This series is how SEEM-Safe Efficient Ethical Moral became my personal virtue of Safe Professional Truck Driving. A virtue is something that you hold in very high regard and your behavior shows high moral standards. The word has Latin origin and the Greek meaning is “Moral Excellence”.
“I used to wonder why someone hadn’t done something about that. Then I realized that I was someone.” Unknown
So here’s what I did to make it a little more interesting.
I decided to take five excerpts from the story that explained my interpretation of Practical Wisdom as it relates to trucking. I also included some thoughts on experience, attitude, and balancing confidence with caution to make rational decisions. You could call it a bit of a short story of how “SEEM” came to be.
Enjoy the read.
The Truckerswheel Team
Let’s start off with a little bit of the philosophy behind it all.
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist that lived from 384 to 322 BCE. There were no cars, trucks, or internal combustion engines in his day, instead he strolled around in sandals and a toga.
While he was focused on science and life teachings, he also laid down some great principles for professional driving in the process (Practical Wisdom.) So how is it that a man that lived over 2,300 years ago can help you to be a professional truck driver today?
In my Ice Road Trucking book, I share these principles with my readers. Were they translated word for word? No. Did I interpret a few things to serve my own purpose? Yes, but the basic fundamentals never change. It shouldn’t matter what tools you use, where they come from, or how you use them. If they lead to you becoming a better person, then you have honoured the teacher.
I never believed in the “my way, or the highway” style of teaching. I believe that we learn something from everyone to develop our own methods that work best for us. We’re all unique individuals after all. So these are the principles that worked for me and I hope they inspire you to to either use them, or develop your own methods. Consider this a free truck driving training lesson.
SEEM-Safe Efficient Ethical Moral. How I made professional driving a virtue
It also needs to be said that there’s no set criteria or test for being a professional truck driver. It’s the cumulative result of combining operational skills with moral and ethical principles of life. Professional driving should be considered a virtue. In order to do this, remember SEEM.
Continue reading SEEM-Safe Efficient Ethical Moral…..
SEEM-Safe Efficient Ethical Moral
Safe and efficient refers to the driver training you receive for the maintenance and the operation of it, but they alone don’t make you a professional. These two things are often related more to the “Skills” required to be a good driver than the mindset, but they’re still an important part of becoming a professional.
Safe and efficient must work in conjunction with ethics and morals. Ethics and morals are the basis for having the right attitude to be consistently prudent with the skills, as well as the decisions made behind the wheel. Safe and efficient teach you to do the right things at the right time. Ethics and morals ensure you to do them for the right reasons. Remember you aren’t the only one out there.
The way it once was
Many people feel the trucking industry is changing and you’ll hear reference to the new “Breed” of driver out there today. There is a lower level of courtesy and consideration in trucking and driving in general. There was more of a comradery and respect for one another, because there was an unwritten “Code of Ethics” that many drivers held in the highest regard. We said that holding something in very high regard makes it a virtue.
Ethics and morals don’t appear in any truck driver job description. Working off road in the oil and gas industry and on the ice roads, I’ve accumulated well over 100 safety tickets. Sadly, not a single one teaches you how to drive like a true professional. This picture should give you an example of how many active tickets I have at any one time.
SEEM-Safe Efficient Ethical Moral is a personal safe driving program I developed for myself. These are my current safety courses and orientations required for my job.
What caused these changes is a problem that exists with society as a whole and not just with the trucking industry. We live in a world where our focus is often on teaching about rules and regulations instead of teaching people how to think.
When a problem is identified, it’s reported to the appropriate authorities who begin working on a set of rules or regulations to deal with it. We don’t need more rules and regulations in the trucking industry. We just need to teach drivers how to think in moral and ethical ways. We need people to be part of the solution, not the problem.