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TRUCKER'S OPINION * USA - Most truckers are safe drivers
What about the thousands of unfit car and motorcycle drivers on our roads today?
City of Attalla, ALA,USA -The Gadsden Times (Gadsden,AL,), by George L. Honeycutt a Professional trucker -August 16, 2008: -- This is in response to the article written on July 27 about getting unfit truck drivers off the road. What about the thousands of unfit car and motorcycle drivers on our roads today? I have been a professional truck driver for 32 years. I drive for one of the top trucking companies in the United States. I have never had an accident and only one ticket in all the years I have been driving (doing 35 mph in a 25 mph zone)... On the other hand, I have seen more stupidity from the driving public than I ever have from other truck drivers. I cannot count the times I have had a car trying to merge from an exit and they have no intention of yielding. If you go to the left, that driver speeds up to keep you from moving over. If you stay in your lane, you risk a crash in which the trucker will almost always be found at fault and sued for millions. I have gotten many a No. 1 signal with someone’s middle finder for slowing them down. Our trucks will not go above 63 mph to conserve fuel and for the safety of the general public... We are required to have a physical every two years and every year if you are on prescription medicine. Most trucking companies have standards similar to ours. We are required to take drug and alcohol tests randomly throughout the year... Is anyone who drives a car, motorcycle or recreational vehicle required to do this? No! I do not believe all elderly and teenage drivers are dangerous, but driving on the highway with a new driver or an elderly driver or a drunk driver who has not been required to be updated on their driving ability is a very dangerous thing for an 80,000-pound 18-wheeler at 60 mph. It takes 306 feet to stop at 5.5 seconds. Eighteen-wheelers account for only 3 percent of accidents a year in this country, according to the Department of Transportation... I understand that it makes more interesting reading to undermine the trucking industry, but it would have been more professional to tell both sides of the story before printing this article. Do I believe there are bad truck drivers? Yes. But I have seen many more dangerous drivers that were not driving an 18-wheeler... This country could not operate without the trucking industry. Everything you have was more likely than not to have been brought to you by someone in the trucking industry. The roads that are built were built mostly by the taxes paid by the trucking industry. Please give us the courtesy of getting statistics before you print an article...
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posted by Unknown @ 7:23 AM
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