Editorial: After Spineless Acts, Trucking Shows Its Backbone

The terrible sights that our sometimes too-efficient communications system brought into our living rooms and offices last week, and that are now burned into our memories, have affected all of us.

The killing of thousands of innocent people — people whose only “crime” was to be in the right place at the wrong time — has given many of us pause to reflect on the state of the world, and of our lives.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of the tragedy was how many New York City fire fighters, police officers and other aid workers were killed because of their dedication. These rescue workers run into burning buildings and other frightening situations while the rest of us flee.

This time, even their best efforts weren’t enough, when the massi

e twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, and hundreds of rescue workers were buried under the mountain of rubble.

By week’s end, the nation’s recovery had begun, even before the victims were buried. We hope we emerge from this tragedy as a stronger nation, one united in its understanding that the freedoms that we hold so dearly sometimes allow ruthless and dishonorable criminals the opportunity to harm us. Together, we can overcome the terrorists of the world; together, we can build a better world.

One small ray of sunshine during some of the nation’s darkest days was the performance of the trucking industry. As the nation grieved, and as the airfreight and passenger transportation industry ground to a halt, America’s truck fleets kept on rolling.

Except over those roads that law enforcement and rescue personnel closed, trucking operations were close to normal, even in the Northeast and around Washington. Trucks kept grocery shelves stocked and the wheels of commerce moving, even as the rest of us had our eyes glued to our television screens and computer monitors.

Trucks played a pivotal role by moving crucial search-and-rescue supplies and material into the disaster scenes. And, sadly, trucks also delivered things such as ice and body bags that were necessary parts of the tragedy’s aftermath.

Without the nation’s truck fleets; without their successful push in past years for rules allowing them to move freight more efficiently; and without the nation’s highway network, these terrorist acts could have brought economic activity to a halt in many parts of the country. At most, they have temporarily slowed things down, but trucks kept our system operating in the past week.

Trucking once again proved that it is the backbone of the nation’s economy.

This story appears in the Sept. 17 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.