talk about. It isn’t so much being involved in an accident or even running
over a little kid chasing their ball into the street. We “Professional”
Drivers watch for that, prepare to react to those situations. We do
everything in our power to try and ensure that don’t happen.
No the biggest fear I think most of us have is not getting to go home, ever.
We spend days, even weeks alone. Not exactly the ideal job for a social
butterfly but those of us who do it, and do it well, like this life. We
enjoy the sounds of the tires humming along on the pavement. We prefer the
static of the CB and the hum of a big diesel to the constant barrage of
people talking. We are a peaceful people who like a quiet and peaceful
existence. And as long as you don’t tread on our lifestyle we tend to
mind our own business and keep to ourselves.
But even though we are loners in our own way, we still have family. And we
enjoy our time with that family when we get it. But in the back of our
minds, never to come forward if we can help it, is the fear of never
seeing them again when we walk out the door.
It happens every day, but we don’t really talk about it. Drivers are
killed in bad areas, pass away in their sleep, or just go missing to never
be heard from again until someone stumbles on their body laying in the
woods someplace.
The other day FB and social media everywhere was bombarded with requests
to help locate a missing driver from WI. He was last heard from that
morning heading out of Spokane, WA and spotted by a camera going through
the port in Montana. Almost a week later they found him passed away in his
truck. He was only 66.
Our lifestyle can take years off of our lives if we don’t watch how we
live. It is very easy to become complacent with our exercise and diet.
Drivers become lazy and choose poorly the foods they eat.
Now I don’t know if this is what happened to the driver that went missing,
but they say he appears to have just passed in his sleep. But think about
the fact that it took almost a week to find him. A week his family spent
wondering where he was and if he was okay.
Our lonely job makes it easy for us to just fall off the radar. Now
granted in this day of modern technology it isn’t as likely since we have
GPS systems tracking our every move in many company trucks. But
independents that don’t have these electronic devices can fall out of
touch very easy.
I guess we need to think more about this unfortunate possibility before we
leave our families. Make sure we tell them we love them and let them know
how much they mean to us. In the back of our minds we know every time we
walk out the door could be our last.
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