Non-Sense?

I had a long talk with my old friend Savage yesterday. We are both on the road so much we have a lot to catch up on when we see each other.

Savage is a third generation trucker and a life-long owner operator. His father and brother still drive. They are Old School. They twist their own wrenches, up to and including building glider kits. Hard core experience.

Not anymore. You see my Savage got a speeding ticket two years ago, more than 15 over the limit. Shame on him, but we all have regrets. He had his own rights and when his last contract ended he looked for a new lease. No one would hire him with a Serious Violation on his record, so he parked his truck and got a construction job.

The new job is a mixed blessing. He’s doing bridge construction, sometimes more than 100 miles away so he gets a motel or sleeps in his pickup and his wife sees him less than she ever did. On the plus side, for the first time in his life (he’s 50) he has health insurance and qualifies for Worker’s Comp., and unemployment when the weather’s bad! He says he still misses trucking but it is nice to get home on the weekend and not have to work on his truck.

Here’s the real irony. The local community college has a truck driver training program. The nephew of a friend of ours just graduated. He had several job offers and took one driving second seat coast to coast. I have nothing against our young friend, or driving schools for that matter. (I graduated first in class from Ryder Technical Institute, Atlanta, GA, 35 years ago. And my first decent job was second seat for an O.O. leased to National Carriers, though I seldom admit to either of these facts). I can think of few better ways to get a lot of experience fast than teaming it to the coast.

My question is: Does it make sense to keep a driver with 20+ years experience, no accidents and one ticket off the road in favor of pushing a fresh graduate into the Colorado storms we have already seen this fall? Surely there is a better way to employ Safe-Stat numbers than this?

Personally I would feel safer sharing the road with my buddy Savage than that brand new driver. And I think I felt the same 35 years ago when I was one of those brand new drivers.

Quicksilver