Got To Goes

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 6/28/13 Got To Goes

I am sitting there in my truck the other day, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel once again, as I watch in amazement at the un-safe, un-professional and completely illegal actions of a couple of "got-to-goes" as I call them go around me.  Today, a few minutes ago I look at a picture of the aftermath of a "got-to-go" and the story of the two deaths involved posted by a friend.  As I look at these things, I have to wonder, why is it in today's world that people feel that they never for any reason have to slow down when it is safe to do so?

Before I go on, let me set up the video I have attached at the bottom.  I find myself in a blinding wind and rainstorm having just passed a U-haul that had come to an almost complete stop in the right lane.  Looking to get back into the right lane, I find myself blocked by a car with no headlights that has disappeared from my view or perhaps into my blind spot.  The lane in front of me has a vehicle in it just ahead of the truck in the right lane.  I never pass a truck unless I have enough room to do so completely and given this storm with the wind gust and the erratic speed changes going on, I know riding beside that truck would be a very dangerous thing to do.  Therefore, I wait until a safe option becomes available before either moving to the right or passing the truck.

As the traffic slows down and turns on their flashers trying to keep it safe, the "got-to-goes" behind us decide that they do not have such time for such nonsense.  I find that the car with no headlights has gone from the right lane behind me all the way into the left lane cutting off a speeding truck.  Then that car and truck followed closely by yet another truck both illegally in the third lane decide to pass me.  The trucks are using their flashers so we know that they knew dangerous conditions existed.  As they pass, I slow down and they change lanes back in front of me tailgating the vehicle in front of me and riding beside the truck in the right lane.  They gain exactly one truck length with their un-safe maneuver.

In short, because I was taking the time and leaving enough distance to keep things safe, to keep people alive, the "got-to-goes" behind me felt that they had the right to break the law and put the lives of others in danger so that they would not be just a few seconds behind.  I myself find it hard to understand why it is they feel they have this right.  Our number one job as safe and legal truckers is not to deliver that load on time no matter the cost.  Our job as I see it as truckers is to keep those we share the highway with safe and alive be darned what time that freight finally arrives.

This concept is not new to me.  Running the snow packed roads of Wyoming I found truckers that would pass other vehicles at such high speeds that the passed vehicles found themselves in a complete white out for several minutes at a time.  When I said something about it I was educated real quick that if I could not handle it, I should go sit on the porch with the puppies.  In short, "got-to-goes" do not care who they injure or kill as long as you get out of their way so that they can deliver that freight.  Your life, a family's life, any life has absolutely no meaning to them.  This in my opinion as a safe and legal truck driver means that the "got-to-goes" have got to go.

That is what I believe will start to happen with videos such as the one attached.  As dash cams become more prevalent, the videos will find their way to safety directors and the proper legal authorities and the companies and drivers will find that they will have some explaining to do.  As safe and legal truck drivers, we have a moral responsibility to keep those highways safe.  We can ask nicely for that driver to slow down or we can use the tools that technology has provided us to get those unsafe drivers off the road. 

Just one more thing here, a quick shout out to those outside of the trucking industry.  Safe and legal truckers are out here by the thousands.  We are trying very hard to keep those highways safe not only for us, but especially for you.  We need all the help we can get to keep us safe from those that would do us harm.  So when you hear a killer truck story from the news media or the politicians, know that in any occupation there will always be those that give the rest of us a black eye.  Know that safe and legal drivers do exist and we are out here doing our best to keep you and your family safe and alive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnBaFgG9Caw&feature=youtu.be

God Bless America

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Biscuits Of Shame

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 1/14/14 Biscuits Of Shame

"A couple of those sausage biscuits please" I say to the person behind the counter at the fuel island deli as I grab a drink from the refrigerated case nearby.  Then I step up to pay for my breakfast and the cashier mumbles something about the price of the biscuits.  I just assumed they were at a discount as they sometimes are at different places because they have gotten old.  I thought that was somewhat funny though because it is just after six in the morning.  The cashier goes on to tell me that I am only being charged for my drink and I need to pay for the biscuits at the other end of the counter.  I can hardly hear so I lean in so I can hear better, then step down to the other end and slide a couple of bucks discreetly over the counter between things so no one or the security cameras can see.

As I walk out of the door, I was asking myself what just happened.  Someone just swiped two sausage biscuits and sold them to me.  In short, I just committed a crime.  Certainly, I walked in intending to pay for breakfast; I did not intend to steal anything.  Some person behind the counter took one look at me and decided I was shifty enough to be included in their dirty deeds. Then, before I made it to my truck, I guess I had become very mad about the situation.  I am not a thief, why did I allow that to happen I was asking myself.  I try very hard to live an honest life and in the blink of an eye, I had fallen into the depths of shame.

I filled out my logbook and dialed the number on the fuel receipt.  It was not so much that I wanted to snitch on anyone as it was my need to pay for those biscuits.  I simply did not want that on my conscience.  I explained to the night manager and offered to go inside the main store and pay.  The offer was declined, so I left.  A few hours later the main manager called asking me to tell what happened.  Receipt numbers and times were given and again I offered to pay for the biscuits and again I was told not to worry about them. 

It seems that the problem had been known about but until I spoke up, they had no way of dealing with it.  Now I think they know what to look for on the security tapes and then comparing the receipts to what was put into the bag, they might be able to stop their problem.  When something is stolen from a store like that, honest people pay the price because prices are raised to cover the loss.  Today was just some food, but over the years I have heard stories about tires and other high priced items.  The market for these items will go away when we just refuse to buy things out of the view of the security cameras.

Still though for me, I still have two biscuits that are giving me heartburn.  There they sit heavy on my mind and will stay there until I finally pay for them.  My guess is the next time I do Sunday morning Church Service the price of two sausage biscuits will find its way into the offering plate.  At least this way from my evil deed some good will come.  Of course while I am there, I will ask for forgiveness.  I hope that I have done the right thing today in making that call.  I guess time will tell.

God Bless America

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Books by Jeff Head

Running Legal Blues

Drive Safe

Available at Amazon .com

Angels Looking Over Me

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 7/20/13 Angels Looking Over Me

A little religious talk today if you do not mind.  Nothing to deep, just a few words about what happened to me the other day as I was working on my truck out in the back lot.  Well, I guess if you really think about it, my story goes back years ago to when I first realized that I had someone or something looking over me.  You see, I have noticed that when something holds me up or if I make a decision to not go somewhere, I always find out later that if I had been there, I would have been right in the middle of an accident or something else bad happening.  So I have come to feel that maybe, just maybe, I have Angels looking over me.

It all started when I was about ten years old.  On the night a friend of the family died, I was awakened by a presence at the foot of the bed.  As I woke and my eyes cleared, I could see her standing there as she said to me, "Do not worry, I will be watching over you."  I know, some do not believe in Angels and such things while others do.  As for me, whatever that was that night was very real and very calming.  I simply rolled over and went back to sleep.

As I traveled through my life, many times I have come just so close to catastrophe and always that hold up for whatever reason that kept me safe and out of harm's way.  Then each and every time it happens I like to thank my Angels that watch over me.

The thing that made the other day working on my truck so different, well, so special was my Angels actually yelled at me.  I had set up my air hose to the trailer airline so I could use my air tools. As any driver knows, on the dash are two valves side by side to set or release brakes.  I had inadvertently release the truck brakes instead of the trailer brakes that would have supplied air to my air hose. Then I stepped down out of the cab and turned my back on the truck.

"Jeff, jeff, JEFFF" I heard several female voices yell out to me.  The voices getting louder each time they yelled my name.  I spun around to see my truck starting to roll off.  I jumped up on the steps, reached over the steering wheel and reset the truck parking brakes.  Then I stepped back to the ground and started looking for who had yelled my name.  In a scolding voice, again I heard "JEFFERY" and then female voices chattering as the voices faded away.

As I walked around the truck, out in that back parking lot, not one person anywhere in site.  My radios were off and the closet human to me was at least a football field length away from me.  Yet, there they were, human voices once again protecting me from harm.  My Angels sent from God to watch over me once again.

Well there it is, my own personal religious story.  Whatever you may think of it, I happen to feel very blessed because of it. I always try my best to do that which is right, to live by the teachings in the Bible.  I guess what I am trying to say here is, just feeling very blessed today because I know that I have Angels watching over me.

God Bless America

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Alone In The Dark

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 03/19/14 Alone In The Dark

Five o'clock in the morning and I am up peeking through the curtains over the distance that separate the sleeper berth portion of my truck from the driver's seat and the steering wheel.  Looking over the same two step commute to work that I have been walking for a long time now.  Sammy, my Bearded Dragon to my surprise is up before the sun today.  I flip on his light and toss him a slice of orange and then a few super worms for breakfast.  I should have been gone an hour ago so I just pop my daily meds and vitamins for my breakfast and wash them down with some soda pop flat from the night before.  I draw a line in my logbook as Sammy climbs up into his normal position on the dash.  I flip off his light as I pull out onto the highway and for the next hour and a half, we ride along watching the oncoming headlights come and go in the dark. 

The first leg of the trips ends where we meet the interstate.  From here, it will be a good three hours before there is a decent place to stop so I pull into the truck stop to grab a quick biscuit and something to drink.  As I back into a parking spot, I can tell something is just not right.  You see when you have been driving for as long as I have, driving becomes so natural that until you stop, you really do not understand just how tired you are or in today's case, just how sick you are.  The second I set the brake, I knew something was wrong.

I started to move back onto the bunk but I was so dizzy that I had to hold unto everything to make the trip.  It started slow but within ten minutes, my whole world was on one heck of a merry go round ride.  My mind became cloudy and the ability to think straight became very difficult.  I could think enough though to understand that here I laid in some far off truck stop and no one knew where I was.  I had left my phone up front and my head was not going to let me get back up to get it.  Alone and scared I started thinking.

I thought about my wife and family and prayed that I would be seeing them again soon.  Sammy of course as I worried about him getting to cold and dying being left without someone to watch over him in the cold winter air.  My load of course, how would it be delivered if I was too sick to even get up to make a phone call.  My head just kept spinning faster and faster becoming more confused as time went on.  It is a scary thing laying here in the dark, all alone with no hope of being found until it is too late while the thoughts clouded by the dizziness just keep flowing through your head.

Trucker I am though and as a trucker, I have been through this before.  Three herniated disc in my lower back in so much pain I could hardly breathe let alone move.  I have to get to that phone and I have to put Sammy up so he will stay warm.  When a trucker gets sick or injured and they find themselves alone, secluded from the rest of the world in that tiny world inside of their truck, there is only one person that can save them short of prayer and that is themselves.  I pulled myself up and through doubled vision and a spinning world I managed to put Sammy into his pen and grab my phone and head set before I collapse back unto my bunk.

Now I can just lie here for a moment with my eyes closed.  Gather up the courage to slide the head set on and use voice command to call my wife.  She answers and first thing I say is grab a pen a paper and write this down.  I give her my location and she knows without being told what is going on.  We have been a trucking couple for thirty years now so as she is writing I fill her in.  I make her promise that no matter what, she makes sure Sammy is taken care of.  She protest but I tell her if you want me to take care of me, then make sure Sammy is ok so I do not have to worry about him.  She concedes and then her experience as a truckers wife kicks in.

"Ok Jeff, what do you have in that truck that will help you, think now, you know what you have." However, I cannot think straight.  We talk it out and figure out that the most probable cause of my situation is taking diabetes medication without eating.  I check, but my numbers are fine but we still figure eating something is the thing to do.  My wife, scared as she was starts going over everything we packed in the truck to eat before I left. It is all gone I say, I have been out for a while and it is time to resupply.  She refuses to give up.  "What about the oranges you feed Sammy, does Sammy have any oranges left," she asked.  I reached over, picked up Sammy's orange that I had cut a wedge out of earlier, ripped it in half, and then ate my breakfast.

I have been taken this same mix of meds and vitamins for years but always with something to eat.  I skipped food this morning and that was a big mistake.  In just a matter of seconds, I found myself alone in the dark dazed and confused.  Thanks to Sammy's left over breakfast, modern day technology and the good Lord looking over me I survived once again getting sick out on the road.  However, most of all I want to thank my loving wife for staying cool and calm in the middle of being scared to death about my situation.  I guess her experience over the years dealing with a long haul trucker miles from home comes in handy every now and then.  Thanks Baby for loving and caring for me so much.

Looking back and thinking about how things turned out today, I am glad of one very important thing.  I am extremely glad that Janet thought about Sammy's orange before she thought about Sammy's super worms.  That my dear, was a close one.

Jeff Head

God Bless America

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Books by Jeff Head

Running Legal Blues

Drive Safe

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Suicide By Truck

Today's Thoughts by Jeff Head 3/28/14 Suicide By Truck

 Many times, I have talked about this subject finding myself scoffed at by others. However, it does happen and never is it considered by the FMCSA as a problem for truckers. Never have I seen it listed anywhere as the cause of an accident. You have heard of suicide by cop I am sure. Well, let me introduce you to suicide by truck. I am going to do this by sharing a few stories told to me as I found myself talking about the subject over the last few days. Why I have decided to do it is because as truckers, we need to know and understand what we are seeing on the highway and how best to defend ourselves from being used to end one's life. Also we as truckers need help in dealing with it after the deed is done and we are miles and days in the future but still living the events over and over in our minds

In 1999, in British Columbia Canada, a young man in a Volkswagen made the decision to end his life. He chose suicide by truck and drove head on into a Peterbuilt eighteen-wheeler, the first truck to come along. The husband and wife team left trucking after the accident.

A lady hit a truck head on with her car and survived. Then with the police on site, she ran out in front of another trucker on foot as the officer watched thus completing her task. Another person states; the one part of the Pennsylvania Pike going on in Clark Summit, there's a long bridge that was named suicide bridge. People would go up stop their cars and wait for trucks heading up RT6 and jump off. They installed fencing and other things to stop it now.

On Hwy 30 that runs north and south near St. Helens, Or on 6/14/02. The driver of the '97 Honda Accord crossed the double yellow line into oncoming traffic into the far lane directly into the path of an oncoming semi with a trailer. The driver of the Accord was traveling about 65 mph and according to witnesses and police reports, he turned the wheel into oncoming traffic in an act of suicide. I myself remember a story like this involving a custody battle and two young children sitting in the back seat.

I was following a Perdue truck on Blossburg Mountain on RT 15 in Pennsylvania. A young troubled man who had just been jilted by his girlfriend less that 5 miles, committed suicide by truck right into the Perdue truck while we were talking on the radio of where we were going to stop for a cup of java and a piece of pie.

Enough already, do you not think. Many truckers as the stories above show I am sure not only can tell you their own personal stories but can also tell you the devastating effects that they are left do deal with on their own. Even if the driver is not physically damaged in the accident, living with the fact that someone chose unexpected to use you to end his or her life can be extremely difficult to deal with. The image left in one's mind can cause a driver to walk away from a lucrative career leaving that driver to suffer symptoms known as Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

So one might ask what is being done about all this. The answer is simply nothing. Nothing is being done to train drivers that this even exists or how to recognize when it is happening. Nothing is being done by the FMCSA to distinguish this type of accident and thereby drivers are having their driving records ruined by the intentional act of another. Nothing is being done to help the drivers left with PTSD when they find themselves in this situation. They are left to leave the industry are drive for years dealing with what their minds have in store for them.

The answer to all of this I am not sure of at this time, but I am looking for one. The one thing I do know is maybe it is time to bring this subject into to mix of things. Bring it out into the open so we can start the conversation at least. If we want safer highways then we must address all the issues, no matter how unpleasant they are to deal with

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 God Bless America

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 Books by Jeff Head

 Running Legal Blues

 Drive Safe

 Available on Amazon,com