And now for something completely different.......

STUPID TRUCKS! I HATE THEM!

ahem, that was not me that said that.

If I had been a brain-ee-ack type of person instead of a lunk headed space-case in my youth, I probably would have been on the intellectuals oh so politically correct bandwagon too.

But God.......

There seems to be some kind of societal disconnect where people expect the stuff they want to be at the store, NOW, but then they give the finger to the truck driver who is battling through traffic, weather and lousy drivers just to get the stuff to the store.

As one who performs this task fairly regularly, I can tell you that there is a huge segment of the population that just doesn't put it together. I once delivered a load of groceries to a grocery store and since it was my last stop of the evening, I decided to do some shopping there. As I was standing in the check out line, a woman was bitterly complaining about the "big monster" that forced her to back up so it could turn. Realizing that it was me who was driving said monster, I politely offered that the groceries she was buying had more than likely come from that very same truck. She glared at me and said NO! I was amazed at her stupidity. I tried to be civil with her and reasoned that the groceries got to the store somehow, it must have been in one of those "monsters" she so obviously hated. She refused to talk to me, turning away and only looking at me with pure hatred in her eyes. I was crushed and perplexed, not able to understand how someone could be so blind to the obvious truth. To paraphrase the words of Jesus, with apologies to Yahwey in advance, "Even if they saw the trailer being unloaded, they still wouldn't believe".

I came up with a great line to use in defense of the trucking industry,

If you don't like big trucks BOYCOTT THEM!!! That'll teach 'em.

Just remember that ambulances and hearses are trucks too, albeit smaller ones. But hey, if your going to do this boycott thing, why stop at the "monsters".

Monsters. For cryin out loud.

Cui bono? Who profits? For some unknown reason, at least to me anyway, the media likes to portray big rigs as monsters. Why? Who's going to benefit from the unnecessary fear that is created? Who could possibly gain from it?

Lawyers, that's who. And an entire bureaucracy of "safety enforcement personnel".

Here's some facts for ya. Heavy trucks make up less than 3% of all of the vehicles on the road. Of that 3%, less than half are tractor trailer type rigs. Most are in town trucks, garbage trucks, utility trucks and the like. Most accidents "involving" big rigs are caused by the car driver, fully 75% on average. The number on accidents that are directly attributed to equipment failures on these big trucks is less than 2%.

OK, let's do some figurin here.

Since there are almost no accidents caused by equipment failures and less than 3% of the vehicles on the road are big trucks, and given that the few accident "involving" big trucks are the truck drivers fault, who benefits from the lie that they are "killer trucks". It's certainly not the general motoring public. The police? Not really because they only enforce the rules. There may be a few extra cops with jobs because of it but its not much.

It's always baffled me. The feminists maybe? They hate the trucking industry because, for the most part, the truck driver is the last un-feminized male out there. We are not big on the gay thing either, in spite of rumors to the contrary. We represent the neanderthals to the PC crowd. Big, burly, all male, testosterone driven dolts who refuse the New World Order agenda.

How about weasley little bow tie wearing government employee's? Maybe they secretly hate us for the same reasons as the lesbia.... oops, I mean feminists. We didn't wimp out. We take control of 70 ton machines and drive all night through all kinds of weather, just to bring home the bacon for mom and the kids. We don't do well in an office environment, I know I don't, and therefore we don't put up with the petty office politics.

Do you think it's a simple job? Maybe for the few "wheel holders" it is. But for the man who owns his own riggin', it's an office on wheels. It's a business first and foremost, with the labor provided by the manager!

Grrrr, now I'm getting wound up here. I'll be off now, out on to the highways of this land to bring the ungrateful their stuff.

Ta ta, drive safe, and happy trails.....