The highway is America’s artery. Pumping products to and from various cities. The red blood cells are the truckers. The masters of the road, who have seen every highway and byway throughout the US.
Truckers Keep The Highway Safe
The main focus for the trucker besides getting their cargo delivered on time – is keeping the highway safe. They are the first line against terrible drivers. Unfortunately, over the years, truckers have become more of a looked down upon career choice, but this isn’t true. Hollywood likes to portray this career type as something that lowlives do. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Truckers undergo extensive training. The first lesson a trucker is taught is to keep the roads safe. “1 life for 10” is the truckers code. That one life is themselves.
They Spend Life On the Road So You Can Have Your iPhone
Without the trucking industry, you wouldn’t be able to have your new computer or iPhone or anything else shipped to you. Stores need products on the shelves in order to maintain business and the reality is that truckers make that happen. Their lives are spent going back and forth on America’s roads. Many spend days (and sometimes weeks) away from their families. The job, like any, has its strains, but with traffic fatalities being one of the largest death rates for American’s, these guys are troopers.
They Brave The Harsh Highway Conditions
If the weather is bad, sometimes you can call out of work (unless you’re a New Englander), then its just another day. But even as a New England transplant, I don’t have the excessive weight of a trailer behind me. I can only imagine what it’s like to haul 50 feet of heavy produce through the midwestern tundra. Do you think truckers can call out of work if it is snowing? No. Now, most can plan ahead, they plan their routes and make every attempt to avoid the harsh conditions, but that often means taking the route less harsh.
Have You Seen A Semi Recover From a Jackknife Skid? I Have – Its Nuts
It was the middle of winter up in Northern New Hampshire. A few friends and I were on our way to a ski trip and ran into some nuts weather. You know what they say for New England “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Well, That includes bad weather too. We instantly got slammed by a whitewash of snow, the semi in front of us (which was a double-wide) ended up skidding out. I was driving a Subaru Impreza at the time which had an all-wheel drive, but even then we were still skidding. We watched as the semi-truck began to jackknife and we slowed down.
We were all going downhill so there wasn’t much stopping us from sliding around but that truck driver knew exactly what he was doing. That guy was able to safely maneuver from one point to another while keeping everything straight. Even when he turned the corner he knew what he was doing. It was probably one of the most impressive things we had seen aside from my buddies 360 at the slopes.
Truckers Deserve Way More Respect Than What They’re Given
Again, many truckers get a bad rep. namely due to the shifting winds of society. There was a point in time when they were respected and made great pay, but every generation changes their perspective. These are things to simply keep in mind the next time a trucker is “in your way” in the slow lane.
