instructorone:
Peter Smythe:
(The issue of experience is another matter altogether and not the subject of this post!).I’d of thought the issue of experience is what it’s all about! Get a car licence at 17, and a hgv at 18, what experience have you gained in that time? A lot of 18 year old’s are still cutting up the lgv’s at roundabouts, and have no thought that the driver needs extra room for manouvering, extra distance for stopping, restricted to 56 mph…and without thought for the load either.
That sounds a bit ageist to me.We hear a lot about age discrimination in the workplace against older workers but no one seems too worried when it’s younger ones who are discriminated against.It seems like you are just judging driving ability on age not on merit.So why not teach those who want to enter the industry things like load security,driving theory,the CPC,shunting offroad, and everything else which needs to be learnt before even taking a truck out on the road in those years before they can hold the licence at 18.There’s at least 2 years from the age when they can leave school until when they can hold that licence.By your argument who would have been driving those trucks which my dad was driving when he was 18 during WW2?.A lot of drivers a lot older than 18 are still cutting up HGV’s at roundabouts,and have no thought about anything which they do on the road either.But where and how are any new drivers of whatever age going to get that experience if no one gives them the chance to get it in the beginning?.But it’s better to learn on the job from an early as age as possible so that experience is gained sooner rather than later.