Trucker Hand Signals Are All But Gone

[@ObamaoZedong]

Not a trucker but my old man taught me to flash my lights to let the semi's merge and I still do it to this day. Only one or two out of ten flash theirs back.

[@elgordo496]

Great vid. I still flash my lights and markers. I still have a CB. I wish more people used them. I still enjoy a conversation with another driver when we have time.

[@jrod7065]

I have 24 year in the road I have CB radio and is always on. But a lot drivers today have CB radio or just the antenna. CB for me is very important why because in some mountains you cell phone not work but CB work

[@rubberduckey5630]

I think we all wish more people would use their cb. At the same time though then there would be a lot more of the ones that just make you think... "i wish someone could just cut his mic cord."

[@wukilla8ee]

I had a cb for about a month & it was terrible. All I ever heard was a bunch of idiots or racist idiots on that shit. Took it out & returned the thing.

[@NightLight52]

Me coming into the trucking industry at 20 soon to be going on 21 I love to hear old things like this. Whenever another truck goes around me I give em a little flash of the headlights letting them know they are good to come over, but I see a lot of new drivers just driving anymore and it kinda makes me sad cause I’d always hear cool stories from my grandpa when I was younger about him running. Makes me wish I coulda been around for the prime time of trucking, anyways to whoever reads this keep the sunny side up and the dirty side down and keep the old truck between the ditches.

[@HFTLH]

Ah, I haven't had much to laugh about recently, but I laughed out loud picturing your buddy waking up all blurry eyed, jumping in the seat and driving a few hundred miles in the wrong direction! Thanks for the stories. I started driving in 2010 and I was taught some of the old school ways, but never learned the hand signals. Maybe that was already gone by then. Sad to see all the changes just in my time. I've hung up the keys after 13 years due to my health.

[@Taffer9876]

Even a 20 minute nap will rejuvenate quite a bit.

[@kenuber4014]

There are no Truck Drivers as I knew it! Grampa was a driver, Dad was a driver, and myself today. But the emigrants now days aren't drivers in any form. They don't know the rules of the road.

[@AbcXyz-rn2lz]

The mega terminals are all by bad neighborhoods for efficiency

[@DaLightBlue]

Agree

[@mwalker3547]

What's up with the fabric that these foreigners tie to their mirrors and trailer bumpers?; And that militant looking dude with a turban and grenade launcher on the back of the trailers? Or, they'll have their sleeper curtain pulled across the driver's window. Just a few observations that make me miss the old days.

[@czecher30]

I always appreciate another trucker flashing their lights to let me know I'm good to move over but when a four wheeler does it... I appreciate that even more since it seems like 1 out of 100 give a crap of what truckers do (and go through). Good video btw, keep'em comin'

[@robertltannerjr9017]

The BART story that is so stinking funny 🤣😂🤣 You’re right there is no camaraderie among drivers anymore. It’s something that bothers me how this industry is changed. It isn’t like it used to be back in the 70s and 80s. And that is really sad!

[@tyguy1873]

I don't even drive truck, but I still flash my lights at passing trucks when they clear me. Especially in the dark.

[@markrupprnkamp5832]

With Gps and Eld drivers suddenly had no time to stop for any reason to help anyone or have coffee or a meal at the truck stop along the way.

[@SoCal780]

That sounds like something that the Lettuce King would do to you!😂😂

[@brianedotson1815]

I'm a four wheeler, I was taught the rules of the road for trucking by family friend. I always block for trucks when they're trying to merge on to a freeway. I also flash my lights when they're passing me to let them know that the trailer was clear. Drivers would always flash the trailer lights as a thank you. I hardly ever see truckers do that anymore.

[@rayhuggart5214]

Good topic. Up hear in canada truckers didn't flash there lights to tell the other guy he had room to pull back in as much as you guys south of the 49th. I still do till this day and a few guys will flash there trailer lights back at you to thank you. When it happens it's nice.

[@infinityhighway5092]

I've been out here only 3 1/2 years. Bought a cb within 2 weeks of after my training period and i still consider it my biggest safety asset in the truck. It has been priceless to me. I have it on all the time. ✌️

[@brucelsprout]

I've only been in this business for about 6 months now and I was surprised to see that I get cut off more by other trucks than 4 wheelers. I always try to give at least a few seconds of distance to the guy I'm passing so they don't have to slow down. But the amount of times I have to hit my brakes going UP a hill because some other trucker decided to pull in with less than 1 second following distance and I don't want "safety violations."

[@shakennotstirred32]

Your stories are always interesting. I’ve been trucking since 2001 and some of the stuff you mentioned we did in 2001 on but it stopped I would say around 2010

[@JungSooLeee]

Good to see the truck driver stories return. This has got to be the funniest one

[@maryrudelich9000]

That’s a heck of a practical joke Dave. I cut my teeth in trucking learning from the old timers and their way of doing things 30 years ago. I think that’s why I made it. They really were men of good courage. Thank you.

[@rolandreyna1964]

CB is important for truckers. It keeps you from feeling too lonely and also great information on what's up ahead

[@rodneystewart8958]

The only signals drivers know now is the middle finger

[@MeetJoeBlack55]

Makes me long for the 'good ol' days' .... dang, things were so much nicer back then (other than our bare steel 6X8 cabs with no A/C ) ..... fun video ... thanks for the memories !!!

[@angelazavala5315]

Such awesome times back when there was a romance to trucking!

[@sixpack375]

I drove a truck from 1987 to 2022. Seen it all and maybe more. Dave i could tell you one hell of a true story of me and my c team partner of our very first day out on the road with Schneider National. Almost made both of us quit on the spot.

[@donovanvolk8583]

I still flash my lights for trucks in my car still now days

[@lordchagrin1378]

Love the stories! I was taught to flash my lights at trucks to tell them it's safe to come over and still do it to this day I'm proud to say. One more thing gone when the cars drive themselves.

[@michaelmclachlan4278]

We were lucky ! united with respect

[@kevinlesch9656]

As others have mentioned the light flashing / clear to move over is still going although not as strong as it once was. Even sometimes when I'm pulling cattle trailer behind my pickup I'll get an all clear. I think the thank you / tail light flash is almost dead though.

[@LoganJohnson-lm2bh]

I still have my choke chain wallet and a few C.B.radios . I now have one set up as a home base station .And in my neck of the woods even though I'm retired now i still use my lights and hand signs And so do many of the local drivers .

[@Lowhood]

I get flashed back into my lane all the time i dont think thats gone

[@billloffler8637]

We called them wallets a “chain drive wallet “

[@BeNiceorBeQuiet]

Thank you 🙏 Driver

[@TheBuddilla]

Sadly we are running so hard these days we don't have time to pull over and help. Also back in the day there were no cellphones for roadside.

[@sunnygabriel7147]

That's messed up..😂😂😂Poor Bart

[@dougpage1271]

Great Stuff! 👍

[@renedominguez7621]

Love hearing Dave’s stories Remind me of my fathers When he was on the road

[@joerubalcava11]

I remember those good old days, truck drivers had a great camaraderie in those days. That’s gone forever with the kind of drivers out there now.

[@Snow_TF2]

I flash my high beams at semis when they have their signal on to let them know they can come over. Probably weird for them to see a box truck do that for them. They wave if I pass them sometimes.

[@frankzimmerman4391]

Gotta love the good old days 😂

[@whatsup5328]

Hey did you notice all the towns you went through had beautiful buildings back in the 1970s

[@garypollard9770]

I remember the good ol’ days. That reminded me of a story of how I met one of my best friends. Miss those days but these fools sitting in those seats now will never be anywhere near the same as once was!

[@sstocker31]

Great story!

[@six-pack1332]

Can't remember the last time I saw someone use the sideways deuce. Maybe around 1982.

[@hoopstar7891]

I ain't gonna lie, I am not a truck driver but play a good bit of American Truck Simulator and listen to this youtube channel for hours while playing.

[@johnmcgregor3671]

I learned old school trucking from my grandfather who drove for a little outfit called the British Army and after the war he drove into the 60s for different moving companies i also learned from my father and uncle who lived in thunder bay and was a oo and owned a old flc and I own and use a chain drive wallet

[@misaelcruz1663]

I'm new generation, but I still do most of these signals.

[@Triplex5014]

Not sure if I heard it on youtube or from truckers in my country about the hand signals back in the old days. Raising one finger (index finger) is saying hello and means everything is good on the road. Two fingers like the peace sign mean cops. Three fingers (with the ring finger) means caution, an accident happened.

[@wolftrainservicesltd6418]

I still Flash in other trucks when passing period I still carry spare parts I still use CB radio. Unfortunately less and less are not

[@nicholasaquino5160]

That's because truckers are also a thing of the past. Today you have CDL's drivers. Ask one how to read a map and fill out a logbook" GOOD LUCK!!!!!

[@mrc1539]

When west coast mirrors first came out our drivers got mad as hell when we started putting them on our trucks . One driver told me he didn’t need to see where he had been that he had enough trouble staying awake to see where he was going . Three fingers on the outside mirror meant there was a wreck on something going on behind you . 33

[@redcartwright4491]

Hey come do some driving in Georgia and Alabama. We still cling to the good ways.

[@daviddubose8804]

That is hilarious 😂!! I never fall asleep that hard!! A side note the ones of us who run hopper bottom trailers and log trailers we still use the cb but we are also more local runs! The other guys not so much unless you come across the kw and Pete guys🤷‍♂️. Freight shacker mafia /company drivers never.

[@andrewbarlow8937]

I like to tape my El Cheapo cell phone to the DOT Bumper of a truck that I know is going in the opposite direction as me , just to mess with the gubber-mint spies. I always had a new phone all set up beforehand.

[@ObamaoZedong]

Gotem

[@robc2821]

Did you ever load at Gainers or Canada Packers Back in the Day ?? Dont remember seeing you Back in the Day!

[@PhucYuBich]

The only hand signal i see these days is the middle finger.

[@craigcullen4171]

Lol very funny !

[@AndyEightSevenFive]

Most of guys out West, especially Alberta and Saskatchewan still give the passing clearance flash. But I agree, it's not a given like it used to be. One thing we do out here that wasn't mentioned though is point out deer and anything that could pop out of the ditch to anyone behind, 4 wheelers included. Two or three flashes of the right signal for no apparent reason is the signal. Actually had a rig welder heading south stay with me until I pulled off for fuel so he could thank me by paying for it. When he couldn't because of cardlock, he just gave me 800 cash. Saw the signal, backed off and steered out to the Left just as the deer hopped out of no where. He figured it would have landed on his hood if I hadn't warned him.

[@DJPereira2012]

Back in the day, you know it's a while ago. 😂

[@Joshualibbyy]

Oh I still give truck hand signals don’t worry. The middle finger salute has never gone away

[@craigduysen3663]

i remember the day when you would stop just to pee and look up and there would be four trucks stopping to help.

[@jackc2073]

I got a guy who skipped in front of me at a dock when he went inside I switched his glad hands,I unloaded and left he was still trying to figure out why his truck wouldn’t move

[@danshelburne1948]

Now days u'r lucky if the big rig get clear of u before they start pulling back in.

[@workingcountry1776]

Had a day cab slam into my minivan with his drives and entire trailer. It was wet out and dark. I was driving the 55mph speed limit and saw him flying probably over 80mph in my mirror. I was fortunate to get away with back pain for a couple years. Should have sued that pile of crap driver

[@jrod7065]

After 24 year on the road im still use light communication my CB radio always is on and i have road map 😂 im old school driver. If every driver use CB radio with respect we move better but driver today drive with cell phone on hands

[@workingcountry1776]

Feel like i heard this story. Good one though.

[@VolvoDriverGR]

Oh man, you shouldn't 've done that prank to the guy. Poor fella. Hey, on another note, that headlight blinking for when the other guy is passing, safe to come into the lane, it's still going strong. At least here in Greece. And the passing guy blinks his blinkers left-right-left (or right-left-right) for a thank you. That still goes over here. Probably in the rest of europe I guess. But today's truckers are notified for any bears via viber and all those smarphone apps....🤣🤣🤣

[@aviatortrucker6285]

Guess Bart never learned how to read a road sign.

[@jimbojimson]

You're wrong about one thing; at least 70% of the time or better, the other drivers will flash their lights when I'm good to get over. That tradition is alive and well, but there are a few guys who don't do it

[@willieverusethis]

I still do the headlight flash to let truck drivers in.

[@rodgercottrill3342]

That was funny

[@waynez1025]

Great story about Bart, but guys like him that were running for two days at a time is the reason we have driver logs and a whole host of other regulations.

[@TozziWelding]

I still have that wallet, been wearing it everyday fore over 20 years

[@aviatortrucker6285]

The biggest problem with CB radios right now is first of all the truck cabs are no longer made of metal. They have very poor signal reflective capability. The next thing wrong with them is CB’s today are made so integrated that they cannot be rigged to put out much more power than they’re set up with; about 4 watts max. If one is adjusted with higher power, it usually wears out the final within six months. The third thing wrong is the trucking manufacturer does not make antenna systems tuned for CB radio. They usually just put antennas that feed the AM/FM radio to make it look cool. That is not resonant frequency for the 27 MHz band. And lastly, originally, the CB frequency was supposed to be in the 400 MHz FM, but the FCC didn’t want to give up that band and the cost of radios was phenomenal that they just adhered to the 11 meter band of today which is on AM modulation. If they would’ve had a 400 MHz band with nationwide repeaters, you could’ve talked for hundreds of miles the way you do on a ham radio. Remember also, back in the day, it was illegal to run a CB without a license. Those were usually test free, but had a small fee. I believe they had two letters and four numbers in the call sign. Oh, and one more thing to mention, drivers think it’s cool to angle antennas down at 45° to look like a grasshopper, but all this does is bounce the signal to the ground and defeats the range. Unless you’re really putting out a unit that has high output power you barely get about a mile range today.

[@larryjanson4011]

the spy cams in the trucks at the corp i retired from . if you took a hand off the wheel you could be written up for un safe driving.

[@Kitchfox]

Hell I flash drivers in all the time to help keep the impatient 4 wheelers from cutting off and wrecking the rig in front of me

[@shawnm5692]

the thirwling lights sign means 'another round/load' or 'turn around' in the dump truck world. having a cb is essential half the time at plants and worksites so many dumps do have them. each clique of trucks sort of has their own channel they use so only time 9 or 19 is tuned to when someone sees heavy traffic up ahead. only problem is every now and then you have the annoying audio check guys paging for a straight 10 mins or the weirdos that constantly play a music song skit on loop for an hour. on one the trucks the cb always statics even if you move the knob all the way to the right so sometimes people will just turn the volume real low. then on other trucks you can have the knob all the way to the left and still no static and reaches out pretty far.

[@Brandon-kp5to]

I still check on other drivers

[@lilmike2710]

There's one hand signal that I still use 🐦

[@vf12497439]

Guys flashing their high beams in your eyes is why I don’t headlight or marker light anymore. Why would I thank a guy for blinding me?

[@ryanbutler8724]

Chain drive billfold

[@RayT70]

Hence, drivers started locking their trucks

[@masteranger4499]

OK, so I carry a wallet with the chain on it, we still flash lights a lot out here in the western desert. It's really too bad about the CB, that's the reason these giant pile ups happen in the snow now, no one uses the radio except the 100 watt shit talkers.

[@stevek4449]

All the more to lock the doors😂. Yeah after nearly 30 years of trucking, a lot has changed. Hardly anyone returns a marker light flash after they are flashed to come over. Ethics seems to be almost obsolete. I guess it’s why it’s also called the “transportation industry “. The trucking part is nearly gone now. We are like cogs in a machine that uses various means as one industry to move things around now. Intermodal comes to mind. Back when we had 5$ for a meal and time to sit down and eat it. Not processed grab and go stuff like now days.

[@davidallen3873]

That's what it was about back in the day is tricks on all your friends oh by the way I still have my big CB radio big wattage

[@bricejones8076]

I didn't know truckers had hand signals 🤔🤔🤔

[@peteengard9966]

Commradery has turned into dog eat dog. Gone are the mom and pop greasy spoons with good home cooked type food to burgers and burritos. Running 2 or 3 log books and driving until you need fuel has turned into appointments and see you tomorrow for your load. Big brother knows where you are every second and new trucks are junk and unreliable. Profit margins are so close a flat tire will set you back for weeks or months. But at least the seats are air ride instead of the old canvas covered wood box.

[@nathankkarren5316]

Moral of the story: lock your truck.

[@whatsup5328]

Wow things have gotten horrible since then I'm 58

[@polockdan1]

👍✌

[@wolftrainservicesltd6418]

Stil have chain drive wallet

[@chrishall8803]

😂

[@conleycroom8813]

Still like that on the alcan. A little bit less now but still common

[@andrewschrim6676]

You know instead of trying to do away with AM radio ; those morons of highway of highway safety should mandate that every roadworthy vehicle be equipped with a cb radio just as vessels that navigate most harbors, rivers and waterways have the Coast Guard radio network.

[@Sir_knight_trooper]

Just tell Bart he's the victim road wallies

[@danielhofer7386]

you don't look old enough to be trucking in the time before truckers had Cb.'s

[@omarsalem2845]

Half of them don't even know how to operate AC. B.

[@DaLightBlue]

Hahaha😂

[@kevinimp8217]

bart simpsom made a mistake like in dumb and dumbert

[@davids5006]

This one 🖕🏻 still gets used a lot

[@boatbound3300]

The last time i got any usefull info from a CB was in 1986. Its a rat race & sh*t show these days👎

[@kennethsnyder9236]

There’s no reason for anyone to show curtesy these days. Curtesy is dead ☠️

[@chrishall8803]

I used haul swinging chickens on ah flatbed reefer foot to the floor with my shiny 290

[@chrishall8803]

Wheres the high speed chicken feed backroe party roe😂