A Mississippi trucker who drives for a major fleet called a couple of months ago to relay a story about a driver who drove his truck while he was away from work. He said his company regularly hires drivers from a temp service when someone has to be out for sickness or vacation.
He said the driver who had spent a couple days in his truck had left his log book in the sleeper – the sleeper where he had logged the same hours driving and asleep. “Heck, he even logged 29 hours of driving at one time,” the puzzled full-time driver reported. “I can send you his log book.”
While he never sent the log book to us, he seemed sincere about his concerns even though he was laughing when he recounted his discovery.
Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn’t call Truckers News to register a comment about the lack of quality drivers in the trucking industry. Many truckers take it personally when other drivers – through their inexperience, words, actions or lack of common courtesy – cast any kind of shadow over their profession.
Whenever the driver shortage comes up, the focus almost always seems to be on quantity. But truckers put their emphasis on quality, not warm bodies to fill driver’s seats. It’s because they have a vested interest in the profession. The roadways, shipping and receiving docks and truckstops are their workplace. Trucking is their livelihood.
It’s an age-old problem that transcends trucking, and a concern in every profession in the world: There are always going to be a certain number of people in any field who are the weak links. Most are quickly weeded out through a lack of job performance.
The remainder who perform at less than par and escape the survival of the fittest, unfortunately, are the ones you most often hear about. They drive dangerously and show disrespect for authority and others on the roadway. They are the ones the general public and the media often point to as the “stereotypical” trucker.
