm waiting on a phone call to go cut hay for a local farmer.
Having said that, I agree with what you say.
When I got into truck driving, we had to work hard to earn our way into the cab of a big rig, so it meant something to us.
It's a thousand times easier to get into that seat these days and it needs to be even harder then it was years ago.
But the problem isn't just commercial drivers. I see a severe dumbing down of the non commercial drivers too.
Add to that the almost total lack of highway law enforcement and I find it a wonder that a lot more people aren't dying on our highways.
I can only attribute it to the improvements made to our road systems and to the safety features built into modern vehicles.
It certainly isn't due to better drivers on our roads.