Speed Management Class

Headed to Richmond. I'm going to be picking up a load bound for Concord, North Carolina, which I'll be dropping in Greensboro. I've been ordered to attend a speed management class tomorrow morning because of that speeding ticket I got in May.

This made me really angry at first. I got caught in a speed trap where the speed limit was not posted, was written a ticket for 70 in a 55 in a truck that won't go but 65, and they want me to attend a class like I'm an unsafe driver? After almost eight years of driving, I require training from some button pusher who has never set foot in a truck and who most likely never gets below 80 mph on the way to work every morning unless stuck in a traffic jam?

Mostly I think it upset me because if I'm attending a class it means that this will go on my permanent record with the company. And no one has asked me for my side of the story. There has been no review.

What calmed me down was when I acknowledged that this is nothing personal. This is bureaucracy at work. The company covering its ass. My guilt or innocence isn't an issue here. I got a citation. Even if I had gotten a lawyer, gone to court, and had the whole thing thrown out, I would still be attending this class. The number one rule in the trucking industry is “thy taint shall not reach this company”.

If I'm going to be mad at anybody, it should be the state trooper who claimed he clocked me going 78 (again, in a truck that's governed at 65).

My attitude has improved considerably from when I first heard of this. It gives me a chance to get my overdue PM done on my truck, pick up some supplies (like log books and trip sheets), and maybe talk to someone about switching dispatchers (it just ain't going to work with the fuck-tard unless he magickally goes through puberty at this late date and stops acting like a hormonal teen-aged girl).

So, I'll pick up my load, drop by our Chester terminal for my PM and a shower, and head to Greensboro for a nice evening off and a full night's sleep before my meeting with the brain trust in the Safety Department in the morning.