Most truck drivers list of goals do not include have a fender bender with another vehicle or worse. The CDL, or commercial driver’s license is our life line to our livelihood and the last thing we want to do is put our CDL in jeopardy. Our goal is to be invisible and that is the same goal as every truck driver I know. We want to go down the road legally and safely not bothering anyone and performing our job.
At times vehicles have passed me with their fingers waving out the window, with their horns blaring, or by revving their engines as they pass. This usually happens when I am looking for a address or for the correct driveway to pull into to either deliver or pick up a load. Our loads are usually not at a dock and can be at an office building and have very tight parking lots. It is really the pits to pull into an office complex and realize the only way out is to back out onto a street. That is when we are really glad we are a team. To keep from having to back out of a location we use our turn signals and look before the turn.
While traveling with a load the preference is to not be noticed as cars pass around us, merge onto the
roadway, or pass us. When we stop to grocery shop, get a haircut, do laundry, or change drivers in a parking lot the goal is to leave the lot the same way it was found or better as a abandoned shopping cart is usually picked up on the way into the store.
How many trucks a day does a car traveling cross country pass or interact with? I believe most trucks are not noticed unless it is for a cool paint scheme or something interesting about the truck or trailer. What is noticed is rude behavior and that is what is remembered; not all of those many many trucks that were passed and not noticed.
Our business depends on us not meeting you when we are out on the interstates, highways, roads or driving in a parking lot. Let’s meet over coffee or a glass of tea and have a nice chat that does not involve cars with revolving lights on the top.
Personally, I want to go each day being invisible and only be remembered as a truck with a hidden Mickey on the side.