18 y o otr drivers

Hoofer B

Well-known Member
I own a medium sized fleet of trucks. The way I understand it is you must be 19 years old and have a proven
driving record of so many hours or miles of safe driving. My 19 y o son drives for us full time and does a
great job. He cannot leave the state of Wi and there are days he puts 600 miles on his truck. He can drive
all around and thru the congested city of milwaukee, but cant go into the woods of upper michigan because he
cant leave the state.. I know there are several 19 yo who can do it better than some of the 80 yo who think
they can do it yet. Some can, some cant. I have hired drivers from the midwest who do not know how to get
thru chicago. Really???
I am a farm guy and have a problem with 16 yo who drive farm semis on the road. That is a bit scary if you
ask me, especially with a tanker full of liquid manure. Sorry for the rambling. Bill
 
So come on Hoofer. How would YOU decide which 18 yr old is qualified and which is not? Now you are the decider. If an 18 year old kills someone, then we are going to come back to reconsider your decision. Really? Do you feel qualified to OKAY some 18 year old you have known for 30 minutes? How about an 18 year old pilot of a commercial airliner carrying your grandchildren? Think it through, then tell us what you think?
 
It should have very little to do with age and more to do with ability & experience. That said, I have multiple F550s bucket trucks that are over 10k but under 26k. Basically they are heavy duty pickups. You wouldn't know the difference operating or sitting in the cab of a F350 or F550. What I find interesting is that It is legal for an 18 yo to work on high voltage lines but its too dangerous for an 18 yo to cross state line with an over grown F550 pickup. As I said, I believe it has all to do with the individuals ability, not age.
 
I recommend that you must be 19 years old with 2000 hours or 80,000 miles verified by an electronic log submitted to the state that you have your CDL. How is any different to drive in your state verses another state. I am training a 61 yo lady right now. She has had class B for 13 years and now wants to get her class A. We have been thru Chicago to meet a driver in Gary Indiana and switch trailers. Tomorrow we deliver in the Chicago area and will bring another load up to WI. I have ridden with her for 6 weeks now, and she is doing great. She has her temps and will take the cdl test on Saturday. Then she is good to go on her own. It is more skill than age. Bill
 
Our next door neighbor drives OTR and has two sons, 19 and 21 who also do OTR.

The 19 year old can't wait until he's 21 so he can drive out of state, and the 21 year old can drive out of state but doesn't want to. Go figure.

Now think about it, though. If the 21 year old was required to drive out of state and didn't want to, would he be as safe a driver as one who enjoyed driving out of state? Interesting question.
 
I got my cdl at 18, and no one told me I needed a log book,they never told me I couldn't drive out of Missouri either. THings were a little looser back in the 70s. I hauled a lot of MF equipment out of Des Moines.
 
Got my CDL at 17. Have had a few dings and dents over the years but stuff happens.

Judging by some of the yahoos I have seen piloting a truck on the road as of late, the idea that the driver is 18 wouldnt bother me.

Just a reminder, you can sign up to drive a truck for the US govt at 18. Anywhere in the world.
 
My son hired a couple of 18 year olds to drive his feed trucks after school. They have proven to be very good truck handlers and very dependable to boot. Both of them have made the usual rookie mistakes but nothing was hurt. It did cost a few dollars to have a wrecker come out to pull them out of the mud though. Now both of them are full time drivers for him and their record has been flawless. Its true they are rarely in heavy high speed traffic but they still both put on up to 400 miles a day five days a week each and can maneuver a 53 foot trailer just about anywhere.
 
Some kids grow up faster than others. Then some kids take lot longer. The way I see it your age is just a date on the calendar. During WW2 a lot of young guys were flying bombers. Probably a few 18 year old's also. Stan
 
I turned 16 on March 4th 1968,got my drivers license 2 days later,got my school bus drivers license in May 1968.Started full time school bus route in September 1968.Student drivers were common in those days and we always had a better driving record than the older drivers.Wasn't all rural driving either had to go thru the city and some suburbs.I'd been driving farm vehicles on the road legally for several years before I got my license as no license was required for farm vehicles in those days.
 
I was 17 when i parked my donkey in the big seat of a B 61 mack with a five and four with a 50 ton Rodgers lowboy hooked to it and hauling heavy equipment up to the fifty ton that the trailer could carry . BUT i had a bunch of driving experience from the time i was 13 driving the farm trucks and tractors from the age of 7 . I spent two years riding in that old mack as a flagman . NO not everybody could do it . some of us have the nack like we were born with it . I was running dozers and pans on construction jobs at 16 and had mastered the art of running old cable back hoes and got lots of experience in the art of digging basements , installing sewer lines and water lines with the 15 and 22 B after school as i dug every basement on the one new street we put in . Makes it easy when you helped install the main sewer line and water line . Myself and one other KID as he worked ad grademan in the hole with me in the shovel , just the two of us 32 basements for new homes , took Jim and i two days per , they were building just about as fast as we could dig them . Old 4 inch slip seal pipe and 3/4 copper water use a step ditch water line layed about four feet on the ledge and the sewer was between 7-8 feet down . And i hauled the equipment in . Started my working career on a low boy and ended it on a lowboy . Yep i could still do it BUT i have no desire to go back out on the road with the nut cases that roam the hyways today. So yes some young bucks that have there heads screwed down tight can do a fine job , BUT they are 1 in a million today.
 

possibly better than some of the foreigners that seem to be all over driving trucks around here.

not sure if some of them can find their way out of the cab without a GPS. THese guys are seriously dangerous. I think i've seen alot more truck wrecks lately because of it. speculation of course as i don't stop to ask. but seems kinda coincidental.
 
My son is 20 and has had his class A CDL since he was 18. He runs his own fencing business and has a dually truck and long gooseneck trailer. He is legal in WI but does a few jobs in Iowa. He has never been stopped in Iowa but knows he is in trouble if he is. If it is ok to drive in state it should be legal to drive out of state. There are plenty of young people very capable of driving semis at 18. I have met a few drivers that at 30 or 40 should not be driving. Tom
 
I dont think hours or miles will help anyone. Look at some of these guys who have been on the road for years and drive like idiots.
As a farmers son I drove semi at 12 years old and by the time I was 18 and had a cdl I could back a B train better than guys with 15 years otr experience.
If you can make the test you can drive anywhere. Start making the driving test like reality not a 12 minute joy ride.
For myself I dont drive in any citys. I have and can do it but I dont want to.
I haul wide load only and drive around every chance I get.
I dont use log book at all and have never had an accident of any kind.
I dont consider myself a trucker as I cant run more than 12-14 hours a day.
My body doesnt like me if I try. That has been the problem with log books forever. If people drove to there abilities instead of what the log book says you can or have to would have been less accidents. If I get tired I sleep for 2 hours and go again for 2 -3. Stop for 2-3 and go again. You cant do that running log books.
 
Is it different if a 40-year-old pilot crashes an airliner than if an 18-year-old pilot does it?

Is it different if a 30-year-old driver kills someone in a crash versus a driver that is only 18?

Qualification and suitability for the job are a matter of more factors than age.

Skill comes from a combination of attitude, aptitude, experience, training and intelligence. There are plenty of examples of responsible and competent young people. There are also plenty of examples of middle aged adults that are not responsible or competent.

If you choose to judge people on age alone, you are missing out.
 
Of course INCase, anyone born outside of your borders couldn't possibly be expected to drive a truck (or a car or a bicycle for that matter). Pull them over to the curb and send them packing back to where they came from. I'd say your seeing exactly what you want to see regardless of what you see.
 
(quoted from post at 18:06:35 , 09/13/21) So come on Hoofer. How would YOU decide which 18 yr old is qualified and which is not?

How do you decide which 21 year old, which 37 year old, which 52 year old, which 64 year old is qualified and which is not?

There is one driver around here who is a menace on the roads. He's wrecked multiple trucks, yet he keeps getting work, even at places that have fired him. Been doing it for decades, so it's not just this recent "driver shortage." He somehow manages to beat out qualified drivers, even with people who know his reputation, people who have hired and FIRED him before!

Why not give a young guy a chance? It can't be any worse.
 
The area milk hauler here always has wrecked trailers during the winter time. They also have trouble finding employees, period.
Maybe this explains the guy in your example as maybe nobody else wants the job. Or maybe the guy has some heavy political
connections.
 
FWIW Crazy Horse. My brother was almost killed by a foreign driver. The foreign driver attempted to pass 2 semis trucks, my brother in the lead truck making a legal left turn. The foreign driver hit my brothers truck, tore off the battery box, fuel tank and front axle. You have to be nuts to think they are good drivers. I travel the country for work and have seen first hand the lack of following the rules of the road by foreign drivers. Yes some USA drivers are bad too but my nation wide experience with unsafe drivers (semi trucks) has seen over 90% of foreigners in the drivers seat.
 
Well Tony, I'm glad your brother made it through OK. I think you might be exaggerating a bit with your math for the % of bad drivers. I must ask you though, how can you tell if a driver is born in another country? I'm no driving expert like yourself on the topic but one thing I do know ..... there are a lot of them working at all kinds of jobs (including driving trucks) that home grown individuals would scoff at.
 
relax horse. these are observations. your mileage may vary.. i'm not talking about NAFTA drivers. truck crashes have been steadily increasing

not saying they're all bad be we've come across quite a few here at work and at our neighbor factory across the street. they have a tough time even doing a dock back.

in town there was a foreign fellow who was bound and determined the cemetery was the shortest route to the factory he was going to and come heck or high water he was going to take that short cut (no there were NO connecting roads). local boys in blue convinced him otherwise

i'm sure some of the companies are to blame somewhat since there is a shortage of drivers. someone who has a cdl and is breathing walks they get a truck. not right but it is the reality at the moment.
 
Not sure what you'd find in my replies here that would indicate I'm not relaxed. I'm just replying to some posts that I think are evidence of things that are dividing great nations .... yours and mine both. Tolerance is the way forward for me, perhaps I am in the minority thinking like that, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if I were.
 
Common sense is the way forward, problem is common sense becomes more uncommon. A reasonable amount of tolerance would be included in common sense. This remark is sent with the best of intentions, no offense is intended .
 
I hear ya on that JK .... as for tolerance (and probably common sense too), my two kids (around 50 now) and my grandkids (early 20's) are without question far more tolerant than I am or ever was. To be honest, when they see someone with a different appearance or skin color for example, I'm sure they don't give it a second though whereas I might still make note of it in my subconscious. If that keeps happening, the world will be a better place eventually ..... along with common sense thrown in there as well.
 
Sometimes it seems like tolerance and intolerance are both increasing at the same time .
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top