Anyone feel that letting thousands of brand new\havnt driven HGV for twenty years\anyone they can find in EE back in the saddle is going to cause chaos?
Don’t know if it’s my imagination but I seem to be seeing more and more examples of deranged\clueless HGV driving every day - if you see a HGV driver who isn’t hunched over his phone with a dvd playing at the same time you are doing well - this guy last night was watching Blue Planet (mind you it was an episode I had already seen so I only cruised beside him watching till the seal escaped the killer whale)
JeffA:
Anyone feel that letting thousands of brand new\havnt driven HGV for twenty years\anyone they can find in EE back in the saddle is going to cause chaos?
Don’t know if it’s my imagination but I seem to be seeing more and more examples of deranged\clueless HGV driving every day - if you see a HGV driver who isn’t hunched over his phone with a dvd playing at the same time you are doing well - this guy last night was watching Blue Planet (mind you it was an episode I had already seen so I only cruised beside him watching till the seal escaped the killer whale)
before they go on the road are they not supposed to do intensive training followed by a test by an examiner if not why not
We were all new drivers at some.point.
Doesn’t bother me.
As for people on there phones watching DVDs etc.
That’s acorss the board really.
And I’d say it’s the more experienced drivers that do it anyway
My thoughts are if you want to be on the phone all day get a job in a call centre for £9 per hour
I wonder how many accidents have been caused by phone calls & texting while driving and
one death is too many
edd1974:
We were all new drivers at some.point.
Doesn’t bother me.
As for people on there phones watching DVDs etc.
That’s acorss the board really.
And I’d say it’s the more experienced drivers that do it anyway
The more experienced drivers have mastered ejecting and changing the DVD with their toes.
We have all been inexperienced at some point,.and all had to learn, so there has obviously always been inexperienced drivers on the road…
I agree that standards of driving (and drivers) has deteriorated over the years, in many cases, but I also think that many experienced drivers have lost the plot when it comes to cutting corners…not literally btw
if you want to go into the new drivers thing, it it’s because there is no longer a difference between driving a truck and a car, where as once over you had to learn different things to drive one.
Ok trucks are much easier, and better today, and I ain’t suggesting going back to driving trucks that resemble tractors in comparison, but the result is the dumbing down of drivers.
So basically ANYBODY can pass a test nowadays,.and those among them who are a bit thick go on to drive their trucks like cars.
The ones with a brain go on to be good drivers…I ain’t saying all new drivers are bad, they ain’t, but the knob heads always stand out more on the road.
So the problem lies with training imo, it should be more intensive, less easy a course,.and be an actual ‘Driving course’ with all that the day to day job entails, with a 6 month probationary period on a licence, which would soon filter out the f/whits who have managed to blag a licence.
At the moment it’s all about learning parrot fashion how to get around a test route without ■■■■ ing up, and if you manage it you are let loose with 44 tonnes,.again I suppose it was like that when I took mine, but after the test you had to LEARN actual skills, that the likes of auto boxes for one instance have removed from the job…hence my first comment about driving trucks as you would a car.
New drivers have all passed a test where an examiner has deemed them fit to drive a truck. They have a basic understanding of the regs etc. It should be down to the company who they are employed by to ensure that they are up to speed with everything else. We have umpteen driving assesors at our place and we have to be signed off every 6 months by them to drive our shunters. Like everythng, we all need to gain experience over time. The big problem is with the drivers attitude themselves who drive their trucks like a car. They don’t see the dangers in driving a bigger vehicle. More should be done on awareness during the training.
I think that the training should be done by the haulage industry and not by stand alone driving schools who have nothing to do with carrying goods. Have the candidate go out with an experienced driver and demonstrate that the vehicle would earn money in the new mans hands.
I suppose it’s just the things that arn’t always immediately obvious that arn’t covered in a driving test - like even strapped in pallets may still go over if you take a bend too fast.
The LGV test is hardly intensive training with an examiner testing very basic skills and giving out a licence, you are taught to please the examiner on a set route, the learning comes later, the load securing, knowing how to get from A to B without getting lost, or losing the lorry.
What has happened is that the drivers job has been dumbed down so much that thinking for yourself is frowned upon, punctures, breakdowns happened to us all, now you have to really on a pointy shoe person to organise a repair company.
If texting and watching televisions and other activities that distract drivers are as common as people think they are maybe that makes the case for in cab cameras, don’t agree with them myself but if needs must but again more than likely the majority suffering for the few
Any reasonable employer should be having a look at the standard of driving before employing. Other than that, if the category is there with an agreeable number of points, crack on. If a driver hasn’t driven for years, then that driver should think about a refresher of course. Whether they do is entirely up to the individual.
Apart from a few safety conscious larger operators, within the transport industry, training has always varied between hit or miss, or even non existent.
I remember driving a 7.5 tonne flatbed on general haulage when starting out and the owner proposing to show me how to rope, but didn’t find the time. A guy from a warehouse at one of my drops a couple of days later, saw my predicament and showed me how to do a proper tensioning knot (dolly hitch).
Likewise when I got my HGV license, nobody ever showed me how to use ratchet straps properly, nor the best way to sheet loads, or the hazards of carrying steel, it was all a self taught learning experience.
I’ve never been given any training on tail lifts, using pump trucks, lashing down loads in curtainsiders, driving offroad or in quarries on tipper work, nor hazards when driving and operating tankers. I have had to use my own judgement and just got on with it. Fortunately I have never lost a load onto the tarmac, nor injured anyone. An element of good fortune perhaps, but that was my journey.
I had break from the industry for many years, but that role started involving far more overseas work which I hated, so I returned to HGV driving. During that time the trucks had changed, by virtue of digital tachos being installed and some having electronics to check levels etc. I had to go online and watch YouTube videos to learn how to get by with a digi card. Still couldn’t tell you how to do a manual entry.
Harsh reality, is you have a HGV license and many operators just want you out the gate once you’ve done the walk around checks.
On my return to the ‘dangerous’ weighbridge fitter had three brand new wheels made up, and was in the process of replacing all three.
Mentioned it at waste co I was loading at the next day, and boss said, one of Stobarts best reversed onto their weighbridge recently, and blew all three tyres too. This driver was an olympian though. Box was loaded, could not be dragged off bridge, and because the sides of the weighbridge prevented access to wheels, they had to hire a crane to move it over and allow wheels to be changed. It took 2 days to sort out.
Also, whenever I collect my truck from service in Scania, I always seem to see Stobart trucks getting various panels replaced, to the point where it seems the whole fleet has mismatched panels.
My point is, how does a company afford this level of destruction?
I could bore you silly with the amount of double deckers they stuff under our local railway bridge. Although, to be fair, has been a few months now. Seems weighbridges are the new danger.
Like most I could write a book on their driving standards.
If there is one thing that is guaranteed to push me over the edge is a bit of road in Liverpool where national speed limit signs show…it is a dual carriageway, and the plantpots obviously don’t know its meaning, poodle along, and then floor it when the sign has a 60 on it…and these people create blogs to advise other drivers. It can only get worse…until some form of driver finishing school type training is available after a successful pass.
JeffA:
Anyone feel that letting thousands of brand new\havnt driven HGV for twenty years\anyone they can find in EE back in the saddle is going to cause chaos?
Remember that was you once. How else they going to learn?
robroy:
I agree that standards of driving (and drivers) has deteriorated over the years, in many cases, but I also think that many experienced drivers have lost the plot when it comes to cutting corners…
The ultimate I’ve seen is a driver putting a trailer numberplate in the holder and only using one of the top tabs to hold it in because he reckoned he could save a second taking it out. Same driver also ended up with permanent ban from the job the week before he was due to start permanent due to turning up to the gatehouse without the fifth wheel dog clip in.
JeffA:
Anyone feel that letting thousands of brand new\havnt driven HGV for twenty years\anyone they can find in EE back in the saddle is going to cause chaos?
Remember that was you once. How else they going to learn?
robroy:
I agree that standards of driving (and drivers) has deteriorated over the years, in many cases, but I also think that many experienced drivers have lost the plot when it comes to cutting corners…
The ultimate I’ve seen is a driver putting a trailer numberplate in the holder and only using one of the top tabs to hold it in because he reckoned he could save a second taking it out. Same driver also ended up with permanent ban from the job the week before he was due to start permanent due to turning up to the gatehouse without the fifth wheel dog clip in.
Its not them starting - it’s 50,000 of them starting AT THE SAME TIME all doing their FIRST JOBS that concerns me. I will admit i was lucky not to have an accident for the first 6 months I was driving
Also - a lot of the new jobs they will be hired for may be non-newbie jobs - like reversing off the blind dogleg into the busy dual carraigeway. Jobs that may trip people up.
As a newbie, I was much more careful with every aspect of the job, because I didn’t want to ■■ up. But I did, who hasn’t - who never gets anything wrong?
I’ve known good, very experienced drivers make some serious mistakes!
The knobheads watching a screen instead of the road really ■■■■ me off, but you have the option to swivel your dashcam and phone their company - I would do that if I thought it was necessary. We’re the ones (hopefully/mostly) with the experience, the sense, and the high vantage point, to know how to avoid having ‘situations’ happen… such as some ■■■■ in a truck killing a family because he’s too busy watching Blue Planet!
Don’t know where you lot are seeing all these mobile movie watchers, I think I’ve seen one, and that was about 30 years ago, …AND it was abroad not over here.
It was a normal tv, I was more impressed with what type of aerial he had to maintain a picture on the move to bother my arse whether he was doing wrong or not.
It would never enter my swede to report them, as I have an agreement with my local copper, he says he won’t moonlight on my truck at weekends…,.and I don’t do HIS job.
A new driver is obviously going to make mistakes - you dont know what a blind spot is until youve pulled across and almost hit a car do you. Its no use an examiner mentioning it.
robroy:
Don’t know where you lot are seeing all these mobile movie watchers, I think I’ve seen one
Plenty on nights, especially on M74, M6, A66, A1M. Easy to spot by their weaving all over the road and sitting at green traffic lights so long they’ve turned red again.
