Action News Jax Investigates a new federal proposal that would allow 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds to drive big rigs.
Action News Jax’s Letisha Bereola took a look at why safety advocates say the plan could make local highways more deadly.
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I don’t like government regulating who should be able to do what job. But I don’t know about this.
ReplyDeleteWTF? Wife and I have been taking grandson over state borders for the past 11 years, twice a year. No one even stopped us or even showed they cared.
ReplyDeleteNO! but oh hell fuck NO! I think they should raise it to 25. I was a truck driver hauling liquid O2 and that is dangerous enough, but kids at the wheel?
ReplyDeleteThe government had no problem with me crossing COUNTRY lines at 18 - and that was for the express purpose of killing people. Why is this even controversial? Do they think at 21 you suddenly become wiser?
ReplyDeleteAs far as traffic accidents go, age absolutely matters.
DeleteNot a good idea. Think back to when you were this age. Your were aggressive and had no fear. Not a good mix when behind the wheel of an 80,000lb gross weight vehicle.
ReplyDeleteNemo
My two cents-
ReplyDeleteIt's not a matter of age, it's a matter of maturity and temperament. Back when I was working I knew a lot of 40 and 50 years olds that shouldn't have been behind the wheel of a truck. Some guys were accidents looking for a place to happen and they usually found it.
The only problem is I don't know how you test for maturity and temperament.
No real way to test for them other than attrition, i.e. trial and error to see who fails. But the whole society seems to have gotten away from investing in TRAINING these past four decades or so. I attribute the change to a focus on quarterly profits over long term growth, leading to short sighted cost cutting. Wouldn't be too hard to scale up the "Safety Town" model they use for kids, to train adults in an off-road mockup before putting people out on the roads. Just costs time and money, and they seem to think it's cheaper to get them out on the road and pay for accidents and bad hires instead of investing in training.
DeleteYoung Allie kids need job too and the american trucker was the last cowboy. So that rugged imagine has to be replaced. Don't worry unnatural law always takes out the ones that started it. What is happening with the country is going to end and material selection will make up for 125 years.
ReplyDeleteI notice there’s no mention of solving the driver shortage by, you know, letting wages rise organically... like they would in a market economy. A legit 70-80k/yr driver salary would solve the hell out of the driver shortage.
ReplyDeleteThe key word is salary. The trucking firms don't want to pay a salary, they want to screw with the drivers by paying different rates per run, and per load and unload, and per waiting time. That bullshit, of trying to turn every employee into a contractor, drove more people out of the industry than the low wage rates. The trucking firms need to make a decision, either pay their employees a flat salary to do whatever the company says, or else give them the freedom of a contractor without the company and dispatchers trying to control the drivers from a distance. But almost every trucking firm wants to have it both ways.
DeleteAt my age I don't drive except to the supermarket and doctor's office. Both are less than 5 miles away. Ergo, I don't give a shit if they lower the interstate trucker's age to 10.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be minimum age limits for CDLs - when did that change?
ReplyDeleteThe other question that comes to mind relates to reliability and work ethic - both low in much of today's entry level, home grown labor pool.
I hate to say it but a lot of this discussion becomes moot with the (eventual) arrival of self-driving vehicles. It won't be overnight but it will get here faster with qualified driver shortages and wage based decisions that hasten the replacement of humans in this role and many others.
That's as bad an idea as letting Mexicans drive big rigs across the border.
ReplyDeleteI've been driving Tractor trailers since I got my license at 16.
ReplyDeleteAcross state and country lines since I was 17. Drove a million miles with a couple of minor fender benders.
It takes a fearless individual to drive a truck. When you start questioning your own judgement is when shit starts happening.
Elmo's right.
Some never should get behind the wheel of a big rig, and some, like me were born to drive.
I grew up on a farm, and was in the seat of a Farmall at 8, and running intricate harvesting equipment at 14.
I don't see this as a problem, as long as they stay away from the drugs that are sold in the back of every truck stop, and are taught the basics of defensive driving.
What could go wrong?
ReplyDeleteDriving even a car well, one thing is required, that being maturity and responsibility. Driving anything over the size and complexity of a small car requires even more maturity and the responsibility rate goes up exponentially.
I have seen grown men with all the proper licenses that cannot drive a "Big Rig", some that could not even back one up or drive the standard manual trans.
Now these idiots want to let kids that can't keep their noses out of their phone long enough to blow their nose behind the wheel.........
Well, hell, why not, we're joining the ranks of commie controlled socialist banana republics, so what the fuck, what's it gonna hurt...........
Most teenagers today can’t drive a stick shift or write in cursive So how the fuck are they going to drive a fully loaded 80,000 pound big rig let alone fill out the drivers log book ?
ReplyDeleteI grew-up on a farm; my four grandparents lived next door.
ReplyDeleteI will be 69 in a few weeks.
Alone, I can parallel-park a 53' semi-trailer grossing 105,500#.
Guided, I can fit a 48' Huey rotor in a 68' space.
None of my skills happened without the guidance of a couple-three dozen good mentors.
As my generation age-out of the work-place, the youngsters are losing a tremendous asset.
Young gen wouldn't believe anything you tried to teach them anyway. If something is on or can't be answered on Facefuck it doesn't exist for the young and dumb.
Delete<--25-yr truck driver
ReplyDeleteYou're allowed to drive Class A within a state at 18. You can't drive interstate until you're 21.
So Jethro lives in Texarkana, is 19yo and has been driving big trucks on the farm since he was 12. He can put on 100K miles a year driving all over the Great State of Texas, but WHOA!! Don't go two blocks east of your house, kid, or you'll suddenly lose all knowledge of how to drive!!
Absolute silliness. Crossing some imaginary line doesn't turn you into a different person. It's about intelligence and responsibility, not age.
There is a reason that insurance rates for teenagers is sky high.
ReplyDeleteAs much as insurance companies are dictating company operations now, I don't see this happening in real life.