Two sticks became one stick became no stick. The wrench left the side box. The mechanic left the driver's seat one convenience at a time, and every single convenience was a good idea.
With all of the advances in trucks, if we had the same caliber of drivers that were required in the 60's and 70's and the same speeds as the 60's and 70's we would have a pretty safe system. But like you brought out we lowered the entry bar to steering wheel holder. and have a bunch of ignorant drivers running amok at 75 mph.
Most trucks nowadays have 65mph limiters. The most capable drivers happen to be the oldest drivers—and they all love automatics and the convenience of modern trucks. My buddy has been driving for +20 years and he told me manual transmissions are for young men. The reality is, I think trucks modernized to suit the rising age of the current industry work force. When Boomers and Gen X retire, things are going to become very challenging for this industry and it’s no secret either.
I agree and have been licensed 25 years and started driving a Mack on a farm when I was a a teen in the earlier 90s. I agree automatics make it an easier drive, and I’d say thats in essence the entire point. Making it easier reduced a serious barrier to the driver seat. It makes it easier to do whatever I want behind the wheel. It makes it easier for anyone who can turn a wheel to steal the truck. It changed a lot and it was the biggest advancement in the reduction of the caliber of driver we bring to the industry.
Early on, I carried a turbo, injector and an air governor along with the tools to change them. Another safety practice negated by autoslacks was the practice in the winter of backing one trailer brake off, when going down icy mountain grades so brake applications didn’t slide all the wheels on the trailer, it had a better chance of staying behind you. Today’s world is about as stark as my grandfather farming with horses and moving into the tractor age.
As a Retired Safety Professional (CSP), I can tell you there's a name for what you describe, Rob. The Pelzman Effect.
The more we build safety anf failsafes in to a system, the more humans rely on them. But underlying skills to counteract system failure disappear. With catastrophic consequences.
An Eaton engineer once told me after I asked him "why would anyone want auto-shift or auto-clutches", he said because then you have an employee for life, because he can't move on to a regular trans or clutch, because he never had to learn either one!
Good nuggets in here but you can tell the text is 98% AI. I think it would’ve been an even better piece without the end of paragraph summary sentences or the weird AI transitions.
I hear you, but ultimately the class 8 industry is going to respond with further instrumentation. I would expect ADAS and more sensors to be the choice of the OEMs.
With all of the advances in trucks, if we had the same caliber of drivers that were required in the 60's and 70's and the same speeds as the 60's and 70's we would have a pretty safe system. But like you brought out we lowered the entry bar to steering wheel holder. and have a bunch of ignorant drivers running amok at 75 mph.
I call them ‘mirror foggers’.
Most trucks nowadays have 65mph limiters. The most capable drivers happen to be the oldest drivers—and they all love automatics and the convenience of modern trucks. My buddy has been driving for +20 years and he told me manual transmissions are for young men. The reality is, I think trucks modernized to suit the rising age of the current industry work force. When Boomers and Gen X retire, things are going to become very challenging for this industry and it’s no secret either.
I agree and have been licensed 25 years and started driving a Mack on a farm when I was a a teen in the earlier 90s. I agree automatics make it an easier drive, and I’d say thats in essence the entire point. Making it easier reduced a serious barrier to the driver seat. It makes it easier to do whatever I want behind the wheel. It makes it easier for anyone who can turn a wheel to steal the truck. It changed a lot and it was the biggest advancement in the reduction of the caliber of driver we bring to the industry.
Early on, I carried a turbo, injector and an air governor along with the tools to change them. Another safety practice negated by autoslacks was the practice in the winter of backing one trailer brake off, when going down icy mountain grades so brake applications didn’t slide all the wheels on the trailer, it had a better chance of staying behind you. Today’s world is about as stark as my grandfather farming with horses and moving into the tractor age.
Now drivers dont even know what a wrench is let alone how far to turn one way or the other for manual adjustors.
Change is constant in everything. This is why Trump will fail. You cannot go back to Jim Crowe and you cannot got back to manual shifters.
As a Retired Safety Professional (CSP), I can tell you there's a name for what you describe, Rob. The Pelzman Effect.
The more we build safety anf failsafes in to a system, the more humans rely on them. But underlying skills to counteract system failure disappear. With catastrophic consequences.
An Eaton engineer once told me after I asked him "why would anyone want auto-shift or auto-clutches", he said because then you have an employee for life, because he can't move on to a regular trans or clutch, because he never had to learn either one!
The number of drivers that accelerate thru a red light is amazing second only to running 4-way blinking red lights.
We call that picture. “The Illusion of Control”.
Good nuggets in here but you can tell the text is 98% AI. I think it would’ve been an even better piece without the end of paragraph summary sentences or the weird AI transitions.
I hear you, but ultimately the class 8 industry is going to respond with further instrumentation. I would expect ADAS and more sensors to be the choice of the OEMs.
OLD = and shorter stops mean lives
SUGGEST = and shorter stops mean longer lives (by avoiding wrecks).