Opinion: To Be Appreciated, We Need to Clean Up Our Act

By Rita Bontz

ndependent Truckers and Drivers Association

Yes, I appreciate truck drivers! If it were not for them, we would all be in trouble. Almost everything we eat, wear or use comes to us by truck. While an item may have been transported by ship or rail at some time during its journey, it’s a truck driver that brings the item to the final destination where we buy it, use it or consume it.

As an avid catalog shopper, I especially appreciate the “little brown truck” that stops by my house at least once a week.

My appreciation of truck drivers dates back to my childhood growing up on the family farm in Macoupin County, Ill. Truckers were an important part of my family’s life. They picked up our grain and livestock to take them to market, and they brought us the feed, fertilizers and equipment we needed. I remember truck drivers as courteous, friendly and always there when someone needed help along the road. And when I moved to Washington, D.C., I married a printer who always wanted to drive a truck. He became one of the best and safest independent truckers on the road.

Much has changed in trucking over the years; not all of it for the better. As we pause to celebrate National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, I’d like to offer my views on how trucking has evolved and offer some suggested changes.

The most noticeable changes have been in the size and power of the cars and trucks on the road and the bad attitude of some of the people behind the wheel of the passenger vehicles and commercial rigs. Truck engines have gotten more powerful, putting an end to truck drivers waving out the window beckoning automobiles to pass them on a hill.

The attitude of some drivers have changed. Fewer drivers will pull over to the side of the road to help a stranded motorist. Cars and trucks are whizzing by too fast for trucks to safely park by the roadside and drivers are under increased pressure to meet delivery deadlines.

The tight deadlines are a byproduct of the deregulation of trucking in the early 1980s, which in my view launched the industry on a road filled with problems and looming disasters. While some changes were needed, some things got out of hand. People who could read a balance sheet but who didn’t “have a clue” about running a trucking company began entering the industry. This, as well as revised rate structuring, created a competitive marketplace that has dropped freight rates to a point where they may affect safety. Carriers are pressured to offer ever-lower rates and ever-faster delivery schedules. That pressure is passed on to dispatchers and drivers.

Trucking is a complex business. It’s also critically important in our daily lives. And it depends on good, safe, reliable truck drivers. Fortunately, most truck drivers meet those standards; but too many do not. While an unsafe vehicle can be dangerous, it’s an unsafe driver that frightens me most.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that driving behavior has changed drastically in recent years. There’s the presence of arrogance and that can be deadly. It’s bad enough when an automobile driver’s behavior is threatening; but when it is a truck driver, the threat is more severe because the truck can usually inflict more damage.

Truck drivers need to set the “good driving” example. I know it’s frustrating to have some idiot in a car cut in front of their vehicles. But does it make sense to take revenge? I cringe in horror when I think of the trucker who pushed a car for several miles after the driver had cut the trucker off on a Pennsylvania highway. Behavior like that puts a black mark against all truck drivers.

It saddens me that citizen complaints have forced the Maryland State Police to launch a special enforcement effort on the Maryland portion of the Capital Beltway to “Find Aggressive Speeding Trucks.” The MSP press release says: “This is an excellent opportunity for citizens to become involved and report aggressive vehicles by dialing #77.”

The Aug. 3 press release also says troopers from the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division normally assigned to the weigh and inspection stations and the Criminal Apprehension Team will be on roving patrol with new tools to detect, stop and cite aggressive vehicle drivers.

While I am for enforcement of highway safety laws, trucking must take care of its own messes, dealing with drivers and carriers who exercise poor judgment and throw a screen of shame across the industry.

I encourage the different elements of the trucking industry to come together to find ways to solve this growing problem. Before we turn to others, including government, let us take the first step, which is to look at ourselves. It’s an industry problem and let’s do our best to solve it.

Rita Bontz is president of the Independent Truckers and Drivers Association in Baltimore and is married to a retired truck driver.