I often take time to reflect and write something special as I am doing here once again. So this is for you my sweet one, Bob. Yes you Trucker Bob.

Truckers are as American or Canadian as apple pie or maybe peach pie! Five , six and yes even seven days a week not one but many weeks at a time up and down the highways, delivering goods for you and me they go. They should be one of our heroes because we know without people like him we would have no food at the grocery store, no produce at the produce markets, no gas at the gas stations, no mail delivered to our door, and on the list goes it is endless. At some point in time everything we touch is handled by a transport company or independent driver.

Driving a big truck is not an easy job but it often becomes a life for some. Drivers have deadlines to make, they spend long periods of time away from their home and families, unless they are lucky enough to find a local driving job that pays enough. Not likely! They have to deal with traffic, weather conditions and other motorists like you and I. Most accidents that involve a tractor trailer are seldom a truck driver’s fault but usually the other person’s faults. People in general don’t have a clue as to what it takes to drive a big truck while trying to deliver freight for you, me and everyone else on earth. Not many people know what is involved in the daily or weekly run of a truck driver. Take into consideration the 13 gears a driver has to go through to get up to highway speed, that’s one hand on the wheel, one hand on the shifter, and their feet between clutch, brake and gas. Think about it, that is all four appendages being used at the same time. Most people if you are like me can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. No comments now! When they drive in town, it is a constant shifting procedure in stop and go traffic. Once they are on the highway and have reached highway speed, stopping a loaded truck is just as hard as getting it going, sometimes harder. The weight disbursement is all in the rear end and literally pushes the tractor of the truck while the driver is breaking. Yes, this is the reason for so many jack-knives, especially on slippery wet roads, the driver tries to stop to avoid an accident and the heavy part, the trailer, does not stop, and swings itself around, usually dragging the front, tractor, right along with it. Truck drivers also have to deal with vision impairments, no that doesn’t mean they have bad eye sight. The length of the truck and the positioning of the mirrors make it very difficult to judge. Trucks have a lot of blind spots, they are much higher and much longer than other vehicles on the road. So all you brave souls in your little cars that like to ride along side big trucks, THEY CAN’T SEE YOU! When you follow to close behind them and try to turn beside them, thinking you are faster than they are, THEY CAN’T SEE YOU!

When truck drivers leave their professions because of accidents they are most often caused by others. When a car full of young people pull out in front of them and they can’t stop it causes dreadful accidents, the driver reflects on his own family at home. When the mother in the car full of children, who decided it was great to ride along side a truck so the kids can get a look, doesn’t see the truck changing lanes and gets run off the road. The driver flashes back to his own family at home. Don’t believe me just ask one, they will be glad to share so much with you about their days On The Road or Over The Road.

I think it should be a requirement to take an additional test at the time of receiving our license on knowing how to conduct ourselves when driving near a big truck. Remember truckers are out their doing a job for us, transporting goods to our home towns, moving us, and delivering for us. They should be treated with respect on the roadways.

A truck driver is always one of the first people to stop and help others stranded on the highway. They make emergency calls for people, they give up their water reserve to cars that have over heated, and they usually will take someone who is stranded to the next exit for help, even on their strict deadlines. If they can’t make the stop, you can pretty much bet they have radioed or even now called the local police or the trucker behind them that someone needs assistance. They are a group of people we don’t come in contact with much anymore, people who are willing to lend a helping hand to a complete stranger in need. Truck drivers are heroes, just as much as the police department, or the fire department. In the midst of doing their job they take the time to help others. So please respect them and avoid pulling out in front of them or passing on their right side.

Before I close here is a short poem..

When God Made Truck Drivers

When the Lord was creating Truck Drivers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the Lord said, “Have you read the spec on this order?”

” A truck driver has to be able to drive 10-12 hours per day, through any type of weather, on any type of road, know the highway traffic laws of 48 states and 10 provinces, he has to be ready and able to unload 40,000 lbs of cargo after driving thru the night, sleep in areas of cities and towns that the police refuse to patrol.”

” He has to be able to live in his truck 24 hours a day 7 days a week for weeks on end, offer first aid and motorist assistance to his fellow travelers, meet just in time schedules, and still maintain an even and controlled composure when all around him appear to have gone mad.”

” He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half-eaten meals; he has to have six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.”

It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord, “it’s the three pairs of eyes a driver has to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel.

The Lord nodded.

” One pair that sees the herd of deer in the thickets 3 miles away” “Another pair here in the side of his head for the blind spots that motorists love to hide in; and another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at the bleeding victim of a drunk driver that crashed into his ICC bumper at 70MPH and say,

” ‘ You’ll be all right ma’am,’ when he knows it isn’t so.”

” Lord,” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “rest and work on this tomorrow.”

” I can’t,” said the Lord, “I already have a model that can drive 650 miles a day, without incident and can raise a family of five without ever seeing them, on 30 cents a mile.”

The angel circled the model of the truck driver very slowly, “Can it think?” ,she asked.

“You bet,” said the Lord. “It can tell you the elements of every HAZMAT load invented; recite Federal Motor Carrier Regulations rules and regs in its sleep; deliver, pickup, be a father, offer timely advice to strangers, search for missing children, defend a woman’s or children’s rights, get 8 hours of good rest on the street and raise a family of Law respecting citizens, without ever going home … and still it keeps its sense of humor. ”

“This driver also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with delivery and pickup areas created from scenes painted in hell, coax a lumper to actually work for his money, comfort an accident victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how truck drivers are nothing more than killers on wheels and have no respect for the rights of others while using the nations highways.”

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the driver. “There’s a leak,” she pronounced. “I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model.”

“That’s not a leak,” said the lord, “it’s a tear.”

“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.

“It’s for bottled-up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the flag, for justice, for the family without its father.”

“You’re a genius,” said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. “I didn’t put it there,”

Author Unknown

So remember all your Heroes. I do and I have a new one. Go visit him.