Airline Pilots and Truck Drivers - Is There a Comparison?
Every time you get in your car and drive along the highway you are potentially sharing the roads with about 8 million truck drivers. These trucks are massive machines that weigh tons and may only be a few feet away from the sides, back or front of your car. It's fair to say that the majority of truck drivers are good, safe drivers with exemplary records, but there are also many rogue truck drivers and those that aren't so safe driving around as well. There is a school of thought across the U.S. that truck drivers ought to be trained more like airline pilots and that the rules relating to how long they drive, how often they have medicals and how often they get more training, should have some bearing to the requirements of an airline pilot.
Truck drivers play an essential part in keeping the American economy moving and professional truck drivers should have the same type of respect that airline pilots tend to have. Some would say that driving an 80,000 pound truck is more testing and requires greater concentration than flying a modern airliner. It's is fair to say that once a airplane is straight and level, then it's put on autopilot and basically little has to be done until it's time to descend. In fact, many airplanes can actually descend and land without anything being touched by a pilot; the pilot just inputs the information and monitors everything. Accepted, that's fine until something goes wrong, then the skills of a pilot and the training come into play. But then a truck driver may have to use his skills to avoid accidents and collisions everyday and several times at that.
Making truck drivers undergo more detailed training and monitoring will give truck drivers a more professional status. They like to be considered the top of the driving tree; they think they are far better drivers than the average car driver and indeed that may be the case. A truly responsible truck driver would want to be considered a professional in his or her job. At the present times there are substantial differences between airline pilots and truck drivers; some may say it is totally unfair to try and make a comparison, but it makes for interesting statistics. There are about 10,000,000 licensed truck drivers compared to about 600,000 airline pilots. The truck drivers drive about 8,000,000 trucks while the pilots fly about 200,000 airplanes.
As far as age is concerned airline pilots have to retire at age 65, but there is no specific age limit for a truck driver. This isn't to say that once a truck driver reaches age 65 he or she is no longer capable of driving a truck, it more that once this age is reached there needs to be mandatory medical testing requirements. Airline pilots generally cannot fly an airplane, if they are taking prescription drugs; although the odd mild over the counter pain killer is allowed. Truck drivers can drive trucks, if taking prescribed medicine, provided the drugs do not cause drowsiness, but even then it is actually down to the truck driver to make the decision. Another difference includes medicals; airline pilots every six months, truck drivers every two years. It is probably a long way off before any of this may be considered; in fact it may never happen, but it is worth considering.
About the Author
Written by Lawrence Reaves for Chucker & Reibach - http://www.chuckerreibach.com/ - a Richmond, Virginia, traffic defense law firm of attorneys who provide DUI and traffic defense backed with over 50 years of combined experience.
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