There are very few jobs that scare you and keep you up every night, even after years. It’s one of the parts of my career as truckers we dislike and never want to encounter. I’m talking about accidents; every truck driver has a story or knows someone who has a story. And no matter how experienced or careful you are, the road doesn’t always play fair.
I have been a long haul driver for almost a decade now, logging more miles than I can count through rain, shine, snow, fog, you name it. It’s a routine in my life now. You check your rig, plan your route, and keep your head on a swivel. But all it takes is one moment, one mistake, yours or somebody else’s, for everything to change.
My first real scare was outside Amarillo, Texas. I was doing a full load haul; everything was by the books, but then a car cut me off trying to make an exit they almost missed. I had to slam brakes, tyres screamed, and the trailer behind me was fishtailed. Somehow, by some miracle, everything was under control, and nobody was hurt. I sat in the cab for ten minutes after that incident, hands shaking and the scene replaying in my head over and over; not everybody gets that lucky, but I was the lucky one that day.
I have seen the destruction that has left me stunned for days, right in front of my eyes. I’ve pulled over to help other drivers and called 911 more times than I have ever wanted to. The worst kind of accidents usually happen during bad weather or narrow highways, where one wrong move means a big disaster.
What people don’t realize is how much weight we’re carrying. An 80,000-pound truck doesn’t stop on a dime. We can’t swerve like a car. We don’t have the luxury of quick reflexes when someone’s texting and drifting into our lane. And yet, when accidents happen, the blame often lands on the trucker.
After every near-death experience, there is paperwork, drug tests, incident reports, and so many other formalities before you can drive again. But there’s also a heavy emotional toll: the guilt, the ‘what ifs’, and the burden of responsibility. It’s a weight we carry, not just in our rigs but in our hearts.
But we keep driving, not just for ourselves, but for the goods we deliver and the communities we serve. We also know the risks, and we take our job very seriously. We double-check everything before we make a move and learn from every mistake we have made. And every time we start the engine, we hope that others sharing the road with us understand and acknowledge that we are not machines; we are also human, just like them. We hope for their understanding, their cooperation, and their commitment to making the roads safer for all of us.
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