Speakout

Household goods routing often outdated

Household goods miles route truckers on roads that are not safe for today’s trucks and longer trailers.

Better routes may exist now, but older ones are still used and the driver paid as such. An example is Atlanta to Asheville, N.C. The HHG miles route you up U.S. Highway 25 out of Greenville, S.C., to Interstate 26 in Hendersonville, N.C. The more efficient route is to stay on I-85 to I-26 in Spartanburg, S.C., and then go north.

Highway 25 is a narrow, winding two-lane road and is treacherous. A total of 34 miles is lost on that route, but to the owner-operator, the loss is more significant.

If we want our roads safer, then we should actually do something to make them that way instead of wasting millions of dollars on frivolous studies that are meant only to please a special interest group.

DOUG NORTON | Owner, Norton Transport | Augusta, Ga.

“If there’s nothing good on, I sing to myself.”

— Ed Manninga, 71, in the Park Rapids Enterprise (Minn.) newspaper, about listening to the radio while logging 1.1 million accident-free miles with R.D. Offutt Co.

Some truck stops need more security

In August, my husband parked at the back of a Nevada truck stop because all the front parking was filled. That stop had no camera in back, no security and no lights in the parking lot.

After my husband had gone inside and was returning to his truck, two men pulled him from his truck door and held a gun to his head and a knife to his back. They took all of his money, and he suffered a mild concussion.

Large truck stop chains, like the one where my husband stopped, profit greatly from truckers’ fuel purchases. The least they could do is provide adequate security to thwart criminals.

DEBRA WELLS

Wells Expediting Services

Rockford, Ill.

SHARE WITH OVERDRIVE

E-mail your letter to the editor to Lucinda Coulter at LCoulter@rrpub.com or mail it to Overdrive, P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403.

What do you think of the federal proposal to ban all cell phone use while driving except in emergencies?

“I think it’s pretty good. I see a lot of young people out there today going down the road talking on the phone instead of using hands-free.”

JOHN AERICKO

Sun Belt Transport company driver | Woodville, Ala.

“I agree with that because I’ve seen some that really don’t know what they’re doing. It’s too dangerous.”

CLIFF MATHEWS

Coastal Carriers | St. Louis

“II need to use my phone for GPS. If they’re banned in trucks, they should be banned in cars, too.”

ANTHONY HOWARD

J&G Global Transport company driver | Houston

“Just driving and using a cell phone — you shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It’s distracting.”

ANDY GARDEA

EWO Transport company driver

El Paso, Texas

“I think it should be banned unless you have a hands-free set. It distracts you.”

RAYMOND SANIMOCENCIO

Lease-purchase owner-operator for PGT Trucking | New York

CLARIFICATION: Owner-operator Terry Kennedy, leased to N-Motion, says his response in the October SpeakOut to a question about driver demand and changing carriers should have included: “I’m very happy where I’m at, home weekly and making good money.”