The Wave

The one finger wave, the two finger wave. The head nod, or the full on hand wave. There are lots of ways that professional drivers give notice to their fellow drivers out on the road. Years ago, you would see this all the time. Truckers waving to truckers, a very common occurrence back then. But what about today, do we still see this happening?

It's all about communicating with one another. Trucking years ago was something that someone did because it was in their blood, it was something your dad did, or you had a real passion for it. It was just cool, and still is.

The thought of travelling across the country with a big rig was just awesome. Stopping at all the truck stops, having lunch with your fellow drivers, and forming friendships that would last a lifetime. This was the old school brotherhood of trucking.

Over the last decade or so, you don't see this as much on the road. With changes in the industry, from just in time freight deliveries, to e-logs, schedules have become much tighter. As they say "time is money". Because of this, drivers aren't stopping as much, or for very long these days. making food in their trucks, or grabbing something to go seems to be the way to go these days.

There are also a new generation of drivers on the road too. Believe it or not, it's still cool to wave to your fellow drivers, even today.

I often wonder if it was something passed down from generation to generation to wave out there. Maybe not! At the end of the day, we are all on the same team out there, doing the same job to keep the supply chain moving. I would like to think that we would all help each other out in a time of need out on the road.

So, back to the question from above, do drivers still wave at each other? I ran an experiment just for fun to see what the percentage was of drivers that wave back. It turns out that one out of ten drivers waved back. It seems that the wave isn't as common today like it once was. Could it be that the new generation of drivers just don't care as much, or is it that it's just too much work to wave at every truck. Only you shall be the judge of that.

So, the next time a fellow driver waves at you, give them a wave back. It's a simple gesture, but can mean a lot. It just feels good to get a wave back.

Dana Smith

The Mindful Trucker