Top: Trucks at a local truck stop. Bottom: Horses pulling freight wagons on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Unless teleportation of physical matter becomes a thing, no matter how advanced digital technology and AI become, we will always need some means of moving goods and other freight from here to there. For about 75 percent of the nation’s goods, that requires trucks and truck drivers. It’s nearly 100 percent for food and perishables.
Although it might be difficult to appreciate 18 wheelers roaring along just a few feet from your vehicle on the freeway, truck drivers still deserve some positive feedback. This is supposed to happen this week, Sept. 13-19, with National Truck Drivers Appreciation Week, launched by the American Trucking Associations in 1988.
Most everyone knows that, before he became a rock ‘n roll music superstar, Elvis Presley was a truck driver. A number of celebrities sat behind the wheel before they gained entertainment fame: James Cameron, Liam Neeson, Sean Connery, Chevy Chase, Charles Bronson, Jason Aldean, and Richard Pryor.
Except for the eventual fame part, I was among them in my twenties, behind the wheel of a truck, that is. For about six years I drove single-axle truck pulling a 30-foot trailer, mostly in the North Loop of downtown Minneapolis.
Visiting there today I marvel at the area’s transformation from warehouses and factories to posh condos, fancy shops and restaurants. It’s a bit haunting to be sitting at a restaurant near a former loading dock where decades ago you backed in a trailer and loaded or unloaded freight. Occasionally, I drove an 18-wheeler on metro freeways, and once, doubles, two trailers hooked together that seemed like a train when cornering.
Although not an over-the-road driver, I worked close enough to understand and respect what truck drivers do. There was a sense of brotherhood, which gives real meaning to the name of the main truck driver union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I felt proud to be a union member, never mind the allegations of mob connections. At least the bad guys were on your side.
Of the 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the U.S., and about 2.2 million go over-the-road (OTR). The average age is about 55, and about 10 percent are women. OTR drivers in the U.S. earn between $65,000 and $90,000 per year, with owner-operators a bit more. The lifestyle is challenging, and they don’t get paid enough. Today there is a big demand for truck drivers, as you see in the many ‘drivers wanted’ signs.
The name, Teamsters, is another one of those anachronisms, like AT&T, IBM, or the Salvation Army. We don’t see horses delivering freight anyone (except on Mackinac Island), nor do the latter sell phones, use telegraphs, sell business machines, or use military force to save souls. Still, I appreciate the quaint names and the history they represent. If you are closing in on retirement age, you may recall the 1975 hit song, “Convoy,” by CW McCall. The phrase, Keep on truckin’ was coined in 1968.
(Not) in the driver’s seat
Driverless truck technology seems to be stalling, I hope. It would be disconcerting to pull alongside one of those on the freeway. It’s good to know that testing them so far is limited to the wide-open spaces of Texas, Arizona, and Sun Belt corridors. Unions are pushing back through state laws and lawsuits over job security and safety concerns.
As usual, the current federal government is working to pull back requirements that help to make us safe on the roads. Buried in the so-called BUILD America 250 Act (HR 8870), is the proposed removal of a regulation that currently bans the regular use of driverless trucks.
Along highways you may have seen this: A large truck is parked in the shoulder, stalled for some reason. Placed in a row leading away from the back you see orange triangle warning signs. This is required by law. If a driverless truck stalls, who is going to place the signs? Apparently, Elon Musk hasn’t figured that out yet. I don’t envision a robot jumping out and doing that.
To get around that the Build America 250 Act would allow the use of beacons in driverless trucks to alert other motorists of a disabled truck. With all the fancy computer technology in vehicles today that is technologically possible. But that would only add more confusion among all of the alerts and alarms coming from dashboard consoles today.
U.S. Dept. of Transportation director Sean Duffy, quoted in a Transport Topics news story, claims that with driverless trucks they are “safely unleashing American innovation on our roads.” As with virtually all claims from the current administration, the real truth is opposite. The meaning of the words does not matter; rather, only what they shroud in deceit. Teamster unions are pushing back as they should. (Autonomous trucks prompt pushback as states write rules).
Revved up
Driving a car over long distances can be tiring enough. Driving a large truck for 10 hours at a time, often at night, requires major stamina. At truck stops you see shelves full of stimulant beverages. Thoughts about other stimulants filtered into my second novel, Buffalo Ridge. If a drug can be an antagonist, the underworld of meth played that role in the novel.
My experience one summer during college, driving a restaurant supply truck nights and early mornings, helped create the main character, Tom Otto. Self-employed, overnight he picked up produce at a big city warehouse and delivered it during the day to homes and restaurants. Fighting sleep, he became tempted by access to meth. He stays clean and the story ends with arraignment of the dealers, and some degree of redemption.
In reality, meth remains a major problem today. According to the Minnesota Dept. of Health, meth-involved overdose deaths reached 538 in 2023, a 4% increase from 2022. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, meth accounted for about 8 percent of all positive drug tests.
Today there is rigorous licensing, training, and health testing to ensure safe driving. None of this was required decades ago when I drove a truck. No need to take an exam; you just paid the fee for a Class A license. No health physical. No real training: ‘Here’s the keys, there’s your truck’, except for a repair shop mechanic showing me how to shift through the gears. Union scale wages meant you could support a family, buy a house, with a little left over for toys.
Despite all the revolutionary technological changes over the decades, we still rely on trucks and drivers to safely deliver all the goods and materials that drive the economy and sustain our lives. Remember that the next time you are driving on the freeway, and you glance in the rearview mirror and see one of those big trucks with the huge fangs painted on the front grille. For the vast majority, the drivers are nice guys – and gals – with a tough job.
