Fuel for Thought

Are You Experienced?

After reading the title of this blog, some of you may have noticed that way back in the recesses of your mind, synapses started firing to recall the unmistakable sounds of the great Jimi Hendrix. Well Hey Joe, this is not about Purple Haze, that Foxy Lady or even if the Wind Cries Mary. Now that I have a few songs stuck in your head, let’s switch gears.
Are you experienced? In trucking? If you don’t think today’s truck drivers are being properly trained, what are you and your experience doing to help the newcomers to the industry?
If those drivers with experience do not help the new drivers fresh out of a substandard driving school, who will? The schools churn out new drivers every day and if you think it is bad now, Well, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet. They would probably like to experience Paradise By The Dashboard Light, but alas, many seem to be Runnin’ With The Devil. The new Riders On The Storm do not have the experience to handle all that Mother Nature has to throw at them. Whether it is Dust In The Wind or Smoke On The Water, they might just be wondering Who Will Stop The Rain while their maiden voyage takes them down Thunder Road.
You can sit back and become Comfortably Numb to the problem, or you step up and help those who need it. Just because School’s Out doesn’t mean The Long And Winding Road ahead isn’t the Highway To Hell. It seems many new drivers believe that it is just Life In The Fast Lane until they are Stuck In The Middle With You waiting in yet another traffic back up while the wreckers work to clean up the mess. If we, the experienced drivers, help the new entrants to our industry, we can all Hit The Road Jack and know that we are Truckin’ with a common goal of returning home safely.
You can continue to Go Your Own Way but if you want drivers to improve, The Sound Of Silence will just ensure that You Can’t Always Get What You Want if you are not willing to help solve the problems.
It could be Amarillo By Morning or Paradise City, maybe you are California Dreamin’ or you are headed for Margaritaville, or perhaps it is No Sleep Till Brooklyn, we all want to get where we are going safely. Don’t Stop Believing that you can make a difference and be the one that makes an impact on your fellow drivers that could benefit from your years of experience. Don’t feel Under Pressure to fix all the drivers, start with One and if we all do our part, not even a Seven Nation Army can stop the Changes.
We Gotta Get Out Of This Place where drivers are trained only to pass the test and no one offers further instruction.
It may seem like there Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked when you try to help those who may only have less than Six Days On The Road, but if each of us helps new drivers, rather than grabbing the cell phone to record the impending mishaps, In The End, we can all make a difference one driver at a time.

Experience is the teacher of all things.
- Julius Caesar

See you down the road,
Greg