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Question of the Day

Are aging baby boomers good candidates to drive over-the-road?

Drivers Sound Off

Hiring quality drivers is every recruiter's goal, yet the increasing demand for drivers inevitably puts a "few bad apples" behind the wheel of a big rig. Unfortunately, those few bad apples tend to cast a bad light on all drivers as we found out when we asked a random sample of drivers the following question:

 

Do truck drivers get a bum rap from the public?

 

Here are some of the responses:

John Stuart, 53, Peru, IN

Professional driving experience: 16 years

"I don't know. Maybe it's deserved. The longer I drive, the more guys I see out here that don't seem to care. No matter whether they're under the gun or what the deal is, it's always go, go, go, and if you are in the way, you're in a lot of trouble. There's still a lot of good drivers out here, but the demand for drivers is getting so bad that there's some guys out here who shouldn't be."

 

Bethany Vanatta, 29, Findlay, OH

Professional driving experience: 4 years

"Yes. People don't stop and think how hard it is for truck drivers to be away from their families and on the road all the time, dealing with four-wheelers cutting them off and thinking that those damn trucks are only going 55 and they want to go 65. If people would just stop and think how hard a job these guys are actually doing, they might have a little more respect for drivers."

 

Dave DeYoung, 36, Spartanburg, SC

Professional driving experience: 1 year

"Unfortunately, the public perception of truck drivers is negative, and it seems to be trending more and more that way. It's all of the accidents you see or read about involving trucks. It's way too easy to get your CDL these days. As a result, there are a lot of bad drivers, far more than there should be."

 

Ken Harrison, 62, Dunedin, FL

Professional driving experience: 10 years

"Yes, and I think some of it is deserved. We are our own worst enemy. I'm talking about the guy who follows a car and you can't put a piece a paper between him and the car's rear bumper. He's got fangs on his truck. The guy in the four-wheeler looks in the rear-view mirror and all he sees are those fangs and it scares the hell out of him. It's the few bad apples. The rest of us see this nonsense going on and ask, Why? We're getting kicked out of Wal-Mart parking lots. Why? The bad apples urinate in the parking lot and throw their trash out in the parking lot. What does that say about truckers?"

 

 


Quote of the Day

"Pay your people the least possible and you'll get from them the same."

-- Malcolm S. Forbes