I have no intention to insult or malign the skills of all professional truck drivers but I do have to tell you all that things are changing. I know and see the changes because I am the daughter of a truck driver who taught me how to drive.
Not so long ago the professional drivers in the cab of a semi were like the guardian angels of the highways. You could count on them to be the most polite and predictable drivers on the road. The situational awareness of those drivers was 10 times that of the average Joe or Jane in a car. The skills of those truck drivers kept us all safer and I, for one, greatly appreciated that.
I understand there is currently a driver shortage. I, in my opinion, think this is leading to a greater percentage of truck drivers on the road without the experience that went a long way to making our road trips safer and therefore more enjoyable.
I bring this up today because we have done 3 road trips since Jim retired. One was from Arizona to Northern California and 2 from Arizona to Southern California. Twice we were nearly run off the road! Both times we were passing a truck in the left lane in full view of the driver's mirrors and the truck came on over into the left lane. We were beside the trailer about half way along the length when these drivers made their move. The first time was the truck came just a bit over the lane line. Jim honked and he went back over immediately. The second time, with a narrow shoulder we were forced to be half on asphalt and half on dirt in the median. I was hoping for good protection from air bags at that point or hoping we didn't roll our pickup in the soft dirt of the median. I think watching that trailer come towards my side of the pickup added a few more gray hairs to my head that day! The driver finally saw us and moved back over.
I have been driving for 50 years and have never had this happen to me before and have never seen it happen to anyone else around me on a road. We weren't driving recklessly. We weren't speeding. As I said before, a lane change had been signaled and done, we had a full view of the semi's mirrors, we should have been viewable by the drivers who did this to us.
Please, if you are a new big rig driver, be careful. You have a long and well earned reputation to build on and uphold for your profession. We all need what you are hauling and we all need to be safe.
