Truckers' expectations

[martole]

Hello,
I am an Automotive Technology student in TU Eindhoven.
I would really appreciate if you could help me out with a short (less than 10 minutes, mostly multiple choice, a couple of optional open questions) and anonymous survey.
It is about a future concept of shared fleets and the truckers' expectations of the cabin features and also the whole arrangement.
The survey can be found here: https://forms.gle/3ThSUhNBe95wxA2e8

Thanks and best wishes,
Mart

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Checked and approved for posting by TNUK Staff

[Winseer]

I'd say that most drivers are expecting better pay & conditions any time soon, and don't have tien minutens to spend on a response to a virgin OP.

[martole]

Getting there...
Thanks for all those who have answered already, hope people have more time in the weekend to help me out.

[Franglais]

Hope you get enough responses to be useful.

[cav551]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

[Conor]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

If only there was a way to enter your height in feet and inches and have it converted to metres that was easily accessible on the internet....

Oh wait there is, Google. "What is 5ft 11in in metres" .....1.8034 metres.

I thought having common sense and problem solving was one of the tenets of being a good truck driver? Can only guess you can't be one....

[dieseldog999]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
possibly it may be in your best interests never to do any continental work if the conversion is somewhat beyond you.
that way you wont be doing a stobarts on the bridges marked in meters.

[weeto]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
possibly it may be in your best interests never to do any continental work if the conversion is somewhat beyond you.
that way you wont be doing a stobarts on the bridges marked in meters.

You don't need to leave the country to find height hazards measured in metres only!

[Juddian]

On the other hand, asking British drivers to complete a series of questions without the option of using the national unit of measurement is an oversight.

I too can't be arsed to find out what my height, or weight or shoe or hat size for that matter, might be in funny money.

[The-Snowman]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

If only there was a way to enter your height in feet and inches and have it converted to metres that was easily accessible on the internet....

Oh wait there is, Google. "What is 5ft 11in in metres" .....1.8034 metres.

I thought having common sense and problem solving was one of the tenets of being a good truck driver? Can only guess you can't be one....

He said he couldnt be bothered and that it was meaningless to him even if he did, not that he didnt know how to do it or struggled with it.

If youre going to be a smart arse, get your facts right first

[Franglais]

On the other hand, asking British drivers to complete a series of questions without the option of using the national unit of measurement is an oversight.

I too can't be arsed to find out what my height, or weight or shoe or hat size for that matter, might be in funny money.

The UK adopted the SI system decades ago Juddian. When was the last time you bought diesel by the gallon, carpet by the sq-yd, wood by the foot? I've seen posts of yours when you happily use kgs.
There are still anomalies of course, such as miles for roads* and pints for beer, but that goes to show how mixed-up (crazy/quaint) we all are.
Europe still has it's foibles: bicycle frames in inches. Tyre diameter in inches, but width in cm!


*miles for roads, litres for fuel but m.p.g. !

[Grumpy Dad]

Hmmmm ....... Truckers Expectations.........

Expect all conversations to go off on a tangent and be taken over by a new subject

Wether a driver is conversant with the metric system matters not, there is such a thing as a cab height indicator which is available in both metric and imperial.

Not that these stop the bridge strikes in the U.K.

[eagerbeaver]

I stopped as soon as it wouldn't accept my height in feet and inches. I really cannot be arsed to convert the imperial meaasurement I have known all my life into a metric quantity which is meaningless to me because I cannot visualise it.

If only there was a way to enter your height in feet and inches and have it converted to metres that was easily accessible on the internet....

Oh wait there is, Google. "What is 5ft 11in in metres" .....1.8034 metres.

I thought having common sense and problem solving was one of the tenets of being a good truck driver? Can only guess you can't be one....

He said he couldnt be bothered and that it was meaningless to him even if he did, not that he didnt know how to do it or struggled with it.

If youre going to be a smart arse, get your facts right first

[muckles]

On the other hand, asking British drivers to complete a series of questions without the option of using the national unit of measurement is an oversight.

I too can't be arsed to find out what my height, or weight or shoe or hat size for that matter, might be in funny money.

The UK adopted the SI system decades ago Juddian. When was the last time you bought diesel by the gallon, carpet by the sq-yd, wood by the foot? I've seen posts of yours when you happily use kgs.
There are still anomalies of course, such as miles for roads* and pints for beer, but that goes to show how mixed-up (crazy/quaint) we all are.
Europe still has it's foibles: bicycle frames in inches. Tyre diameter in inches, but width in cm!


*miles for roads, litres for fuel but m.p.g. !

Careful or when a certain person reads it, we'll have a 20 page discussion on it.
Personally I'm quite happy with the metric system and considering I was taught it at school and I'm in my 50's I can't see why most of the population now don't understand it.

[muckles]

Mart, I've completed your survey, not particularly relevant to me though, I do wonder if companies looking for savings will really bother with crews to check, clean and swap over personal kit, between driver changes, with the drivers walking out to their trucks like that scene out of Top Gun.



More likely just more damaged, dirty trucks and nobody giving a dam or taking responsibility.

[Franglais]

Mart, I've completed your survey, not particularly relevant to me though, I do wonder if companies looking for savings will really bother with crews to check, clean and swap over personal kit, between driver changes, with the drivers walking out to their trucks like that scene out of Top Gun.

I put a similar comment in the survey itself....apart from the Top-Gun reference.

Careful or when a certain person reads it, we'll have a 20 page discussion on it.
Personally I'm quite happy with the metric system and considering I was taught it at school and I'm in my 50's I can't see why most of the population now don't understand it.

We had that talk somewhere here before! Jaguars were built to thou`s so what else do we need?
Did read some US produced texts talking of g as 32ft per sec, per sec, and found it awkward using ft/sec and mph etc.

I was born in the mid 50`s and my secondary schooling was done in SI Units. Anyone schooled in Imperial units must be knocking on the door of retirement now.
Keeping a dual system alive today can be doing no favours for anyone surely?
How many miss pounds/shillings/pence today?

[Juddian]

How many miss pounds/shillings/pence today?

Every bugger who remembers going to fill up (with their dad counts) with 4 star the day of the annual budget, when said 4 star went up from 4s 4d to 4s 8d, for a gallon.
That was up from 22p to 24p (in rip off currency) for 4.54 litres of the stuff.

[Franglais]

How many miss pounds/shillings/pence today?

Every bugger who remembers going to fill up (with their dad counts) with 4 star the day of the annual budget, when said 4 star went up from 4s 4d to 4s 8d, for a gallon.
That was up from 22p to 24p (in rip off currency) for 4.54 litres of the stuff.

I`d welcome a return to 1960`s prices on today`s wages!

[cav551]

To reply: I don't have a passport so won't be doing any continental driving. The last time I went across the Channel you only needed an identity card. For the record the last and only time I flew, the aircraft had four propellors and was built by Vickers. I do know how to convert to metric various units of measure and how to move the decimal point (2.54 & 0.2120) but I don't see why I should either have to find my calculator or mess about searching for and opening a conversion program just to fill in some form. I am quite capable of doing some conversions from memory 5/8" = 0.625" and 7/16" = 0.4375".The vehicles I work on practically every day were built to imperial dimensions so a 6mm drill bit is not a lot of use to me if I want to use a 1/4" bolt.

As mentioned above some roadsigns are appearing in metric units -a brand new bridge height warning one has just appeared on the A20 in Sellindge marked solely in metres.

[Carryfast]

On the other hand, asking British drivers to complete a series of questions without the option of using the national unit of measurement is an oversight.

Or an insult depending on point of view.

It's not an issue of can or can't easily work with either system it's an issue of respect for those who prefer/choose to use our own system on our own turf.A bit like asking the questions in the local language.

[Pallal]

I think biggest problem with truck sharing is not all truck drivers look after their trucks. I keep my truck clean and check everything on it daily, if i was to suddenly be put into someone elses truck that smelled like an ashtray with [zb] in it i would flat out refuse to use it.

[Reef]

it's an issue of respect for those who prefer/choose to use our own system on our own turf.A bit like asking the questions in the local language.

Just remember that next time you're in Wales and the locals are speaking y Gymraeg, diolch yn fawr!

[Wheel Nut]

On the other hand, asking British drivers to complete a series of questions without the option of using the national unit of measurement is an oversight.

I too can't be arsed to find out what my height, or weight or shoe or hat size for that matter, might be in funny money.

Unless you have to load 66 euros in a 24 pallet fridge


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[martole]

Thanks to everyone who answered the survey. I got 46 responses, a number I am really happy with in this time frame, initial goal I set was 30.
Sorry for not enabling the height to be entered in Imperial units. The discussion from that at least kept the thread high on the page