Know your limits

After reading the article “HOS Conflicts” in the December 2005 issue, I have a couple of comments.

First, let me say that I have begun my trucking career only this past October, but I have admired the men and women who drive rigs since I was 7 and could dream of doing nothing but driving.

I believe if those with regular licenses were held to the same safety levels as truck drivers, this would help in accident reduction in general. Watching the way four-wheelers go on the interstates and two-lane blacktop make me sick. And to think I had those same bad habits a few months ago.

Changing the hours of service will only work for those who actually follow them. There will be those who find a way around them. Should those drivers who refrain from driving fatigued and are extremely safe (or at least as safe as they are trained) suffer for the actions of others? Would a four-wheeler who falls asleep at the wheel have an effect on every single other four-wheeler driver on our roads?

Might I also point out that if the trucks ever stop moving in this country, the entire country stops as well? Where would these individuals who want stricter regulations go to buy their products? Empty shelves, restaurants with closed doors and malls suddenly eerily quiet.

Thank the truckers who follow the safety and know their limits before they reach them. Watch your own driving, and see how many bad habits (tailgating, speeding, eating, drinking while driving) you have. We are human, too. Unfortunately, accidents happen.
Anthony J. Reesh Sr.
Clover, S.C.


Don’t Tell Us Who to Hire
Who do lumpers work for? Lumpers are the employees of whoever pays them. Can warehouses tell you who you can and can’t hire as your employee? No. Can warehouses tell you, “Hire our lumpers or unload your trailer yourself”? No. In-house lumpers charge outrageous prices. Although trucklines bill the lumper charges back to the shippers, it can take time to get this out-of-pocket expense reimbursed.
Frank Thompson
Thornton, Colo.


Help Needed
Now an old lady, back in the early ’70s I was co-driver with my husband (back when women were just getting into trucking) for 10 years. I did my tour of duty on the road, United States and Canada, but now I need a favor.

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I live in Florida, and I need to get some large heavy boxes to South Dakota. It is fabric, blankets, yarn, etc. to be used to make warm clothing and bedding for the Native American Lakota Sioux tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

I am going on 80, widowed and live on Social Security only, not to mention the cost of medicines, leaving nothing for the postage. With the need up there it would be a crying shame to let all this sit here and rot. It would only end up in the trash when I die, though it is in mint condition, just waiting for someone to put it to good use.

So I’m making an appeal not for someone to volunteer to take it up there, but perhaps a relay