A little gratitude here?

It’s been nearly five years since all hell broke loose and panic buying emptied the shelves everywhere. In some ways it feels like that was only a few months ago, and in other ways it feels like decades have gone by.

What I remember most about those early days of the pandemic that shut down life as we knew it is how truckers were hailed as heroes. You were society’s saviors, delivering that precious toilet paper that couldn’t be found even on the black market.

Lawmakers, mainstream news outlets, you name it – they all were singing the praises of the fearless truckers who were literally delivering the general public from a hell of their own making.

We were able to use those warm fuzzies to talk about problems truckers face on a daily basis. Things like the truck parking shortage, the lack of restroom access, the overtime exemption (plus the subsequent exploitation of company drivers) and the lack of broker transparency – to name just a few – finally became topics on the Beltway.

Thankfully, those topics didn’t fall off the radar as fast as people fell back into their old habits of vilifying truckers. We have champions in Washington, D.C., who are still fighting to right some of those wrongs.

But then there is the push to eliminate truck drivers altogether. Talk about a kick in the pants.

“Thanks a lot for staring down a global pandemic and getting the job done, but we’re going to go a different direction here, and you’re not needed.”

That’s bad enough. But believe me, there’s plenty more bad when it comes to autonomous trucks. We break down the efforts to curb drivers starting on Page 14.

We know what the motivation is, but it doesn’t change the sting that we all feel when the topic comes up. Adding insult to injury is a study being conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It has largely flown under the radar everywhere in the media, except here.

Senior Editor Mark Schremmer is one of the nicest, most mild-mannered humans I know. I say this because when he found out about this study, he used “mean words.” He was fired up. It’s not at all uncommon for me to storm into the newsroom, basically yelling, “Oh my god, y’all!” But for Schremmer to filth flarn while stomping around – that gets your attention.

I won’t steal too much of his thunder, but he’s deservedly upset with a study looking into whether safety devices warning of a disabled truck are necessary. This study was prompted by a request from autonomous truck makers to be exempt from putting out warning triangles when one of their giant computer-driven trucks breaks down.

Uhhhh, excuse us. You’ve had the human truckers out there on the highways playing Frogger with distracted drivers to put out those triangles. Now that a robo truck is in the picture, there’s a study looking into how necessary this reg is? Wow. OK. Read Schremmer’s rant on Page 13.

It’s about time truckers get a little bit of gratitude from the agency and lawmakers alike. You all are the top priority here at OOIDA and Land Line. It’s been that way since the beginning of OOIDA in 1973 and of Land Line in 1975.

OOIDA President Todd Spencer was a trucker and helped with the infant Association as much as he could while out on the road. He started taking photos for the start-up magazine in 1975.

He eventually came off the road to work for OOIDA and Land Line full-time. And he believed in their mission so much that he made a huge investment straight away – one that took Land Line from being what amounted to a newsletter to a full-blown magazine. Staff Writer SJ Munoz has that story on Page 46. It’s a fun one we like to tell.

As we celebrate Land Line’s 50th anniversary this year, we’ve never been more thankful for all of you. You’ll never have to beg for a bit of gratitude from us. You keep on truckin’, and we’ll all keep fighting. One way or another, little by little, we’ll get you the respect you deserve. LL