UKtramp:
It is really amusing how some people think that an auto box has made the job easier and that useless drivers are now flocking in their drones because of it. The job has never been hard to begin with, only the conditions have altered. You do not or have never had to go to University or college to drive a lorry. Any one with half a brain can drive a manual truck and an auto makes it even easier. Driving and drivers are not judged on if they can drive a manual gear box or not, they don’t have to nowadays. That doesn’t have any relevance or bearing on a drivers ability. Trunking up and down a motorway all day is what has made drivers useless along with being micro managed. You may as well say that power steering has had an input into dumbing the job down. The fact of the matter is that driving is easy and anyone with no qualifications can do it. It attracts this type of person as you can do twice the hours everyone else works in a week and they see this as a good option to earn more money. That’s the main problem, not auto boxes.
Funnily enough, when power-steering came in that’s exactly what people claimed! Drivers claimed that it meant that you no longer had to ‘plan your drive’. There were still some lorries about even in the early '80s with both contant-mesh and non-power steering. Earlier in this thread I reminded readers that constant-mesh 'boxes made us plan our drive on approach to hazards like roundabouts as we slowed the wagon; with ‘armstrong’ steering you had to plan your drive through the roundabout as well! As you say, none of this is relevant any more because of auto boxes and power steering. But that doesn’t stop it being true that the old encumbrances made you plan your drive intelligently.
Good point about micromanagement by the way: a great dumber downer that. Robert
Juddian:
I wouldn’t want to go back there, but without power steering you soon learned to drive, and maneuver, with economy of movement.
“The past is foreign country; they do thing differently there.” It would be a nice to visit there sometimes, but not maybe to live there.
We tend to look at the past through rosy tinted specs, but a truck without power steering certainly concentrated the mind when planning and positioning a reverse or other manoeuvre. I do remember comments from some older boys about how power steering would knock out steer tyres quickly as drivers would sit on the spot and spin the steering wheel, not an option on older trucks!
robroy:
Yeh,.well.I know nothing about him or his firm, he could be the best or worst boss in the game for all I know. I just got a bit annoyed by his claim that he had ‘‘no problems introducing driver facing cameras’’ to his staff.
I mean, come on… who tf in their right mind wants, (or even accepts without any question ) a bloody camera facing them , unless as I said, they were terminally gullible, brainwashed, or totally switched off to the genuine reason for it.
Yer getting to be right grump in your old age rob , and I’m right behind you
If I ever get out of ISO9001 hell, I might poll my drivers and see if they would mind. Might get hold of some body armour and a tin hat first
Juddian:
I wouldn’t want to go back there, but without power steering you soon learned to drive, and maneuver, with economy of movement.
I do remember comments from some ‘’‘’‘‘older boys’’‘’‘’’ about how power steering would knock out steer tyres quickly as drivers would sit on the spot and spin the steering wheel, not an option on older trucks!
ooof. ‘older boys’
Anyone handy to pull that slim decorative and oh so polite dagger out me back please before that most debonair of assassins, messrs Franglais gives it a silent twist… … …
Juddian:
I wouldn’t want to go back there, but without power steering you soon learned to drive, and maneuver, with economy of movement.
I do remember comments from some ‘’‘’‘‘older boys’’‘’‘’’ about how power steering would knock out steer tyres quickly as drivers would sit on the spot and spin the steering wheel, not an option on older trucks!
ooof. ‘older boys’
Anyone handy to pull that slim decorative and oh so polite dagger out me back please before that most debonair of assassins, messrs Franglais gives it a silent twist… … …
Ooii ! No dagger directed at you mate! Any “Age seeking” missile is more likely to spin a U-turn, and head back at me nowadays! I was speaking of the “older boys”, when theenme would have been starting out. You remember, when we were ever so slightly slimmer, and slightly less “characterful”, than we are today?
and when those of us that still have hair it was a somewhat different colour than now, so we didn’t look like a negative which just about sums me up these days.
To be honest i can’t recall any of the old uns when i started moaning about that new fangled power steering, i think they were just glad that us young whippersnappers had got their cast offs sans PS, whilst they swanned off in premium stuff like a Leyland Buffalo that did have PS.
characterful , yeah that’s one way to describe us.
UKtramp:
It is really amusing how some people think that an auto box has made the job easier and that useless drivers are now flocking in their drones because of it. The job has never been hard to begin with, only the conditions have altered. You do not or have never had to go to University or college to drive a lorry. Any one with half a brain can drive a manual truck and an auto makes it even easier. Driving and drivers are not judged on if they can drive a manual gear box or not, they don’t have to nowadays. That doesn’t have any relevance or bearing on a drivers ability. Trunking up and down a motorway all day is what has made drivers useless along with being micro managed. You may as well say that power steering has had an input into dumbing the job down. The fact of the matter is that driving is easy and anyone with no qualifications can do it. It attracts this type of person as you can do twice the hours everyone else works in a week and they see this as a good option to earn more money. That’s the main problem, not auto boxes.
Strange how people view top grade police drivers and train drivers as professionals but not someone navigating a 44 tonner around the road network.
As for trunking work heavy weights moving at high speeds,preferably 60-65 mph, what can possibly go wrong and obviously no trunk driver ever needs to leave the motorway and use ordinary roads at some point.
As for power steering dumbing down the job it actually creates the need for more sensitivety and planning regarding steering inputs not less especially in the case of something like bulkers or tankers.Just as a constant mesh box provides the best of all worlds of enforcing a well planned approach to hazards with the win win of much lighter shift loads and faster shifts than synchro boxes.
Carryfast:
Strange how people view top grade police drivers and train drivers as professionals but not someone navigating a 44 tonner around the road network.
Professionals are in jobs where they have to be a member of a body in order to be able to carry out their job so a doctor has to be registered with the General Medical Council, solicitors and lawyers have to be members of the Law Society, Chartered Engineers have to be a member of the Engineering Council or professional affiliate and unless they are they’re not allowed to work as such. Can you tell me what body you have to be member of to be a lorry driver?
UKtramp:
The job has never been hard to begin with, only the conditions have altered. You do not or have never had to go to University or college to drive a lorry. Any one with half a brain can drive a manual truck and an auto makes it even easier.
The fact of the matter is that driving is easy and anyone with no qualifications can do it. It attracts this type of person as you can do twice the hours everyone else works in a week and they see this as a good option to earn more money. That’s the main problem, not auto boxes.
gingerfold:
Robroy, why are you so angry with me? I’m only attempting to have a reasonable discussion, there’s no need to rant at me. All I will say in response is that in a 50 years working life I have done every job in transport from changing wheels to driving and managing. So do I know the job and my drivers…you bet I do mate.
I know, I aint angry at all with you personally…and rant??
(Btw…what’s the relavance of your career details to this discussion, I too have done all that over the years, including employing drivers… so what’s your point exactly?)
I just get sick of all the crap in this job today, and those in management thinking ALL drivers are as thick as pig [zb], and can not see the true agendas of this type of modern management type bs, …while trying to pull the wool over our eyes, with policies and schemes, solely designed to keep us in check, and to watch and monitor us constantly while trying to do our jobs.
Hope that explains.
I take your point Robroy and I can fully accept that there are drivers who are very unhappy about having a camera pointing at them all day (or night) as they go about their job. Mine is only a small depot with only 23 drivers, so it might not be totally representative of the views about cameras held by the majority of drivers. I can confirm however, that what you were told about “event triggers” is correct…as far as I am led to believe. Heavy braking, or sudden deviation does trigger an alert which isolates the camera footage for a few seconds either side of the trigger. It is totally impractical to record every minute of every drivers’ working shift and there aren’t people employed to sit glued to a screen watching drivers. And the camera only records when the ignition is switched on…so I’m told.
stuwozere1:
3 words…Certificate of Professional Competency. Exactly what it says on the tin [emoji848]
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Are you seriously saying that you think it actually has any real substance? …really?
Cynicism comes with disillusionment, after a bloody long time in the job, and past experiences.
If I’m told by anybody in transport in any form of authority that water is there to quench your thirst, I’ll check for an ulterior motive first…and 9 times out of 10 I find a one.
In other words believe ■■■■ all that ‘‘they’’ tell you.
stuwozere1:
3 words…Certificate of Professional Competency. Exactly what it says on the tin [emoji848]
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Are you seriously saying that you think it actually has any real substance? …really?
Cynicism comes with disillusionment, after a bloody long time in the job, and past experiences.
If I’m told by anybody in transport in any form of authority that water is there to quench your thirst, I’ll check for an ulterior motive first…and 9 times out of 10 I find a one.
In other words believe [zb] all that ‘‘they’’ tell you.
I was just injecting a little sarcasm my friend [emoji106]
stuwozere1:
3 words…Certificate of Professional Competency. Exactly what it says on the tin [emoji848]
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Are you seriously saying that you think it actually has any real substance? …really?
Cynicism comes with disillusionment, after a bloody long time in the job, and past experiences.
If I’m told by anybody in transport in any form of authority that water is there to quench your thirst, I’ll check for an ulterior motive first…and 9 times out of 10 I find a one.
In other words believe [zb] all that ‘‘they’’ tell you.
I was just injecting a little sarcasm my friend [emoji106]
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Ok …but there are those on here who think it’s real.
Nowt to do with ‘‘modern lorries’’ but everything to do with crap driving by thick drivers…
My boy rang me last Fri on his way back from a course at Daventry.
He said…
‘‘What’s the score with some of you truckers Dad, I was sat at 52mph in the roadworks 50 limit at Knutsford, and this bloody B&Q truck is sat up my arse flashing me to go faster’’
Thinking he should know better, I said…
‘‘You shouldn’t hog the middle lane then, pull over and let him pass’’
…‘‘Yeh, but I was in lane 1’’ he said.
stuwozere1:
3 words…Certificate of Professional Competency. Exactly what it says on the tin [emoji848]
Nope. The DCPC is merely a qualification and a poor one at that and you can still drive a lorry without one. Merely having the qualification doesn’t make you a professional, to be a professional under its true definition also requires being a member of an oversight body for that job and one which without membership you cannot do the job.
If the DCPC was proof of professionalism it would be like every other qualification I’ve had to do in other fields and would involve taking exams with a minimum pass mark of 85% instead of just being given it for showing up. Could you imagine if the DCPC had that? You’d see over half the drivers being taken off the road.
The CPC thing is a joke. I can sit in the back of the classroom, day dreaming, not paying attention to anything for 5 sessions of 7 hours and I’ll be granted my qualification to drive an HGV for another 5 years.
) a bloody camera facing them , unless as I said, they were terminally gullible, brainwashed, or totally switched off to the genuine reason for it.
, and I’m right behind you 
… 
… 
which just about sums me up these days.
that did have PS.
