Reasonably Assured

Today's Thoughts 4/24/12 Reasonably Assured

Can I be reasonably assured? That was the question for myself as I woke up in the bunk of my truck for about the millionth time again today. Can I be reasonably assured that after driving one kind of truck or the other for the last thirty odd years that the government will let me continue in my career choice for another thirty years if I so decide to do so? This old rig of mine is already eleven years old and no longer allowed into the state of California. I know it is time to update and buy new equipment but I have to ask, can I be reasonably assured that the government will not change the rules in the middle of me paying off a new rig leaving me bankrupted and losing everything?

Can I be reasonably assured that after dealing with the sleep apnea crowd forcing their ideology out of my wallet that the government will not decide that I need to buy into the next best greatest medical gadget that comes alone? Will I be able to afford to pay for that or will I even after years of safe driving find myself being tossed out from the industry because I no longer fit the body size and shape the government decides I should fit to be a safe truck driver. Funny, I do not remember killing anyone yet I have to worry about being tossed out because someone thinks I might if I do not comply with whatever they can think up.

Can I be reasonably assured that if I do decide to take the chance to buy a new truck, that in the five or so years that it takes to pay it off, that the EPA will not come in and change the rules making my new equipment illegal to use anymore. If not the EPA, who knows what branch will decide to change some rule. Will the new forced technology even hold up to real world conditions or will I end up as a lot of truckers I know and spend more time in the shop then out on the road making payments.

Can I be reasonably assured that the EPA will not decide that the fuel we use now needs to be changed again, for whatever reason they deem necessary. The cost to meet the new requirement could sky rocket once again out of control. If not the EPA, then who knows what government agency will decide to stick their new and politically correct head into the mix, I know propane is already being looked at as the new forced technology to fuel trucks. How much will those new regulations cost me to comply with?

The answer to all these questions and many more just like them is no, I cannot be reasonably assured of anything at this point in time. With the FMCSA on its scorched earth policy to prevent any truck anywhere from ever again being in an accident, no one can be reasonably assured of anything. Even if a trucker takes the step today to upgrade to safer equipment, or to even consider taking out a loan to put themselves through truck driving school, no one can be reasonably assured that the government will not change the rules tomorrow and bankrupt them right out of trucking existence.

No one can be reasonably assured that if they make the decision to even become a trucker that they will be allowed to be a trucker for more than about five years before they no longer meet the ever changing medical requirements set forth by the government. No one can be reasonably assured of anything at the pace they are changing the rules to keep us killer truckers from delivering America. We can no longer be reasonably assured of anything.

So not being able to be reasonably assured is supposed to make me a safer trucker. Pretty cool, do you not think? Even a brand new young driver cannot be reasonably assured the they will still be qualified in just a few short years into their career decision. They could be tossed out with the next regulation before ever gaining the experience needed to be a safe driver? Who in their right mind would even consider a truck-driving career knowing that they cannot be reasonably assured of it lasting long enough to break even before they are tossed?

And why should I stand up to those that will force me to run unsafe and illegal when I know the government is only making it harder for a safe and legal truck drivers to feed their family running safe and legal. How can I be reasonably assured of anything about trucking at this point in the game? The plain and simple answer is that I cannot in any way, shape or form be reasonably assured of but one thing. I will be shut down well before I have any need or want to be shut down. I will be shut down in the name of safety, political correctness, whatever you want to call it, I will be shut down. That Sir, I can be reasonably assured of.

After years working as an advocate for safe and legal truck drivers, I can tell you that at one time progress was being made. Driver after driver put down their renegade ways and became themselves advocates for safe and legal truck drivers. No longer can I say this to be true. I can now be reasonably assured that the heavy hand of government is now turning more and more hard working decent drivers into the outlaw truckers that we fought so hard and so long to get off of our nation's highways. And where once I would approach them and speak about the virtues of running safe and legal, now as I see them I have to ask who can blame them.

The FMCSA can be reasonably assured that if they continue the heavy-handed jack-booted government intervention that they have deemed necessary to bring down upon thousands of safe and legal truck drivers, they will in the end do more harm than good. Yes we need regulation but not to the point of the extinction of safe and legal truck drivers. No one can operate a safe and legal truck unless they can be reasonably assured of existence beyond the next new regulation.

Reasonably assured; something that safe and legal truck drivers in today's word can no longer be. I know as does every truck driver out on that highway that if even just one death occurs, it is one death to many. We know this; we live this everyday of our lives. What the FMCSA has to come to understand is two things. You cannot regulate just truck drivers and leave the rest of the vehicals along and solve this problem. If you cannot regulate the rest of them, perhaps trying to educate them in how to better share the road with us truckers might be a thing.

The second thing the FMCSA needs to know is to reach their goal of zero accidents between cars and trucks out on the highways; one of us has to go. So long as cars and trucks share the same highways, there will unfortunately be deaths involved. The question the FMCSA needs to answer is this; will that death involve a renegade trucker because they themselves force safe and legal truckers out of existence? I very much pray that the FMCSA takes a step back and sees the harm that they are doing by over regulating us. I hope they decide to work with safe and legal truck drivers instead of driving them to the point of extinction. Continue as they are and they can be reasonably assured that this will happen.

Be safe peeps …
Jeff Head.
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