Clarification.
Hi, JeffD.
You are right. Some clarification would be in order here.
Quotes:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deas Plant 6/8/07
...........on the current site last Tuesday midday 'cos the idiot truck drivers bringing the fill...........
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deas Plant 6/8/07
Somebody care to tell me again how much brainpower it takes to be a truckie?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deas Plant 5/6/07
there is an increasing number of what would in days gone by have passed for truckies (based on mental ability) now finding their ways into the seats of machines. It's a worriesome thought.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deas Plant 5/6/07
Put 'em in a truck with a dump box on the back and they revert to the mental level of a three-toed sloth and about the same (lack of) pace too.
Unquote.
Firstly Jeff, my remarks are not intended to only apply to road truck drivers. They also include haul unit operators on site, operators of rear dumps, ADT's, scrapers, belly dumps, etc..
Now, what would be your assessment of a collective group of 22 truck drivers, mostly owner-drivers, who cost themselves and a group of other people half a day's paid work simply because they could/would NOT follow instructions and come in the RIGHT gate? Personally, I would not rate them right up there with Einstein and Steven Hawking.
Now I know I wrote about non-judgement, etc., but another thing that I stand by is my tendency to call a spade a spade (or sometimes a strange kind of shovel with reproductive powers). I have a way with words - or so I've been told - and in this case, I choose to be blunt. These men, although probably not idiots, certainly managed to behave in a very idiotic manner.
Stupidity is usually its own reward. The trouble is that, very often, one person's stupidity can affect many other people who are simply innocent bystanders.
Please don't think that I regard ALL truck drivers as idiots but I would ask you to consider for yourself just how much brainpower it does take to drive a truck. Note that I have not asked about driving a truck well, or staying out of trouble, or doing the job well, only about how much brainpower it takes to actually drive a truck. Why I ask you to do this is that it would appear that this group of people had enough brainpower to drive a truck but not enough to follow the instructions that they had been given, not once, but FOUR times. I don't for a moment believe that it takes more brainpower to turn through the gate you have been told to turn through than it does to perform the complex set of actions involved in getting a loaded truck from A to B through heavy traffic. So where did it all go pear-shaped in this case? I contend that this group of truckies chose to not use their brainpower for this particular part of their journey, a choice that cost THEM AND OTHERS money.
Now I'll ask you what you would say that makes them?
And I will also re-iterate a statement that I have made previously on this forum:
"Of all the different clasifications of workers around construction, it seems to me that truck drivers are the least capable of doing their jobs without getting into trouble."
I have seen a lot of truckies do a lot of great work away from construction sites. I have seen them get sick rigs long distances back to care and repair. I have seen them get into and out of places that were, to say the least, a challenge, to bring much needed supplies to remote outposts. I have seen them pull over and help stranded colleagues and ordinary motorists at the expense of their own timetables or load tallies. I have seen them take time out from their work to raise money for handicapped children. I have seen them form a convoy to take terminally ill children for rides in their trucks. I have seen them donate the use of their trucks to haul hay and grass clippings hundreds of miles to help drought-ravaged farmers. And the list goes on. So, I'll happily acknowledge that there is a LOT of good in the transport industry. Which brings me back to the last quotation above:
"Put 'em in a truck with a dump box on the back and they revert to the mental level of a three-toed sloth and about the same (lack of) pace too."
WHY?????? And I'm not the only one who has noticed this. Suppose you had told the driver of the only side-dump semi-tipper hauling to your job that you wanted him to dump along the toe of an existing batter, working his way, load by load, from the near end of the batter to the far end. And suppose he dumped his very next load 40 yards behind the face where you were dumping the other trucks and 60 yards from where you had told him you wanted him to dump, leaving you to push it that extra distance to get it to where you could use it. What would YOU think of that driver?
On another job where I work from time to time, we have 6 Volvo 6x6 ADT's hauling material around the site. There is only ONE grader on site and sometimes the haul roads get a little ordinary. Do the ADT drivers slow down? No way, Jose. They just complain about being bounced around. Well, who's in charge of how much they get bounced around in that situation?????????? Sometimes, lack of pace is not the problem. Sometimes, it's just plain common sense, whether it be missing or just not used
I have seen 4 dump trucks, 3 semi-tippers, one rigid tipper, 2 ADT's and 2 scrapers rolled on site during my working life, a total of 12 units. I have seen ONE dozer and ONE front end loader rolled. I have seen way more collisions between dump trucks/on-site haul units or road-going tipper trucks and other units/vehicles than I have between dozers, graders, excavators, rollers or loaders and other units/vehicles. I also think I've probably seen more pegs taken out by trucks and other haul units than I have by all other types of machine combined. And yes, I do know that a semi-tipper is not the easiest gadget in the world for the driver to see what is all around it, especially when turning. Have you ever tried working around pegs with a Cat D11 with a U-blade and a single point ripper on it?
I will also freely admit that some truckies are more responsible for more of the 'dramas' than others. The same applies to most other trades and professions, including operators. However, the responsible percentage seems to be a bit higher among the transport fraternity than amongst some other classifications of workers. Truck drivers who seem to never have a problem out on the open road still seem to clean up pegs, get bogged, or dump in places other than where they have been told on site.
Jeff, there are exceptions to every rule. If you want to include yourself in the level of trucking talent that I am talking about above, feel free, BUT from what I have seen of your writings on this site and in your PM, you are a cut or two above that. I also suspect that there might be one or two other truckies here who don't qualify for incluson in that group. Yes, I know that I have made some generalisations in what I have posted and that generalisations sometimes upset some people who might feel they are included in them. May I suggest that you stop and think about what sort of driver, worker and person you are. If you don't feel that you fit these generalisations, may I suggest that you don't include yourself in them.
I will also freely admit that there are some slightly less than brilliant people among the operating fraternity. No industry is exempt from having some percentage of less competent people in it. And I have had some slightly caustic comments to pass on some of them in the past. I will continue to be honest and up-front about my observations of things I see around me. May I suggest that you take a look at what I, and others, post and ask yourself if it also applies to you. If you feel that it does not, simply ignore it.
If I have ruffled your feathers with any of my comments, I apologise for that. However, the comments still stand with regard to the percentage of drivers whom they DO fit. If you feel the generalisations are a little broad, I also apologise for that but, from where I stand, they do seem to apply to a lot of truck drivers/haul unit operators, by no means all, but still a lot.
I hope that this puts this matter to rest. I would not like to see either of us banned from this site.
