Of Two Minds

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 5/21/13 Of Two Minds

Safe and legal trucking without reprisal, is it possible?  It always seems to me that a driver with this mindset is always in someone's way.  No matter how hard we try, a shipper, receiver, broker or an agent seem to have better ideas then what we do on how to get the job done, according to them anyways.  Out on the open highway, we have to contend with other drivers in other vehicles.  This can be a very challenging experience indeed sometimes.  Folks that drive cars have their way of thinking while we truck drivers have ours.  Often though, the way one driver thinks or perceives a situation is often something different then the other drivers around them. 

 

If I do this right, this article will be accompanied by an uncut video so that you, the reader can watch and make up your own mind.  I can only give you my views and tell you from my vantage point how I seen things.  What the other drivers thought, well, I shall leave that up to you to determine.

 

I am traveling at the posted speed limit one lane out from the right.  I am in this lane because in just a minute, the right lane becomes an exit only lane.  Traffic passes me on the right looking to exit while up ahead, you can see traffic coming down the ramp looking to merge onto the highway just as myself and the traffic on my right will meet them.  Any professional trucker knows that now is the time to take action to avoid a potential bad situation.  One always looks ahead and plans an escape route.  For me, this would have been to move one lane to the left. 

 

As you continue to watch, instead of moving to the lane to my left, I have moved to the left side of my lane giving the traffic on my right as much room as possible to complete the merge.  The lane to the left of me as you will notice, blocked by a speeding over-sized load that has a clear left lane beside him. Instead of moving to the left, the driver of the speeding truck figures that blowing his horn and continuing to mash his gas and continuing to pass me is the correct action.

 

Like I said, of two minds in any situation.  The posted speed limit for regular traffic is sixty miles an hour.  For oversized trucks requiring permits to move their load in the state of Louisiana, fifty five miles an hour is the max.  Instead of noticing a ramp with merging traffic ahead of me and showing some professional courtesy by slowing down or perhaps moving to the lane to his left, the drivers choice was to lay down on his horn and force me into a potential dangerous situation.

 

I know I know, everybody that watches this video will have a different point of view.  Some will side with, "if you cannot run with the big dogs then go sit in the porch."  Others, like me, will say our number one job at on that highway is to protect the lives of the people we share it with." 

 

A safe and legal driver always looks ahead and moves to keep the highway safe.  We look for potential accidents and we do our best to avoid them.  One of our biggest problems in doing this is drivers that have no time to follow the speed limit.  No time to follow the rules of the road as set by the state we are traveling in.  They figure that because they are running faster than any one else, that they can force others into bad situations.  Then, when something does go wrong and someone ends up laying there dead in the middle of the highway.  They just speed off and never even look back.

 

We as truckers are the "Knights Of The Highway."  I believe with all of my heart that we have as much a responsibility as anyone wearing a badge to keep that highway safe.  If you are trucker and you simply refuse to slow down, at least try to look ahead and allow others to navigate safely.  I know that you are in a hurry and your load is worth more than the human life you are sharing the highway with each day.  The thing is, the rest of us do not feel that way and would really like it if our loved ones made it home to us once again.  

Drive safe folks, drive sane

God Bless America

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYtX2UrcMho

How Far Will They Go?

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 5/14/13 How Far Will They Go

Allen Smith as many of you know does an awesome Blog Talk Radio show on Thursday nights that in my opinion rates right up there at the top with the rest of the big names in the trucking radio show world.  A few days ago, a interview with Samuel Burlum about his three part series "The War On Trucking." Mr Burlum on his own account has many distinguishing aspects to his career and I highly recommend that one takes the time to not only listing to Allen's interview on this subject, but that you would also seek out and read all three articles in his three part series by Mr. Burlum himself.

 

Having listened to the show and then read all three articles myself.  I found this war on trucking something that I could relate to as I am living out every word of it in real life as we speak.  I wondered how I might find myself getting involved more deeply into this subject.  How can we as not only truckers but also Americans get involved and turn this thing around.  I have known for some time now and many may remember me saying, to save the trucking industry, one must first save our country from the dangerous path that we find ourselves taking. 

 

What I did not know was just how far our government is willing to go to achieve their goals in shutting down the things that the new politically correct atmosphere we find ourselves in no longer wishes us to have.  To find the answer to this question all I had to do is simply type the following into my search engine. Let me warn you, be prepared to be sickened by the results.  1:12-cv-1066

 

What you will find here is a law suit against the American  Environment Protection Agency, known as the EPA, under the Obama administration,  performing human experimentation in an attempt as I understand it to go after industry, including trucking as you might have guessed, over diesel exhaust emissions particulates known as PM2.5. 

 

A quick rundown of the allegations include how the experiment was set up and run.  A truck, placed outside of a building piping in its exhaust fumes mixed with additional air into a gas chamber inside.  Here a clear plastic pipe, secured to a live human test subject who then for two hours would breathe in PM2.5 at levels 21 times or more what the EPA itself says is a safe rate for humans.  The test subjects themselves according to the complaint were never properly told this fact.  The EPA reportedly has actual pictures of the gas chambers complete with humans inside.

 

Other allegations include the use of unhealthy test subjects.  Subjects included the elderly and people with asthma, high blood pressure, or such things as metabolic syndrome.  As you might have guessed, several subjects ended up in the hospital due to complications resulting from their poor health mixed with the outcome of the test. Breathing PM2.5 is known to dramatically reduce one's life span.  I could go on, but what would be the point? 

 

Anyone knowing history knows what happened to Jews by Hitler in WWII.  You can find the exact same method used at several of the death camps.  The people involved with that, hunted down.  Many then convicted of war crimes.  A horrible, horrible chapter in human history yet in today's world, to prove a point, to destroy not only the trucking industry, but also America itself, our own government under the Obama administration sinks to the level of the lowest point in recent human history.

 

I will say it again folks, to save our industries, our lively hoods, we must first save not only America, but also all of our countries.  It is time to take our world back.  Get involved.

 

God Bless America

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Of Kittens And Lizards

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 5/14/13 Of Kittens and Lizards

 "Oh how cute" I was thinking to myself as I watched a video sent to me by a friend on Face Book. I find myself watching as a little kitten about six weeks old exploring for its first time a couple of Bearded Dragons out for a walk around the house. One of the two Beardies moves ahead and the kitten follows close behind forgetting all about the second dragon that is now behind the kitten. You know what happens next, the dragon left behind decides to catch up to the off guard kitten and the kitten freaks. I laugh my butt off as the kitten jumps up in the air, lands on its feet and proceeds to do a spin out on the slick hard wood floor to get away from the dragon that scared it. In the background, you can hear the kids just giggling up a storm at all the action. A real feel good video for sure that is fun to watch and sure to leave a smile on your face.

 

 Smile I did as I shared the video out amongst my friends in the Bearded Dragon world.  It took about two seconds for that smile to come off my face as I was informed what a beast I was for posting such a video.  Did I not realize the dangers of letting a cat and a Bearded Dragon near each other?  Did I not realize the consequences of such a meeting?  Why was I promoting such activities as this?  Children all over the world would copy what they had seen.  Bearded Dragons disfigured or killed by the thousands.  All due as you can guess by my posting a funny video.  Me, loved moments before, then what a crud I had become in the time span of about two seconds.

 

 I see several things form all of what happened today.  First is the fact that Bearded Dragon lovers come in second to no other group when it comes to loving and caring for their Beardies.  Not only do they watch out for their own pets, but they also watch out for Beardies all over the world as if they were their own.  This speaks highly of them for sure.  The thing I guess that gets me about that is in their over zealousness to protect Beardies, they sometimes forget the best way to get the wanted results is by using a little bit of honey.  I guess this goes for many other groups also. My point being is instead of alienating someone; take a moment to try to educate them in a respectful manner.  This way you have a better chance of the Beardie in question actually getting the help it needs instead of finding yourself in a battle with a person who no longer has any respect for you or your well-informed information.

 

 As for the funny video itself, pet owners worldwide often keep more than one type of animal on the same premises, a practice that is not soon to stop any time soon.  I myself let my Beardie Sammy run loose in a room with my two cats Peanut and Stinker allowed full access to the room.  Just like our children though, we as parents need to be responsible parents and not only teach our children properly, but we must also responsibly look over them to make sure they are behaving as they are supposed to behave with each other at all times.

 

 The way I do this is by letting them know each other.  I supervise as they grow up together and learn what each other is all about.  I do this because I believe that for a child or an animal, if you teach them about things they are curious about in your presence, then in your absence, they are not so apt to do the wrong thing while you are gone.  Others I am sure will have their own views on this.  After all, how many billions of humans are in this world?  Thinking one or two of us have different opinions on any giving subject.

 

 Point is, sure you can look at a funny pet video and find it funny.  However, as a pet owner, it is your responsibility to watch over your pet and care for it just as it was your own child.  This means that not only do you closely supervise them when they are together, but you also ensure without a doubt that when you are away, that they are contained in such a manner that they cannot possibly encounter each other and remain safe until your return.

 

 Ok, Ok, end of rant LOL.  We all love our pets especially us truckers who spend thousands upon thousands of empty hours and miles on the open road living with them in the small confined space know as the cab of a truck.  So for me I will ask that before you cut off a truck not caring for the driver, at least think about our pets, mine being my Bearded Dragon Sammy.  I might not be worth a darn to you but for me, Sammy means the world.  Let us all try to keep not only her, but also the rest of us safe out on that highway.

 

God Bless America

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Thirty Six Hundred

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 5/12/13 Thirty Six Hundred

I think today, something from an old time trucker to help the new people to the trucking industry.  We all had to start somewhere, it takes time to understand all the little bits, and the pieces that make the big picture work. Therefore, I think from now on I will entertain some questions from the newbie's of the trucking industry and maybe with a little help from my friends, we can help answer some questions and make life on the road a little easier and safer for all of us.  So if you have a question, feel free to jump in and ask.

 

Today the question of speed came up for me, just how fast are you really doing as you travel down the road.  As our trucks age in daily operations, wear and tear on the equipment changes the dynamics of the truck to the point that the speedometer no longer registers correctly.  New tires with deep tread become old and worn out.  Changed tires sizes as well as rear ends and transmission all have their effects.  My truck with well over a million miles on it, worn to the point that the original set up has just become loose and out of adjustment.  All these things are normal wear and tear for a truck.  So how do you really know your exact speed so that you stay away from those unwanted speeding tickets?

 

The answer is just plain old simple math using the base number of thirty-six hundred.  First, always make sure you are not in traffic and have lots of room between you and other drivers when you do this.  Remember, even if you think you are the best driver in the world, the person next to you might just be the worst.  We do not want any mishaps while we figure this out.

 

OK, so here is how it works.  Using a safe method to count seconds like a fixed timepiece on your dash, you count the seconds it takes to travel from one mile post to the next.  Then you simply divide the number thirty six hundred by the number of seconds it took you to travel that mile.  So for an example, sixty seconds of travel time divided into thirty six hundred gives you a speed of sixty miles an hour. Fifty-one seconds comes out to seventy miles an hour.

 

After you get your accurate speed, just compare it to your speedometer and you will know exactly how far off your equipment is.  By knowing this, you can now keep your speed where it needs to be so you will be both safe and legal and hopefully you will not be getting any more of those nasty speeding tickets.

 

 

God Bless America

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Not One Of Us

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 5/6/13 Not One Of Us

There are groups and sometimes just a person out there that demand you think as they think, do as they say, and spout what they tell you to spout.  In addition, if you decide as a free American to walk a different path, one of your own choosing; then you are no longer one of them.  How racist, bigoted or downright uneducated can folks that think like this be in today's world?  Yet, today, I look at a news article and find just that, another story of proclaiming that a person cannot be one of us if that is their view on the subject.  A view that the powers that be have decided should be their view.  Each time I hear this, not always does it seem to be coming from the liberal side of the political house, but it makes me sick to my stomach as well.

 

I have lived this myself many times over in my quest for truckers to be able to run safe and legal without reprisal.  Many viewed my actions as against the trucking industry as a whole when in fact I was working for the betterment of the industry itself.  Called everything but a truck driver many times over and to mention the fact that I spoke with a cop or a government official about trucking issues on my own, well that would send some plum into orbit.  Still, to this day, I will find from time to time a person that will look at me with complete disgust.  Nonetheless, I am and always will be a proud truck driver no matter what people may say that I am.  

 

To sum this all up and attempt to keep this short, this is America.  For those that do not understand our Constitution, let me try to explain it to you.  We absolutely have a right to our own opinions without reprisal from you.  Also and let us be clear on this point, it is our civic duty to educate ourselves on the issues, look you in the face, and explain to you what a moron you are for telling me that I either think like you tell me to think on the issue or I no longer belong to the group.

 

I do not care the word put in front of the word American; it makes no difference to me.  What I do care about is that we are all Americans and that we all have the right to our own political views without being told we are not of you.  The last group I will ever be part of is one that makes me a slave to their mentality. 

 

Go forth people and be free.  Never let anyone tell you who are what you are.  Stand proud in your quest to be your own person, to find your own path, to be a free American. Should you find yourself outside of a group that no longer wishes your presence, just turn around.  Behind you stands the land known as America.  Somewhere there you will find the freedom to be your own person that you so richly deserve to. Look a little deeper and soon you will find many others walking the same path as you. Trust me, you are not alone in your quest.

God Bless America

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Are You The Perfect Trucker?

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 4/25/13 Are You the Perfect Trucker?

The perfect truck driver, does one exist? For some they believe that they do, that maybe even they are themselves a perfect truck driver.  For others it will never happen that no one could possibly run completely safe and legal one hundred percent of the time.  I know I have been in many conversations where I say I run safe and legal only to find myself being scoffed and ridiculed just for making such a statement. 

 

What is the true definition of a safe and legal truck driver?  Does anyone really know?  I am always saying that about twenty years ago there was nineteen feet of shelf space just on all the regulations to drive a truck on the federal level.  Of course, each state, county, and city has its own thoughts on the matter.  Toss in the EPA with their opinion on the matter then adding each individual's interpretation of those rules and regulations and the true definition of a safe and legal driver becomes something that not even a God could accomplish.

 

Defining a safe and legal driver under such scrutiny is near impossible to do, but it can be done with consideration.  First, we have to realize that we do not live in a perfect world.  Cookie cutter regulations may look great on paper, but out in the real world a driver often finds himself or herself choosing between playing it safe and saving a life, or following the rules and taking a life. Depending on the person looking in and their interpretation of the event, this driver could be called a renegade just as quick as they would be called a hero.  Often I find myself doing the "safe" thing, yet breaking a rule to keep someone alive.  This is because I have chosen life for those I share the highway with over worrying about a ticket.  Does this make me a safe driver?  Perhaps I am the renegade, the answer depends on your interpretation?

 

No driver will ever be one hundred percent considered safe and legal by everyone as long as this world is not perfect.  We will always find ourselves facing situations that make it impossible to do the exact right thing that will please everybody at the same time. In my opinion to consider yourself safe and legal one has to exercise a thought process, let us say a mentality or a life style that leads us up the path of being as safe and legal as we possibly can.  We do this even though we understand the world is not perfect and that we are but human. Then when we find ourselves falling or being forced from this path because life has left us no other choice we know what to do.  We pick ourselves up, we dust ourselves off, and we go right back to being that safe and legal truck driver as we humanly can be depending as I said before, how the person looking at us at this moment sees it.  

 

In our hearts though, we know one thing that is very important to ourselves.  We know that our every waken moment spent behind that wheel is spent being as safe and running as legal as we can.  Because quite simply, we are who we are, safe and legal truckers and no one should ever be able to take that away from us.  Why would they even try?

 

God Bless America

Drive Safe Drive Sane

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Snitch

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 4/21/13 Snitch

Is that what I am, a snitch that is? Some might call me that I guess as I was called this today by a trucker as he caught me snapping pictures of him two feet of the tail of a car at highway speeds. After that he went on to call me all sorts of nice things. What amazed me most here is the fact that at those speeds and that close to a car full of people, why was he looking out his passenger window at me instead of keeping an eye on the only part of the car in front of him that he could see, the top of it.

 

As usual when I see this going on, I ask the driver to please back off before he kills someone. Some do and others like today take it to a third grade level.  His choice I think to myself as he tells me his company will not fire him and actually rants off his truck and company phone number for all to hear over the CB radio. Then actually dares me to make the call and laughs as he tells me that I will just get laughed at. Then of course the usual next, I am to mind my own business and to drive my own truck.

 

 You see though, this is my business and yours to as a safe and legal trucker like most of us are in today's world. When things go wrong in this type of situation, the ramifications fall to every trucker in the nation. First, another killer truck story hits the newsstands and then politicians climb up on their stumps and what comes out of all that is the drivers and decent companies left out on the road now have to deal with the new regulations designed to stop killer truckers. Then of course we also have to deal with the loss of respect from those that we share the highway with. Our jobs as safe and legal truckers is to protect the traveling public as we share the highway with them, not shove them down the road for whatever reason. So you see, when one acts in an unprofessional manner, we all pay. Even if it is just at a company level, we all pay.

 

As for me being that snitch, sure, why not. And let's not forget all the threats of kicking my butt and the occasional death threats I receive from time to time. The thing is that I remember a time when I said nothing one day. I watched as an eighteen wheeler pushed a car through a construction zone. To this day I can remember the sights and sounds as the world went wrong and that truck ended up shoving not one, but two cars down that highway. To this day I can see clearly in my mind the smoke and debris and the bodies. And to this day I wake up at night and can still hear the scream of that little girl as she turned and seen what was left of her mother laying there half way under what used to be a minivan now nothing more than a twisted pile of metal residing under the front end of a truck. A driver by the way that now calls prison home.

 

I made a promise that day to that little girl and myself and a promise I plan to keep. That promise being to do just one more thing to help stop the needless deaths out on the highway. Each and every day I spend behind the wheel of my truck I try my best to keep that promise. If that makes me a snitch or something worse, so be it.

 

As for today's episode, well, off the pictures go with a letter to the company. Of course, copies will go to the proper authorities. One to the state the event took place in and a second to the state the trucking company resides in. Sure the company might laugh at me. But thinking about the proper authorities, well, we will see if they do any laughing as they knock on the door and ask what has become of this so called trucker they hired that likes to shove people down the road with a big truck with their name on the side of it. Judging from past experience, any laughing comes to a very quick stop right about here.

 

God Bless America 

 Drive Safe, Drive Sane

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