Everything we do is about tradition but traditions are slowly disappearing from our way of life. All of our lives are made up with small and large traditions which are important to us as individuals and to our families.

It seems like today whatever we believe in is always being challenged or we are being told we can’t do it.

The most recent comment I heard lately was our school kids were not being allowed to say “Merry Christmas” at Christmas time and now they have to say “Happy Festive Season.”

Whatever happened to freedom of speech or being encouraged to say what’s on your mind?

What about the old tradition of our fathers teaching their sons how to drive their first vehicle or a tractor-trailer?

It won’t be long now before that isn’t allowed anymore.

My name is David Brown and I am one of you.

I was a truck driver, drivertrainer, safety and compliance guy and a former policeman who tried to do his best for the community and our families.

I needed a new challenge and I am now a recruiter for a large carrier in Mississauga and I have been given a great opportunity to write for the readers of Truck West.

I am proud and honoured to speak to you as a person who can relate to your concerns and thoughts for this industry.

I am going to try my best to touch everyone who reads this magazine and to make you feel as brothers and sisters in arms because that is who we are.

This is my first article so whether you like it or not please let Truck West hear about it and speak your mind. For starters, I want to address an issue called “tradition.”

I can remember as a kid at Christmas time waking up and finding out that Santa Claus had eaten the cookies I had left him. This was tradition in my family back then and so it remained when my kids were waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve.

This was a family tradition. It won’t be long before we can’t leave cookies out because it offends someone.

I think we are losing perspective on what is and is not important.

As truck drivers, we have one of the largest fraternities in Canada, and we all seem to fight with each other and push against the system when we should be embracing it.

How many young people today know why we remember November 11?

It is scary how many don’t.

David Brown

We need not look for fault, blame or pointing the finger, we need to make changes, now before it is too late.

It seems as though not so long ago the transport driver was the first vehicle to pull over to offer assistance at an accident scene. What happened to that camaraderie between truckers?

Is it gone?

It seems like those traditions and some “Thank-yous” have come and gone.

What happened? How can we get this back?

Why are we in such a rush that we don’t think of it? Why do we think we are going to get there any faster?

Why don’t we care any more than or as much as we use to? I see the lack of caring every time I interview new drivers.

They act like I owe them a job, a life, a living.

No I don’t.

They owe themselves a world of their own opportunity which is out there available to all of them. Slow down and look.

Don’t be in a rush; there are only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week and 365 days in a year.

I talk about tradition because it has so many answers to the concerns we have in trucking.

We look at everything in trucking starting with the driver shortage, our concerns at the bridge, FAST, ACE and everything else as it still comes back to tradition.

We need to change what once was.

As a former police officer I can tell you that I couldn’t wait for a trucker to pull over and help me at a serious crash site. They made my job easier.

Think about it.

Many of them are now too busy driving by, splashing up snow and slush on our windshield, instead of helping.

What happened to the old trucker traditions?

Let us get some of the trucker traditions back before it’s too late.

– David Brown is the recruiting manager for The Rosedale Group. He is also the president of Carriers Coach Solutions helping new drivers make their way into the industry. You can reach him at www.rosedale.ca or www.carrierscoach.com.

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‘As truck drivers, we have one of the largest fraternities in Canada.’

David Brown