Goodaye all. It has been an interesting week. Off to an unusual late start on a Tuesday, to little ol” Sydney town for a visit to a DC, but with a bit of time before my slot, got the Mobileye system in the truck finally sorted and working. It may well have saved me the next day, pulling away with a car, then of course looking for other traffic and the car stopped. The Mobileye yelped, but I would hope I still would have stopped anyway.
There are times technology can help as above, even now getting this to you with a dongle from Moranbah in Queensland, yet we all want our skills recognised. Would you say you do recognise the skills of an interstate truckie? Have you ever seen this?
“When God Made Truck Drivers”¬
Author Unknown
When the Lord was creating Truck Drivers, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one?’ And the Lord said, “Have you read the spec on this order?” “A truck driver has to be able to drive 10 12 or more hours per day, through any type of weather, on any type of road, know the highway traffic laws of 6 states and 2 territories, he has to be ready and able to unload 40 tonnes of cargo after driving thru the night, sleep in areas of cities and towns that the police refuse to patrol.”
He has to be able to live in his truck 24 hours a day 7 days a week for weeks on end, offer first aid and motorist assistance to his fellow travellers, meet just in time schedules, and still maintain an even and controlled composure when all around him appear to have gone mad.” “He has to be in top physical condition at all times, running on black coffee and half eaten meals; he has to have six pairs of hands.” The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.’ It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the Lord, It’s the three pairs of eyes a driver has to have.”
“That’s on the standard model?” asked the angel. The Lord nodded. “One pair that sees the herd of cattle in the scrub 3 miles away” “Another pair here in the side of his head for the blind spots that motorists love to hide in; and another pair of eyes here in front that can look reassuringly at the bleeding victim of a drunk driver that crashed into his FUPS bumper at 110 kph and say, ‘You’ll be all right ma’am, when he knows it isn’t so.” “Lord,” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “rest and work on this tomorrow.”
“I can’t,” said the Lord, ‘I already have a model that can drive 1000 kilometres a day, without incident and can raise a family of five without ever seeing them, on one dollar a kilometre.” The angel circled the model of the truck driver very slowly “Can it think?” she asked. “You bet,” said the Lord. “It can tell you the elements of every HAZMAT load invented; recite Australian Road rules and regs for each state in its sleep; deliver, pickup, be a father, offer timely advice to strangers, search for missing children, defend a woman’s or children’s rights, get 8 hours of good rest on the street and raise a family of Law respecting citizens, without ever going home… and still it keeps its sense of humour”.
“This driver also has phenomenal personal control. He can deal with delivery and pickup areas created from scenes painted in hell, coax a loader to actually work for his money, comfort an accident victim’s family, and then read in the daily paper how truck drivers are nothing more than killers on wheels and have no respect for the rights of others while using the nations highways, which are mostly paid for by truck taxes.”
Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the driver. “There’s a leak.” she pronounced. ‘I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model.” “That’s not a leak,” said the lord, ‘It’s a tear.” “What’s the tear for?” asked the angel, It’s for bottled up emotions, for fallen comrades, for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the flag, for justice, for the family without its father. “You’re a genius,” said the angel. The Lord looked sombre. ‘I didn’t put it there.”
I found this on the notice board at the Boggabilla truckstop some years ago and asked for a copy. I will happily admit I have Australianised it a bit without I hope changing the context. Yes it might be a bit over the top, but much of it is true in what we do.
We work on roads that are not all highways, we share them with you, many of whom have not been taught to share them with us, we carry freight worth millions in total or for one load and we live in our trucks and on the road. Would you do it and if someone doesn’t, how will you eat, where will you live and how will you run a business?
Do you honestly recognise most truckies are professional freight relocation engineers, or do you think I am full of it. Let me know your views. Safe Travelling, Rod Hannifey.
TRUCKRIGHT 