Positive Changes Truck Drivers Can Make to Improve the Trucking Industry

by Don
(Morrill, Ne)

I have been driving a truck since Aug of 1985. I have seen the public's opinion of the trucker change. My own opinion has changed with the public. I have seen the professionalism steadily decline.

My father was a driver & always worn clean shirts & trousers. They were all ironed & trousers were creased. I don't crease my jeans but they are clean & my shirts are clean, fit properly & my boots are polished.

Now you see people who dress sloppy & sometimes hardly dressed. The thing that has really effected my attitude towards the drivers now is the total lack of courtesy.

I pull a bull rack & I have a fast truck. Freight haulers see me coming & they will whip over into the hammer lane just to slow me down even if they are yet 100 yds from the truck they have very slowly coming up to. They will do this also to 4 wheelers as I have had them do it to me when in my pick up & have watched as they nearly take the nose off the 4 wheeler.

I was a freight hauler for several years & I also had a 65 mile an hr truck. If someone tried to pass me who had a 66 or 67 mile an hr truck I would always drop 1 or 2 mph off my speed. They got passed me quickly & didn't hold up traffic. Now you have to follow these slow trucks for miles as they slowly creep past.

If you want society to change their opinion of the truck driver, then truckers need to start showing some courtesy. I hear & watch truckers every day & they don't even have any respect for each other, so, how can you expect society to respect you?