Roses & Razzberries – March/April 2019
ROSES to a letter that appeared in the Pensacola News Journal not long ago, detailing an act of kindness involving a trucker. The letter came from Patricia Edmisten of Pensacola, Fla., and told how she was on a family trip near Naples when she witnessed a trucker stop his truck, get out and give a homeless man some money before shaking his hand and getting back in the truck.
She wrote that “there was something especially touching about the trucker and his gesture – the deliberate stopping of his megasized rig, regardless of the drivers waiting behind him; his agile descent from the truck; the reach for his billfold; and the offering of, not only money, but also his hand, that cemented the link between the recipient and the giver.”
So ROSES to this mystery trucker and ROSES to you, too, Patricia, for not letting a good deed go unrecognized.
ROSES to the Indy Hunger Network for coming up with a solution that deals with both rejected loads and hunger in the state of Indiana. After many conversations with the Indiana Motor Truck Association, the network realized that truckers sometimes got stuck with rejected loads of food that were still good – they either didn’t meet the standards of the company or the company had ordered too much.
So they created the Food Drop program, which allows truckers to divert those rejected loads to food banks across the state. They’ll take anything – frozen, dry or refrigerated – as long as it’s still edible. The program started in 2017 but was expanded to more cities in the state in 2018. So if you find yourself in Indiana with a rejected load, go to IndyFoodDrop.org to find out how you can help.
ROSES to History.com, the website of The History Channel, for an article they ran not long ago detailing how a certain trucking organization came into being. More than that, it was a history lesson (go figure!) in the horrible conditions truckers were dealing with way back in 1973 and how one trucker J.W. “River Rat” Edwards, made a decision that would change trucking forever.
Edwards, in case you didn’t know, started the trucker’s strike that eventually led to the formation of OOIDA. He also became the association’s first president. It’s a tale we know all too well around these parts, but it’s good to see it getting some more mainstream exposure.
RAZZBERRIES to the state of South Carolina for considering the idea of tolling Interstate 95. That in and of itself is bad enough, but the location where the state was considering (as of press time) putting in the tolls would make it virtually impossible for truckers in particular to get around it.
Several lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this year that would charge highway users for access to I-95 at the point where it crosses Lake Marion. Going around the lake would be at best impractical for most truckers, and it’s pretty obvious the location was chosen to target through traffic as opposed to local motorists. And guess who a good chunk of that through traffic would be? Yet another example of yet another state that sees truckers as nothing more than rolling piggy banks.
RAZZBERRIES to Yahoo! News for a story they ran earlier this year with the headline: “Muslim family targeted by ‘threatening’ trucker on the highway.” By using the term “trucker,” the headline implies that it was the driver of a semi doing the threatening. However, the article – as well as the accompanying picture – makes it perfectly clear that the offender in question was driving a pickup truck.
Sadly, this is something we see all too often in mainstream media. So to reporters, editors and media types of all forms, listen up: Trucker has a very specific meaning in the minds of most people. Don’t use it if you don’t mean it.
ROSES to California lawmaker Randy Voepel, R-Santee, for introducing earlier this year a bill that would get rid of the speed differential for cars and trucks within the state. Voepel’s bill would raise speed limits for trucks in rural areas to 65, bringing them in line with smaller vehicles.
We’ve been seeing more and more states in recent years realize the safety hazards that speed differentials create. This is one state level trend – unlike, say, truck-only tolls – that we would like to see more states get behind. LL