My Mission Statement

Today's Thoughts 8/17/11 My Mission Statement

I was asked the other day, "What is it that you are trying to do with your "Today's Thoughts" that you write from time to time"? Well, being as that I'm a man, most of you ladies probably know that I have not a clue what it is I'm doing. I know what it is I'm trying to do and I know what I have been able to do in the past. As to what it is I'm actually doing now, well, probably just pissing off a bunch of people that have better things to do then listen to me yap about all things trucking and highway safety and things like that. So I wanted to take some time to get it in my head a little better just what exactly it is I'm doing because I think I may have swayed from my path just a bit. At least this way as we move forward with the things I do, at least one of us will have a clue as to just what it is that I am trying to do with all my writings. At least know just where it is I'm headed before I hit yet another brick wall someplace.

I think it's important to know first what it is I'm not trying to do. First thing is that I'm not trying to do is tell a whole bunch a truckers things that they already know. If you have been in this industry more than just a few days then you know that there is more to it than any average person has a clue about. And I don't think I'm trying to be some big wig trucking advocate with a coast to coast following. That’s not for me. I know I work best down on a one to one level. Let's see, also I'm not trying To have BBQ's and love fest for truckers out in some truck stop parking lot, nor am I trying to convince truckers to unite and march as one well groomed group all with the same idea of what is good for the industry. No, that's not me either. Somehow I figure that you cannot throw a rock across the truck stop parking lot without hitting some person or group involved in making our industry safer and how you should run legal and be well respected. Nope, none of the above is things that I have set out to do. Are these things good things? You bet your butt they are. Any person working to better this trucking industry has my complete respect in the things they do and I fully stand behind their efforts and wish them well. But these things they do are not what I'm trying to do.

So, here we are again, back to the question as to what it is I'm trying to do. Back years ago I decided to run safe and legal in the trucking industry. Many drivers have made that same commitment, that’s no secret. As we all know, drivers that made this decision often times would find themselves starved out or otherwise removed from their ability to support their families. This is no secret either. Drivers have for the longest time and still to this day have worked very hard to overcome this part of the trucking industry. This last statement is a big secret. Well not so much inside the trucking industry because we are here living it every day. But if you are to listen to the politician and news media out there in the real world trying to get reelected and sell news papers, then all the things I don't do we talked about earlier remain a big secrete to the outside world.

So, that’s what I do. I tell them what we do and what help we need to succeed and what it is they can do to help us. When I talk to a politician I tell them of all the good we are trying to accomplish and ask them for their help. When I talk to law enforcement I let them know that truckers stand beside them in keeping the highways safe for all that use them, that we are on their side and ask for their help. When I talk to people in the news media I explain all the efforts put forth from OOIDA to coast to coast radio shows all the way to the little guy having a BBQ in the parking lot, and I ask them to help us. I talk to the little guy on the street. The people that travel the highways with us and I ask them to help us keep them alive.

All these people I talk to but why them and not us? Well, one reason being is we have enough us.  Look at all that I've mentioned and I'm sure you could fill in many more. But just like the FMCSA needs to look at drivers as a partner in safety, we need to look at the people we share the highways with and join together with them. Why you may ask, simple, without them we can only control about twenty percent of what goes on out there. Every trucker out here knows that we only account for twenty percent of the wrecks but the government will never tell a voter that they need to be safer around big trucks. No, to get a vote or to sell a paper, you need a bad guy and that’s us, the trucking industry.

How does it work? As I talk to all these people several things happen. One is that I get an education as to how they, looking from the outside in, see us as an industry and I get to help them understand what it is and why it is we are doing what we do. I usually get educated on how they see things. Why it is they feel they way they do about big trucks and together we both walk away with a new understanding and respect for each other that is an all too often a missing component of highway safety. Now as they move forward with their daily life, be it a politician, reporter, or even just the local Joe riding in their car beside that big truck on the highway; the decisions they make concerning us is now made with not only a better informed person, but a person with a new found respect for what it is we as a trucking industry are trying to do for them and highway safety in general.

So what I hope I am accomplishing with "Today's Thoughts" and my book "Running Legal Blues" is a connection to the world outside of trucking. This connection leads to better communication with everyone that in some way comes into contact with the trucking industry. Be it by making a law or just riding beside us on the highway. And that my friend leads to hopefully a government that will work with us, not against us. A law enforcement community that considers us their partners in highway safety and a general public that now  not only has a better knowledge of what we need to do out on that highway as drivers; but also a little more respect for the size and weight of that truck.

How I do it is simply relating everyday experiences of a truck driver and showing to those outside of the industry that we as drivers have very much the same concern as they do for what happens out here. That we are doing our best to keep that highway safe and with a little help from them as our partners, we might just get it done

Well, there it is in a nut shell. "My Mission Statement". I'm just doing my thing while the world passes me by. But that’s ok with me; at least I'm doing something. I may never be well known or get rich off of what I'm doing but that’s not what I set out to do. Preach run safe and legal without reprisal and reach out in a way that saves lives on our nation's highways. It may not be much but I'm happy with it. I gave a little something back to the industry that took me in and allowed me to be part of it. What more can a man ask?

Be safe peeps …

Jeff Head.
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