Driving up the A59 on my 10 mile journey to work everyday and wonder about some things.
Coming the other way are an assortment of trucks the following questions occur to me.
Why do the drivers who are on distance work wear their hi viz jackets all the time or have they a hazard in the cab? I can understand this with tippers and locals but not obvious distance trucks.
Why do some drivers allow their dashboards to be a rubbish tip - I see all manner of trucks with the area between the dash and windscreen filled with maps, newpapers, crisp packets and general rubbish. Surely this blocks the air vents so you cannot demist the windscreen and looks untidy?
Do some drivers have no pride in the condition of their cab?
Why do the drivers who are on distance work wear their hi viz jackets all the time or have they a hazard in the cab? I can understand this with tippers and locals but not obvious distance trucks.
Some firms make it company policy for staff to wear PPE at all times. Some drivers are enough of a jobsworth to obey them to the letter.
Why do some drivers allow their dashboards to be a rubbish tip - I see all manner of trucks with the area between the dash and windscreen filled with maps, newpapers, crisp packets and general rubbish. Surely this blocks the air vents so you cannot demist the windscreen and looks untidy?
Many drivers act like animals, it’s not unusual. You often find cabs full of crap and coffee stains (amongst others!) and many stink of ■■■ smoke and are full of ash. Makes you wonder what their houses are like if they’re prepared to let the public see a cab like that
I’ve seen dust carts and tippers with spotles cabs, and trunkers with cabs like the back of a dust cart.
paul@midway. Yes. In answer to your question. I drove an XL for years… You can stuff it in the door pockets…Or… if its a large bottle shove it under the duve` on the bed & it will keep cool all day long.
The Biker:
Why do the drivers who are on distance work wear their hi viz jackets all the time or have they a hazard in the cab? I can understand this with tippers and locals but not obvious distance trucks.
I wear mine all the time, basically because i cant be arsed to take it off and put it back on every time i stop.
Just purely out of curiosity buty why does it bother you that people wear it all the time■■? Is it as bad thing to do?.
The Biker:
Why do some drivers allow their dashboards to be a rubbish tip - I see all manner of trucks with the area between the dash and windscreen filled with maps, newpapers, crisp packets and general rubbish. Surely this blocks the air vents so you cannot demist the windscreen and looks untidy?
Do some drivers have no pride in the condition of their cab?
When i used to tramp my lorry was a tip the passenger footwell was usually full of empty cans bottles sweet wrappers etc etc at the end of the day its just a lump of metal that does a job i never seen it as home for the week home is where the wife and kids were the lorry was just something i had to use to get a wage.
Why do some drivers have to polish their dashs and even take off their shoes all it is is a tool to do the job .
When i am driving the first thing i do is take off my jacket / hi viz coz i find it uncomfortable - just a personnal thing really and the question was just something that has occurred to me over the years.
I like a cab to be a tidy work place and all the rubbish on the dash could be distracting
I like THE BIKER take my hi viz off as soon as I get into my cab and I like to keep it clean and tidy and am always wiping down the dash then again carrying around bulk loads of clay all day it does get very dusty but I have always looked on the cab as an extension of home even though I only do day running, just habits picked up when I was on distance work, if you worked in an office you wouldn’t let the office get in a state and and to me a cab is just my office
I don’t wear the hi viz in the cab as I find the reflection of it in the windscreen a distraction.
As for keeping the cab clean, My home isn’t full of rubbish, dirty, dusty etc and I wouldn’t want to work in an office that was a tip either. My cab is part office, part dwelling so I keep it clean.
Being an agency scumbag I always take a couple of bags of rubbish from home to scatter around the cab and bunk just to maintain the stereotypical image.
When i used to tramp my lorry was a tip the passenger footwell was usually full of empty cans bottles sweet wrappers etc etc at the end of the day its just a lump of metal that does a job
Why do some drivers have to polish their dashs and even take off their shoes all it is is a tool to do the job .
If you worked in an office would you leave empty crisp wrappers, squashed coke cans and 4 day old news papers all over your desk?
harry:
paul@midway. Yes. In answer to your question. I drove an XL for years… You can stuff it in the door pockets…Or… if its a large bottle shove it under the duve` on the bed & it will keep cool all day long.
Nope the door pockets are just wide enough to hold a map and bit of rag .
I also work nights and go home every morning so there is no duvet and the bottle would roll away leaving me in a right pickle when i want a swig .
True. Without a sleeping bag or any cover on the bed it has to go on the dash . But I found I had to stand up while driving to reach it. The main reason for putting it under covers is that driving in hot countries the wind screen used to boil it up. Under the covers it was insulated & with Air con would stay cool most of the day. If you are home every day its a different ball game. jammymutt : Funny ,with some truckers they have a gutter snob thing about trucks & have pride in in treating it like waste bin. They have the same attitude to education ect. There must be a reason for it. But happily they are the minority ( Ouch! The Mword if they knew how to spell it they would be screaming to the PC crowd for special treatment. Maybe thats it? Its a kind of religion ) As for using it like a tool ; Even a labourer keeps his shovel clean. Hope you`re not offended by my opinion. As for hi-viz never could get used to the awful bits plastic…
Whenever I see a truck thats filthy inside & out I always think that the job is too big for the driver or he has problems in his private life. One or two that I have known have been seriously ill but refused to go to a doctor… Things like that. Basically they are into the neglect thing & that goes for their personal hygiene as well. In a way its natures signal for all the other truckers to stay well away.
I agree with the original post by the Biker. Its one of those things that annoys me. Fluorescent vests. We all have them, we all have to wear them in certain places.
But why oh why do British drivers have to wear them in a truckstop or routiers abroad. Why do they need them on the tunnel or on a ferry?
Maybe its so the other truckers will know they drive a truck, they probably also had name tags sewn into their underpants at school
