FEEDBACK – LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I’ve got a bone to pick with all truck lines who advertise in your magazine as well as in the newspaper. All of them seem to have their own line of bull to try to entice the truckers to come to work for them. Why don’t all you truck lines tell the truth of what you’re really like and how many drivers you screwed over the years by literally putting them out of work for something stupid or minor that they did that to you all was a serious offence?
I’m an old-school trucker with millions of miles under my belt and a lot of safety awards too. I drove for a mail contract company hauling on shuttle runs. In 2011, I was pulled over by a highway patrol and ticketed for being within the 300-foot margin of a truck that was ahead of me. I’ve hauled everything from heavy steel coils to light insulation and every load of mail I hauled was really light, so I know how far safe is from following another truck.
Exactly six months later I was passed by a large car “big truck” in the same county, and he got over in front of me and the next thing I saw was highway patrol lights on behind me again. The cop informed me of the 300-foot rule of following another semi and wrote me a warning for the 300-foot rule and then the cop checked my log book I got a ticket for not up to the exact time on my drive line according to his inspection. My company found out about the log book ticket, and one month later they fired me over it, calling it a CDL serious violation. I was just one month away from my third safety award that I would have gotten.
What was really sad to me is that I did a good job. I worked Christmas and New Year’s and all the holidays cause I had to and that’s my so-called thanks for doing a good job.
What I really want to know is, like the olden days, are there any truck lines of today that actually stick up for these drivers when misdemeanors go wrong and keep them employed?
Still looking for work. Thirty-five-year veteran of 18-wheelers over the road.
D. LeMond
