There has been quite a few threads on here lately concerning the lack of professionalism among truck drivers ie carving each other up, holding each other in the middle lane after the guy pulled over only to let you out, forcing cars off the road, not flashing in, even in bad visibility, not giving way and generally having an “I’m ok so zb you” attitude. I know it’s a bit of a standing joke on here about the “so called professional” and “think of the children thing” 
, but I am sure that I am not the only one to notice a decline in the quality of a lot of drivers over the years to today. I know the literal definition of Professional driver is driving as a profession, but I am talking from a context of ability consideration and road sense. Since I started ( am now in old ■■■■ mode 
) the industry has been totally dumbed down, it used to be that as a new starter skills had to be acquired those of which could not be learned in 5mins, crash & semi crash boxes compared to autos today that a chimp could master, roping & sheeting, that could take even years to get to perfection unlike todays fastening buckles, reversing, if you zbd up you try and correct a motor with no power steering where getting into a tight space required absolute perfection, you had to KNOW routes and shortcuts or at least be able to read a map not blindly follow a sat nav. As you were learning these skills you had a lot of respect for the older guys who already had them when you discovered how hard it was to master some of them yourself, the only “skills” required today are the DCPC NVQ and other similar bullcrap. Some of the new guys who have had a licence for a couple of years think they know it all and you know nowt. I aint saying all younger drivers are all like this by any means, I know a lot of young guys who are spot on, but would the ones who are not, be drivers today if things were still like what they were 20 or 30 years ago where ability mattered much more than today. a LGV licence does not automatically make you a professional in this context, it does however make a motorist who is allowed to steer a truck. (expecting a lot of stick but I’m a big lad and I can take it )
You’ll get no stick from me big boy 
, i couldn’t agree more.
The most important thing to us as young drivers back then was to earn the respect of the old school, note i said ‘earn’, it didn’t come automatically.
If you were very lucky, i was, one or two of the old hands would take you under their wing and teach you properly, you can’t buy that experience and it can’t be learned in a classroom from someone who wouldn’t have a clue what we are talking about.
Many of the new class (of all age groups) couldn’t cope with a days work as it was then, some of 'em wouldn’t get the bloody truck out the gate.
dont think its just drivers its society in general! but as for the good ole days i learnt in a twin split can rope and sheet and am so sodding glad things moved on 
thats life things change people are too under pressure to have any consideration for each other ‘i can recall days where several drivers would stop to help change a puncture’ to many people are under threat for their jobs etc etc
and would i hell drive a truck without power steering tried it once and never again!
my biggest grudge is health and safety i went with my dad in the holidays no ones children can do that now or they are very few and far between, without a role model on how to be professional who do you learn off?
I will agree as well, as i’ve been driving coaches for over twenty years and then recently coming into trucks I have seem a demise in attitudes and proffesionalism, the trouble is whenever you mention it you seem to get outcast as some sort of nut job or whinger.
I learnt the hard way on the coaches, driving the crappiest one they had when i started and moving my way up as you proved yourself.
My first was a very old Volvo Duple, crash box, no power, no heating etc, now everything is power this power that and someone driving for five years knows everything and talks to you like your an idiot.
Madguy
war1974:
dont think its just drivers its society in general! but as for the good ole days i learnt in a twin split can rope and sheet and am so sodding glad things moved on
thats life things change people are too under pressure to have any consideration for each other ‘i can recall days where several drivers would stop to help change a puncture’ to many people are under threat for their jobs etc etcand would i hell drive a truck without power steering tried it once and never again!
my biggest grudge is health and safety i went with my dad in the holidays no ones children can do that now or they are very few and far between, without a role model on how to be professional who do you learn off?
Yeh you’re right mate, but I didn’t say I would like to go back to all that either, the job has certainly got easier in that respect but that’s only one positive in a whole batch of negatives, as for being under pressure, it shouldn’t affect a bit of minimal mutual consideration, the public hate us enough as it is, but if we start hating each other where will that get us.
aye im just old enough to have driven trucks way near no heater ,wooden cabbed atki 6wheelers …wi rachet park brake.
an im only 52 .
dont forget some o the late 70-80s trucks could really move! it was the stopping part that sorted the men from the boys…
and start on a 4whl tipper and work up to a 6 then spare lowloader …then artic you learned as you went.
not this ive just passed my test give me a top o the range volvo crap 
It laid a work ethic that i still have today and helped me no end when coming to canada.
lol from constant msh boxes ------syncro-auto—now back on constand mesh boxes…
jimmy
No matter how hard it was in the good old days I don’t really respect or look up to other lorry drivers because the majority have no respect for me when I’m trying to be professional and stick to 40mph, even when I get the odd hand gesture its never a youngun but an old ■■■■!
Well to ■■■■ in not all of us young lads are that bad when I got my licence 7 years ago the first truck I drove was a bedford mj with a feps geny trailer on the back. Then seddon akinsons with a eton twin splitter but I had a advantege as I spent 3 years as.a apprentice hgv fitter and the old boys taught me alot and how to drive a 1970 erf recer the problem is the job and the roads have changed so if the dinosors dont like it move on.
I’m convinced the lack of professionalism is due to the fact that nowadays some drivers are only driving due to the fact that they got made redundant or didn’t know what else to do for a job and not a lot of people are taking it up as a career.
Therefore some of the drivers who are kind of forced into it as such don’t always show as much professionalism as the drivers who took it up as a career.
Hope you understood that ok.
As a driving instructor who can’t make a living in this recession, I have a by the book ye old dib dib boy scout type driving knocked into me. The emotive side of driving was taken out, it’s between me the rules and the road/conditions. Muppets do their thing I do mine.
The only thing I find wrong with this industry is hurry up moosh moosh or I give the job to someone who doesn’t give a ■■■■. I suppose thats what might have changed, the pace and value of life and people in general.
You’re sounding like a right bunch of old ■■■■■ ! When you lot was still knee high to a eaton twin splitter do you seriously think the old uns didnt regarded you with the same contempt you have for the younger generation.
It’s the way of the world always has been always will be.
a famous quite from ancient Greece
“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they alone knew everything”
Angus25:
Well to ■■■■ in not all of us young lads are that bad when I got my licence 7 years ago the first truck I drove was a bedford mj with a feps geny trailer on the back. Then seddon akinsons with a eton twin splitter but I had a advantege as I spent 3 years as.a apprentice hgv fitter and the old boys taught me alot and how to drive a 1970 erf recer the problem is the job and the roads have changed so if the dinosors dont like it move on.
If you read back you will see that I DID actually say that this did not apply to ALL young drivers, and looking at your training I can’t see how it could apply to you personally either. I have also noticed (believe it or not ) that the roads and the job have changed, but how does this justify, or even explain the “zb you” attitude of SOME drivers towards other drivers exactly? and is your definition of a dinosaur an older driver with experience who is professional enough not to subscribe to said attitude?.. if so I reckon I’m one of your dinosaurs.
I’m usually one of the first to come out with the cliche ‘It was better in the old days’ and looking at it realistically it was in some ways, professionalism was part of the job, now it isn’t.
There are two factors in that, the first is that drivers now have it very easy, the lorries are so much better, after the foreign invasion shhok things up, for years and years they evolved very slowly, an F10 was a little bit better than an F88, a 111 was a little bit better than a 110, a C series ERF was a little bit better than a B series etc etc etc.
All of a sudden things have come on leaps and bounds. Comparing a lorry from 1970 to a lorry from 1990 is like comparing a record player to a Walkman, comparing a lorry from 1990 to today’s lorries is like comparing the Walkman to an I-Pod, push one little button and it does everything you want it to do.
This has meant that a lot of the skills that went towards professionalism have disappeared, because they’re not needed anymore. gearboxes are always a popular topic to set of the old boys, but be honest, why do you need to be able to make clutchless changes with a 13spd Fuller, when the lorry you drive has an autoshift?
Roping and sheeting has almost disappeared, so what good does it do a driver to know how to do a double dolly spreader, when they pull a curtainsider?
There are many other ‘skills’ that have been lost due to technology making them obsolete, this has always happened though, it’s part of progression, drivers on here who wax lyrical about the good old days never had the ‘skills’ of the real old timers, in the far distant past, shovelling coal and getting a boiler steamed up properly was part of the job, before that it was looking out for your horse, the times change and you have to change with them.
The main cause of frustration on the roads is caused by two things, firstly it is society in general, today people want it all and they want it all right now, anyone who gets in their way is a nuisance, lorry drivers are no different to anybody else. The speed limiter issue has been debated to death, but to be completely honest we all, as red blooded lorry drivers, have a thing for speed, we put Ferrari posters on our walls, not Toyota Prius posters, we all get a buzz out of a bit of belting along, which is why most drive on the limiter and continue to do so on 50mph D/Cs and 40mph S/Cs, it’s testosterone and before any do gooders say that I’m being sexist, I’m not, most women lorry drivers I’ve seen have got plenty of testosterone coursing through their veins
Second and the biggest thing in my opinion, is the big companies and their ridiculous health and safety ■■■■■■■■, everything is dumbed down to the point where the driver has no input in anything, so what little ‘skills’ drivers have left will be lost forever within a few years.
Oh and the internet makes things seem a lot worse than they are, now when a driver makes a balls up, it’s posted on trucknet within minutes and thousands of drivers get to hear about it, this makes things seem far worse than they are 
Mr B:
You’re sounding like a right bunch of old ■■■■■ ! When you lot was still knee high to a eaton twin splitter do you seriously think the old uns didnt regarded you with the same contempt you have for the younger generation.
Of course they did, and we didn’t expect to get respect we didn’t deserve, we worked at learning the job and when we met with the old 'uns approval at last we could call ourselves drivers.
The new generation of drivers have to earn it just the same way, by doing it and doing it well, a 2 week course at Joe Soaps driving school has never and will never make a professional lorry driver.
Mr B:
You’re sounding like a right bunch of old ■■■■■ ! When you lot was still knee high to a eaton twin splitter do you seriously think the old uns didnt regarded you with the same contempt you have for the younger generation.
It’s the way of the world always has been always will be.
a famous quite from ancient Greece
“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they alone knew everything”
Yeh point taken Mr B, it’s no fun being an old ■■■■, (but to be fair I’m only 53, and still 33 in me head .) I didn’t intend to start an old driver v young driver thing, but assuming you aren’t as old and past it as me , do you not agree with the driver to driver bad attitude with a lot of drivers today, even some of the older ones.
bald bloke:
I’m convinced the lack of professionalism is due to the fact that nowadays some drivers are only driving due to the fact that they got made redundant or didn’t know what else to do for a job and not a lot of people are taking it up as a career.
Therefore some of the drivers who are kind of forced into it as such don’t always show as much professionalism as the drivers who took it up as a career.
Hope you understood that ok.
Now, I am not sure if this comment was meant to get a reaction but after reading it, it got my back up and then i read it again…
I have just been recently informed i am being made redundant after nearly 20 years, so, according to your train of thought Bald bloke, does that make me unprofessional ■■? Funnily enough, i also want to get into driving on a full time basis once i leave the Army. I have been around HGV’s since i was a kid and for me it is a natural progression…or is it because i didn’t know what else to do ■■?
Okay, i have only had my license 6 years, i know i still have a lot to learn, but within that time i have done various agency work and learned a lot off other people. I always try to be courteous and considerate whilst driving and i would hope to expect the same treatment back, however, i know this is the real world and that is not that likely to happen.
Still, with all the old guys out there, there is experience in abundance and if i can tap that experience to improve myself as a driver, I will !!!
Grundril:
bald bloke:
I’m convinced the lack of professionalism is due to the fact that nowadays some drivers are only driving due to the fact that they got made redundant or didn’t know what else to do for a job and not a lot of people are taking it up as a career.
Therefore some of the drivers who are kind of forced into it as such don’t always show as much professionalism as the drivers who took it up as a career.
Hope you understood that ok.Now, I am not sure if this comment was meant to get a reaction but after reading it, it got my back up and then i read it again…
I have just been recently informed i am being made redundant after nearly 20 years, so, according to your train of thought Bald bloke, does that make me unprofessional ■■? Funnily enough, i also want to get into driving on a full time basis once i leave the Army. I have been around HGV’s since i was a kid and for me it is a natural progression…or is it because i didn’t know what else to do ■■?
Okay, i have only had my license 6 years, i know i still have a lot to learn, but within that time i have done various agency work and learned a lot off other people. I always try to be courteous and considerate whilst driving and i would hope to expect the same treatment back, however, i know this is the real world and that is not that likely to happen.
Still, with all the old guys out there, there is experience in abundance and if i can tap that experience to improve myself as a driver, I will !!!
I’d take a decent attitude over experience anytime, I reckon you’ll do just fine driver
I noticed the avatar, what part of Devon do you live in?
One of the main problems these days I think is that people
( car and truck drivers ) are not taught how to drive , they are
taught how to pass a test .
My son is in the marines and he took his class 1 or what ever it is called
these days and his instructor used to take him over the same roads every
day , and these were the same routes used by the examiner . He admits it was easy because he knew where to brake , the correct angle for the turns etc .
The same applies to car tests , taught to drive by the driving school over the test routs .
I dont know what the answer is but I think this goes a long way towards
the driving standards of today in all types of driving .
Tin hat on and head down . he he
quirky
robroy:
war1974:
dont think its just drivers its society in general! but as for the good ole days i learnt in a twin split can rope and sheet and am so sodding glad things moved on
thats life things change people are too under pressure to have any consideration for each other ‘i can recall days where several drivers would stop to help change a puncture’ to many people are under threat for their jobs etc etcand would i hell drive a truck without power steering tried it once and never again!
my biggest grudge is health and safety i went with my dad in the holidays no ones children can do that now or they are very few and far between, without a role model on how to be professional who do you learn off?
Yeh you’re right mate, but I didn’t say I would like to go back to all that either, the job has certainly got easier in that respect but that’s only one positive in a whole batch of negatives, as for being under pressure, it shouldn’t affect a bit of minimal mutual consideration, the public hate us enough as it is, but if we start hating each other where will that get us.
couldnt agree more but like i say i dont think its just down to trucks its society in the old days you earnt respect and were given it back provided you had the right attitude nowadays most would run you over as soon as help another driver out!
newmercman:
Grundril:
bald bloke:
I’m convinced the lack of professionalism is due to the fact that nowadays some drivers are only driving due to the fact that they got made redundant or didn’t know what else to do for a job and not a lot of people are taking it up as a career.
Therefore some of the drivers who are kind of forced into it as such don’t always show as much professionalism as the drivers who took it up as a career.
Hope you understood that ok.Now, I am not sure if this comment was meant to get a reaction but after reading it, it got my back up and then i read it again…
I have just been recently informed i am being made redundant after nearly 20 years, so, according to your train of thought Bald bloke, does that make me unprofessional ■■? Funnily enough, i also want to get into driving on a full time basis once i leave the Army. I have been around HGV’s since i was a kid and for me it is a natural progression…or is it because i didn’t know what else to do ■■?
Okay, i have only had my license 6 years, i know i still have a lot to learn, but within that time i have done various agency work and learned a lot off other people. I always try to be courteous and considerate whilst driving and i would hope to expect the same treatment back, however, i know this is the real world and that is not that likely to happen.
Still, with all the old guys out there, there is experience in abundance and if i can tap that experience to improve myself as a driver, I will !!!
I’d take a decent attitude over experience anytime, I reckon you’ll do just fine driver
I noticed the avatar, what part of Devon do you live in?
Born and bred in Stretford 