Truck Driver Vs. Driver Vs. Trucker... What is the Difference?

Truck drivers refer to each other as simply "driver." While listening to a citizens band radio the term "driver" is constantly coming across the airwaves. The sales staff, at any of the interstate travel centers, will use the term "driver" loosely. Why don't "truckers" call each other "truckers?" Who actually qualifies as a "driver" and who qualifies as a "trucker?"

Semi-truck drivers have seemingly substituted the use of citizen band radio "handles" with one word, "driver." In the semi-truck driving world, "driver" is used with reference to another semi-truck driver. To many semi-truck drivers, the words "trucker" and "driver" mean the very same thing. They only apply the word "driver" to other "truckers."

By definition, a commercial transport driver is anyone who is paid to drive and has a commercial driver's license (CDL) to do so. It does not matter what cargo you are hauling or what type of vehicle you are driving. You are a "driver" if you drive a taxi, a bus, pick-up truck, or an 18-wheeler. (Try telling that to a semi-truck driver.)

A "trucker" is defined as someone who holds a CDL and drives any type of truck to deliver a pay load. This would include hot-shot haulers, cattle haulers, flat-bedders, and car haulers. That sounds easy enough, doesn't it?

Not so fast.

In the trucking industry, "trucker" status seems to apply only to the 53' dry van haulers. You won't hear a dry van hauler call a hot-shot hauler "trucker." Nor will they refer to cattle haulers, car haulers, etc. as "truckers." The reference you will hear will be based on what type trailer the other driver is pulling. The sentences will come across in this manner, "Cattle hauler, come on over," and so forth.

It's been my experience that the term "trucker" signifies camaraderie amongst dry van haulers. It is used as a status symbol among "drivers." It's one word that signifies the "driver" has paid their dues living on the road for an extended period of time which could easily be counted in years.

I also noticed this distinction between "driver" and "trucker" in my own personal life. If I was around a group of other "truckers" and they asked me if I were a "driver", my response was, "No, I just ride." This was always the end of the conversation. It took me a few times of this blatant distinction to figure out what was happening.

I was not included in the "driver" conversations because I am not a "driver." I was being perceived as just a "rider," out joyriding, in the big truck, pretending to be on vacation.

I decided to change my response to, "I'm a professional passenger" and with this change, the reactions I received also changed. From that point on, I was accepted (somewhat) because the perception of being on vacation went out the window.

One "driver" made the mistake when he replied, "I didn't think you looked like a trucker." And my very quick response was, "I will never be a driver, because of health reasons, but I will always be a trucker whether I drive or not!"

We should face the fact that the semi-truck drivers have taken the term "driver" for themselves.