Are Truckers Human?

Today's Thoughts  By Jeff Head 4/23/12 Are Truckers Human?

"I was wondering, if we as truckers had just one or two messages that we felt important for the politicians and general public to know about trucker issues and their way of life, what do you think that message should be?" I asked this question the other day on one of the trucking sites that I visit from time to time. I received back several different responses. Lack of safe parking was one response, over regulation another. The FMCSA allowing bad companies to continue to operate and of course the old hours of service rules was not far behind and added to the list. Right up top though, the first response, was the one that really caught my eye. "That we're HUMAN, just like everyone else." What a statement and it really got me to thinking. Does anyone even know that humans drive these trucks? Does anyone even care?

While I am taking some time to ponder this, I find myself trying to figure out a way to compare the average everyday human to the average everyday truck driver. What are some of the same things each of these two groups do that might be the same? For one thing, we both work to be able to feed our families. A corporate big wig goes in and works long hard hours as at his office as do truck drivers out here on the road in our mobile office. That is the same.

A traveling salesperson stays away from home for months on end visiting customer after customer just like a traveling truck driver visiting dock after dock delivering the very goods that the salesperson sold. We both eat most of our meals away from home and spend countless hours calling long distance to talk to little Jenny or Johnny and the Mrs. and that it will still be weeks before we can give them a real hug instead of just a spoken one over the phone. I know that that might sound a little funny but I guess it is just a human thing to want to be with your loved ones.

Let us see here, what else do we have? Both groups feel pain, physical and mental and they both bleed real red blood as well. Each group gets sick from time to time from the same type of viruses and when they do; both groups use the same medications to regain their health. Each group gets tired and when they do, they lie down and rest. Everything sounds comparable so far, do you not think?

Each group in general has specific times that they have to start their day and when their work is done, they kick back and relax. Everyone eats and of course we all have our own version of what we consider winding down time. A few might enjoy a cold beer while others might enjoy a Sunday morning at the church. Sounds like to me that both groups have multiple things in common. Even the fact that each group enjoys a shower every now and then might be found in common with both groups. Surly a truck driver is just as human as an everyday normal person is out there in the general public.

So let us look at some of the uncommon things between the two groups. Let us see now, when the corporate big wig goes in and works a seventy hour week, they are considered hard working and a proud member of the community. Let a trucker put in a long seventy hour week and they are considered a threat to society, a killer among men. A traveling salesperson has been the butt of many of jokes and everyone loves the stories that come out of their conventions. Let truckers get together down at the truck stop, lord only knows what kind of drugs they are doing and how many shady women must be hanging around.

A salesperson eats the same unhealthy food served at whatever restaurant that just happens to be nearest but they do not have to worry about the government stepping in and shutting them down because they are now too fat and unhealthy to work anymore. And of course the calls home to the family. With today's new cell phone regulations on truck drivers, sure we can still call, if we do not mind taking a chance on getting a twenty seven hundred dollar fine by doing so. Of course, we can always pull over to make the call but eventually, if we do not deliver the freight, they will hire someone who will.

Each group feels pain and they both get sick while away from home. The difference here is people that travel can pull into any medical facility and get all the help they need. Try to find a medical facility that you can get an eighteen-wheeler into, which is a fun thing to do. Of course, it was tried a few years ago to bring the medical facilities right out to the truck stops so that truckers could have access to the same basic medical care anyone in town had. Of course, town after town figured a way to block such things at truck stops. You could put in an arcade or perhaps a donut shop, but not a doctor's office in most locations. A silly idea to begin with as you might guess.

Kicking back is different too. You might chance a cold beer while taking an extra long weekend off out on the road. Go back to your truck and crawl in the sleeper for a good night's rest, and you might find yourself with a DUI while another person that travels can sleep it off comfortably in their rented room. Sit in the driver's seat of your vehicle reading a book while it might catch a normal person a quick glance by a passing officer of the law, may in fact bring a truck driver a ticket for taking their government-mandated time off sitting up instead of lying down.

Showers to a normal person are an everyday thing. For a truck driver, on most days showers can be worked in without much problem. But let a normal person hold up a truck driver on the dock, cause them to be running late and unable to find a decent place to park, and it might be days before a shower can be worked in. And of course we talked about being able to attend church. Well for a truck driver if there just happens to be one at the truck stop you end up at on Sunday morning, awesome. If not, you are on your own that week.

I think the biggest difference drilled into most truck drivers heads is the logbook. For most people in the general public, when you get tired you lay down. When decide to get up, you get up. In addition, when you decide to go to the bathroom, you do not have to fill out a government form explaining where, when and how long it took you.

As a truck driver, you have to do this under penalty of law. Rules governing this logbook are set in stone. People sitting behind a desk somewhere up there in Washington DC decide these things. Somehow, they know that due to the fact that a person drives a truck, they will be tired at a certain time of day, and they will wake up at a certain time also. Well rested of course. That by the powers of all they be, dictate by that one little form, what time I need to go to bed. What time I need to get up regardless of the fact that they may or may not be tired. They demand it be explained explain every time they stop for a restroom break or just to tie their shoes. Drivers have to tell Uncle Sam all these things and more or face penalties if they chance not doing it. Somehow, they do not tell all the people that actually have control over that truck that they need to keep them moving so they can follow that law. No, that is the truck drivers problem you see.

Lets look back at the original questions now; "Does anyone even know that humans drive these trucks? Does anyone even care?" I think that most people do know that humans drive trucks. I do not think though that anyone really cares how inhuman and over regulated the industry has left drivers being treated. It is easy to look a person in the eye and have compassion for them. It is also much easier to sit back at the house watching the evening news and buy what is being sold to the public about a person that does the same thing they do in everyday life, just in a different way.

I often think as I fill the empty hours driving the long highways, just how a normal person might feel if they were given the chance to live the life of a trucker for just one week, perhaps even just one day. Would they still feel the same way and think every second of every day needs to be dictated by some far away politician. Would they still feel that even though truck drivers are indeed just as human as they are, that they need to be chained and shackled by regulations like a sub-humanoid to keep them under control? I doubt it.

I know that there are many outside of the trucking industry that know and understand just what the trucking community does to keep our Great Nation alive and well. But as you can look back into history and see for yourself, one human is always trying to keep another human under their control. Folks, I believe that fact is just a human thing. Perhaps as with many other aspects of our modern day society, truck drivers will one day find themselves being looked upon on the same level of humanity as the rest of the society is. We can only hope. Hope, now that is human, guess we qualify after all.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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