Patience
Twice this week I was reminded that all of us were rookies at some time . Both of these events happened in Western North Carolina . The stretch of I-40 that is commonly referred to as the gorge was the backdrop for this poor display of courtesy . The gorge is 18 miles of twisty highway that has a 50 mph and right hand restriction for large trucks . When I went through this week I got stuck behind someone who was either a rookie or very cautious . I could not believe how rude and obnoxious my fellow drivers had become . It would be much more productive , to offer words of encouragement . What happened instead was drivers pushing this driver to go faster . I could not take it after awhile and keyed up my CB radio . I told the driver not to go any faster than he felt comfortable . The last thing any of us should do is to push a driver beyond their comfort zone . I would much rather travel 35 MPH than sit and wait for an accident to be cleaned up . If anyone else were to be listening to these drivers it would not have left them with a positive view of our industry . 5 to 10 minutes of delay could not justify the rude remarks that where directed towards this driver . The thing that inspired me to blog about this was the same event happened on my trip back through the gorge . Remember we were all rookies at one time or another so , let’s help each other out instead of tearing each other down !
February 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Hi Henry, just wanted to let you know that I am in total agreement with your comments on this subject. Let’s help the newbie or less skilled, not beat them down!
Your driver Mike is doing a good job, you can take pride in how professional he is.
Take care, be safe!
Mike Ditto
Lafarge Palatka FL
February 15, 2009 at 7:24 am
Glad you are in agreement. Thanks for the kind words. Your feedback on my driver is much appreciated.
Best Regards,
Henry Albert
February 16, 2009 at 6:51 am
I am always on alert driving through that section of I-40 and I do not drive a truck. That road can be dicey and is no place to be cocky. If someone is driving slowly, there is usually a pretty good reason why they are doing so. The tendency is to want to be at your destination sooner than later so I think everyone should respect a slower tractor trailer. Can you imagine the road rage if automobiles used CB radios?
February 16, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I do not want to imagine what it would be like if autos used CB radios . That would take road rage to a whole new level .
February 20, 2009 at 8:39 am
Hopefully if that person was new they ignored the CB chatter if they were going as fast as they safely could. Now is 35mph through that gorge too slow, YES IT IS!:) However, as a professional driver once told me when I was newer, “drive your own truck”. That is some solid advice right there!:)