Speaking Out

Today's Thoughts 6/11/12 Speaking Out
By Jeff Head
I woke up last night, I guess it was around three in the morning and for some odd reason it hit me that we as a nation are about to go through another election. Of course, we all have our own opinion as to who should win that election and as you know, some of us will be happy with the outcome while others of us will not. Regardless though, the heads of many of our federal entities will change with time, the FMCSA included. Why that is important to us truckers is that after years of working and finally getting that top person to understand what we as truckers need to stay safe and legal out here on the road; they simply change out the guard and we have to start the process all over again. Again that is with a new lead person that has their own ideas and agendas as to what a good little trucker should be.

This is going to happen repeatedly through the years and it is exactly why I think we need to speak out not only to the heads of the entities that regulate us as truckers, but also the same general public that elects the politicians that puts them there. As you sit back and think about how the process works outside of trucking, you will see politicians and news papers using "Goobledygook," as Sandy Long would put it, about the trucking industry to fire up the public and gain votes and power using us truckers as stepping stones to their goals. However, as I have found over the years, as I speak out with my stories about my personal experience and goals as a safe and legal trucker to the public, speaking outside of the trucking industry so to say, I find that people are amazed and intrigued at what is really going on in the industry. Amazed at just how many of us truckers are busting our butts to run safe and legal despite what they have been taught to think about us.

This is the very reason that I choose to write as I write. I am not trying to tell a bunch of truckers who are becoming everyday more an industry that leads the fight to be able to run safe and legal what to do. No, what I try to do is write in a way that makes it interesting for the general public and people that regulate us to see that there are thousands of safe and legal truck drivers out here and that we need their help in fighting those that make it difficult in doing just that, run safe and legal. Even if that fight means fighting the very politicians and entities that tell them every day what outlaws we are. In short, as they teach them what they need to know to hate us, we need to teach them what they need to know to help us.

In this way, as the leads change up on the hill, the people we share the highway with can help us debunk the Goobledygook before it even starts. I know from personal experience the feedback that I have received from my efforts has led to changes in some attitudes about us truckers. Now when they see a truck out on the road or here a killer truck story, they take a second look to see if that trucker is actually trying to be safe and legal instead of just writing all truckers off as renegades before getting all the facts. This makes a big difference when it comes time for them to get involved and relate to their representatives about how truckers should be dealt with out in the real world. It makes a big difference when a Law Officer knocks on your door and they have met a few truckers in the past that actually try to do it right.

We have two choices as I see it. We can continue to allow others to teach how we should be seen or we can take it upon ourselves to step out and teach the fact that we as drivers are trying our best to get this right. That we have just as much interest in keeping those highways safe as any other American out there does. After all, not only is the highway our workplace, but our families use that same highway also. No way do I want some renegade sleepy truck driver next to my loved ones either. That is why I believe it is my first and foremost job to keep the people I share the road with alive, to keep your family safe, the freight comes a distant second.

I think it is time that more people realized just how we truckers really feel about this. No one is going to tell them unless we do it ourselves. To do this, you are more than welcome to share any of my stories or even better, come up with your own. What matters is that we start speaking outside of our own industry and speak to the same people that the politicians and other entities are speaking with for their own profit. For us to actually get our side of things out there and understood so that we can take yet another step in keeping the highways safe for all of us that shares them.

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