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Shannon
I'm a slightly mad pagan trucker with an unhealthy obsession with yarn.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Policing ourselves

Today I did something I've never done before. I called in on another driver. It was just the proverbial straw that broke the camels back. While sitting in a short backup coming into a construction zone, a driver came up the left lane, passing 2 cars trying to get in the right lane. He was still doing 55 & passed them by running onto the lefthand shoulder, just so he could get to the front of the line.

This is something that is seen on a daily basis. So called professional drivers, acting in an unprofessional & unsafe manor. But as drivers what do we do? Most of the time nothing is said, other than bitching on the radio. Then the driver that says something about it is told to "shut up & drive your truck & I'll drive mine." Yet more unprofessional behavior. So what options are left? One could call the cops, but unless it's a drunk driver they generally are not interested. So calling the company is the only 'option'. And yes, companies do take these calls seriously.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating calling in for a minor "oh crap, I had my head up my butt" moment. Because we all have those from time to time. But if someone is driving recklessly that is a different story. While this recklessness is in itself a serious issue the bigger problem are companies & driving schools. Companies are under pressure to keep a driver in the truck & driving schools are cranking out student drivers at an extremely high rate. While many of these drivers will mature into very good drivers, the ones that don't make the rest of us look bad. But most of these companies have no idea of the unsafe nature of their drivers. I know it seems as though most companies only want a warm body in the truck, but most of them want that warm body to do the job in a safe & professional manner. So if nobody is telling them, how are they going to know?

So unless we start policing ourselves, no one else is going to.

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