Simple Mistakes

Today's Thoughts 8/16/11 Simple Mistakes

Oh CRAP!!!   There I am today, looked up from checking my right side as I was passing a big truck making sure someone was not trying to pass me and cut in between us and what do I see, I'm about ten feet of the tail of the big truck I was trying to pass. "Oh Crap" hardly  defines the situation as you find yourself standing on those brakes praying to God that the distance that has now closed to less than a foot between you and sudden death is enough to keep you from that impact that seems all so certain.

Well, I'm still here much to the disappointment of a few I would think. Yup, still around to poke and prod with my tyrannical rants about safe and legal truck driving. To infuse my weird sense of humor into the way I view the wide world of truck driving. And being as to how I brought it up, just what is my view and thoughts of today's events? Let's see.

I can tell you that in the few seconds just after I was just a bit peeved. Here this big truck for whatever reason took me within seconds of the end my life and I had a good mind to ….  Well, I've been out here too long to know that those thoughts were not the thoughts of a professional truck driver. Yes, I'm human and I get mad just like everyone else, but we as truck drivers know that it is not our job to be teaching lessons with a eighty thousand pound big truck. I did though; let him know he was number one as I finally passed. What can I say? I'm not as perfect as I would like to be sometimes, oh well.

Ok, So now that I'm around him and have some time chill out about what happened I begin to wonder as to why this driver come over on me with so little distance and with about a ten mile an hour speed difference.  Talking with some friends we arrived at several different conclusions. the first being the fact that some companies are training drivers to stay on that cruise control as long as possible to save on fuel economy. Hopefully if this is the case they threw in a little something about a human life being worth more than a gallon of diesel.

Another suggestion was that the driver actually seen me coming but had a "FU I'm first" attitude and just cut me off because he did not want to slow down with his governed at sixty five mile an hour truck. Companies throughout this industry cut these trucks back for all sorts of reasons, fuel economy, safety and insurance reasons and a list longer then what I'll go into here. The thing about it though is the companies never take into account the mentality of the driver behind the wheel of a cut back truck. With all the pressures the government regulations put on drivers and time restraints imposed by shippers and receivers, often times these drivers drive with an attitude that they will not slow down for nothing. Not road construction or weather. My personal opinion on a governed truck is that it creates a more dangerous driver behind the wheel more often then it promotes a safe driver. But that’s just my opinion.

The reason we came up with that really made me think was this. It was just a simple mistake, nothing more and nothing less. Is this all it was? "A simple mistake." There is absolutely now way that we can sit here and know for sure as to why this driver come over on me today. But he did and others will from time to time. Regardless of what kind of vehicle you are driving, sooner or later you will be involved in a simple mistake. The thing about that last statement is that you might be the one committing the mistake. It's hard for me to imagine that even as professional driver as I try to be that I have never in my entire career made a dumb ass move. I know this. I'm just human and so are you. The thing that gets me though is the words "Just a simple Mistake" I think what gets me about those words is if one day while trying to explain to someone's family, " It was just a simple Mistake" would be the best I could come up with. I'm not sure I could live with that, could you?  

Be safe peeps …

Jeff Head.
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