cutsleeve wrote: ↑07 Feb 2022, 08:05
most truck drivers don't make much so there is a high quit rate in the trucking industry. that's the reason for the trucker shortage. they are not being paid a living wage. many are gay or bi and the companies grind them into the dirt because the companies are used to treating gays like dirt and treating gays as subhuman.
I beleive you are incorrect there.
Yes, transport drivers are treated poorly but that is the same the world over because people think that most are useless and worthless in this world and not worth any time or effort to treat them appropriately. Even here in the UK before Brexit it was the same. Parking on industrial estates, which would be quieter than the main roads, was forbidden by parking enforcement with tickets or clamping running to hundreds of pounds or courts. So drivers have to park in services where they will still be the victims of crime, whether assault, load tampering or fuel being stolen. So most park in laybys.
For those that are not aware of what they are, they are a side part of the road that is usually only long enough for 2-3 trucks and only have a white line between them and the traffic travelling at up to 70mph. Some have physical barriers like a raised concrete kerb. Or even a short grass or hedge area. But there is generally insuffient free parking in the services. Which cost trucks £30 a night.
Then we move to facilities.
In the UK the roadside garages/service stations often have toilets available, but it may only be one cubicle for the entire garage, set out as a disabled toilet. Larger services have more facilities. BP have the larger ones, with usually 2-3 stalls and 3 urinals with sinks and either paper or air dryers. Same with EuroGarages
Shell have single toilet rooms/cubicles and Esso, Texaco and the other smaller independants are the same.
For truck stops and motorway services in the UK most drivers will walk across to the services building to goto the toilet unless its an emergency piss lol, then they sometimes go at the back of the truck that's parked up. Also, we reverse into out parking spaces.
If there isn't a grass verge behind the truck and its just concrete, pissing on that is frowned upon.
The reason drivers walk over to the servies is mostly a bit of exercise. Stretch the legs, and then after using actual hot water hand washing facilities, you can pop over to the shops or something there.
As for the driers orientation. I have not found many gay or bi truck drivers, and they are treated like scum because most people thought thats what we were. Until Brexit. Suddenly there was a national truck driver shortage and our wages pretty much doubled overnight. I can now leave my job and probably have an agency job on max hours before the end of the day. Amazon locally are paying their drivers £25ph. Where a litre of diesel costs £1.50 and a 330ml can of coke costs £1.
I have been a commercial driver for the last two decades and have spent 1/4 of that in passenger carrying vehicles and the rest driving larger and larger vehicles as my licences upgrade. I am currently working for a company driving 44 ton, 60ft articulated trucks delivering to roadside fast food resturants in the UK Midlands area (So West Wales to Kettering, Lincolnshire, up to Hull, across to Doncaster and Sheffield, over to North and South Wales and down to Oxfordshire. 700 stores covered by our depot)
I have only met one gay driver in that time and was so obviously gay that if anyone gave him any greif he stood up to them and put it in their face, and they often backed down. Most drivers like to lead a solitary life, and have their own social systems linked via laptops, mobile devices and phone calls. Some rigs have CBs still but many just have Ham Radio or Network Radio instead.
And yes, I have even met a wheelchair bound truck driver. He would wheel himself around in his chair and then when he wanted to get back into his truck he pulled out a winch line, hooked his chair to it, pulled himself up into the cab and winched the chair in behind him. He didn't do deliveries where he needed to pull the stuff off his truck but he could open doors himself and back onto bays. He was an excellent driver and at the time talked quite a lot with me about what to plan and look for when manouvering in darkness or where you can't see. Which was common back then.