BE WARY OF TRAFFIC WHEN STOPPING TO GIVE AID TO OTHERS
My owner-operator sons, Steven and Joseph Teems, are truck drivers like their dad and I. Their dad is from the old school, where family taught family members to drive.
My sons were running team on Nov. 14 along I-65 South near Mobile. At about 1 a.m., in heavy fog, Joseph came upon some wrecked cars and pulled over.
As he and Steven got out to help, an SUV going about 70 mph in a 55 mph zone crashed into a stalled car and headed toward them.
Steven was dragged under the car for about 60 feet and became trapped under it as it sank into the mud. Firemen were able to lift the car off my son, but all his ribs were broken on his right side and his shoulder was dislocated and chipped, among other injuries.
The SUV struck Joseph’s face; all the bones were shattered from his jaw to his forehead. He lost his left eye and many teeth. He cannot breathe through his nose. He underwent two surgeries and will undergo more.
My sons’ lives are changed forever, although Joseph is again driving a truck. I would like to warn all truckers to watch more closely when you assist stranded motorists. My sons say this will not stop them from helping people, but they will be more cautious around speeding traffic.
BRENDA TEEMS
Ringgold, Ga.
DRIVER GUARDS CDL AT SHIPPERS AND RECEIVERS
I just finished reading your article on preventing identity theft in the February issue [Dollars & Sense]. It’s a subject I take seriously.
You nearly knocked me unconscious with Todd Spencer’s quote regarding the copying of CDL information: “If somebody’s going to insist, you basically don’t have any bargaining leverage.”
I strongly disagree. I refuse any request to copy CDL information. If I can’t work through the problem on site, I notify dispatch to determine the next best option. Trading my personal information to gain access to pick up or deliver a load of freight is not an option. To do so is the same as signing a Volunteer Victim’s List.
TERRY L. GREEN
Lewes, Del.
SHUTDOWN WOULD TEACH ENVIRONMENTALISTS
The tree huggers in California are at it again. Now it’s the new reefer law. It’s bad enough that they were a strong force in creating stricter emissions standards for the truck engines – of which the price steadily increases every year.
Maybe we should forget about hauling freight into California. I doubt they would starve with all the produce grown there, but maybe it would give them a wake-up call. It will work only if the drivers and owner-operators stick together instead of complaining about the way things are. We could accomplish anything we wanted, within reason.
I’m a 13-year owner-operator, and I say shut the trucks down for a week. I mean stop them dead. We all know that big money controls the politicians.
Maybe a week without the fine things that the elite so badly crave would spur them to change the way they lobby their representatives.
KEN MEREDITH
Butler, Pa.
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