‘Car mentality’ pervading too many pretrips?

user-gravatar Headshot
Updated Apr 28, 2014

jack-hoodUntitled-1It’s a question asked by the latest blog post from owner-operator Jeff Clark in his space over on Freightliner’s Team Run Smart site. “Every day I see drivers do partial vehicle inspections,” he opens the piece. “They walk around their trucks and trailers. Maybe they kick the tires. Maybe they don’t. They get the flashers going and check the lights. Maybe they check the brake lights. Maybe they don’t. More and more of them don’t seem to be opening their hoods.” 

That’s what he urges such drivers, particularly, to do. “Open the hood,” as the post is titled, to do the right check. 

“I think I shall invent a new term,” Clark noted in a message my way this morning. Car mentality it is:

“The more that these trucks drive like cars,” Clark writes, “the more drivers treat them like cars.” 

The full piece is worth a read. 

Question today is: Anybody ever not open the hood on a pretrip? If you didn’t, would you admit it? 

Happy hauling this weekend — home time for those not on the road… And stay safe!