“ANN ARBOR, MI, Aug 15, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Con-way Freight, a less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier and subsidiary of Con-way Inc. CNW +3.37% , announced today that Paul Phillips, a driver sales representative from the company’s Fresno, Calif., service center, won the Grand Champion title at the 74th National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC).
A 35-year trucking industry veteran, Phillips won the title by outscoring 428 of the nation’s best truck drivers who participated in the 2011 competition, sponsored by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) over the weekend in Orlando.”
*** This year was the second time Phillips competed at Nationals, where he placed first in the Straight Truck division.
A straight truck? You come into work in the morning after a good night of rest at home. You drive your car to a local terminal. You punch a clock. You climb aboard your STRAIGHT truck and drive around town dropping off pallets here and there. You grab a bite to eat. Then you drive the same route in reverse and pick-up pallets, usually from the same places you delivered, then drive back to the terminal – back it up to a dock and park it. You drive home, have a beer, watch a game, kiss the wife and kids, then go back to sleep to repeat the whole process again the next morning.
This is what the ATA’s National Truck Driving “champion” does. Con-Way is one of the ATA’s heavy hitters. When Con-Way talks, the ATA listens.
Driving a straight truck around the city doing local P & D {(pick-up and delivery) work, is trucking, but not “real” trucking. What is real trucking? It’s OTR – over the road – being away from home, driving a tractor-trailer with 18 or more wheels trucking.
Even if this Con-Way driver also competed in a semi – I don’t know if it was a “pup” trailer – not a 53 ft. box – to back up into spaces defined by cones and flags, it is still NOT trucking. I don’t care how many years or million of miles he has behind the wheel, it is not “real” trucking.
Do I need to point out that driving a tractor trailer rig over the road coast to coast or from Canada down to, let’s say, Laredo or El Paso is RADICALLY different than driving a straight truck anywhere. It’s apples and oranges, water and oil – you cannot even compare the two. Leave it to the ATA to “generalize” trucking.
I’ve drove a straight truck delivering hardware supplies in New York City. I’ve driven doubles for RPS, now FEDEX, locally. I’ve delivered and installed mattresses and furniture locally driving a straight truck with a lift gate. I’ve managed fleets with straight trucks. It just is NOT the same as driving a road truck.
A real competition would take into consideration many other elements way beyond a closed “simulated” road course with rules established by the ATA. To quote from the ATA website, “drivers tested their expertise in the driving skills they use daily. The drivers undergo a written examination, personal interview, pre-trip inspection test and finally, the most visible – the skills test.
The competition course inside the Orange County Convention Center challenged their knowledge of safety, equipment and the industry. The skills course tested drivers’ ability to judge distances, maneuver tight spaces, reverse, park, and position their vehicle exactly over scales, before barriers or around curves.”
None of this has anything to do with the realities of over the road trucking. Is has NOTHING to do with life on the road. It is unrealistic. It is artificial. It’s great PR for Con-Way and the ATA.
Why don’t we put the grand champion winner – Mr. Phillips – in a real world over the road trucking simulator for – how long does a typical OTR driver say out – 3-6 weeks? When the time is over, we’ll let him out and then he can do the ATA fake trucking course. I want to see how he does after he has to deal with traffic, rest areas, dispatchers, safety, weigh stations, road inspections, customs, shippers, receivers, sales, customer service, truck stops, parking and let’s throw in a few days dealing with having the truck serviced at a truck dealership.
I know the results would be quite different and the winner would probably be an owner-operator with real trucking experience.
If you liked that post, then try these...
No comments:
Post a Comment