Big Time Truckin: True Trucking Stories
Dispatch 7: War Stories

by Kirk Gonnsen

The old time truckers tell me stories of death and accidents. Big-rigs slamming into bridge abutments, jack-knifing into oncoming traffic, flipping over in the median, sliding off on-ramps, and the awesome flammable tanker explosions. But nothing is more common, more devastating than the truck driver who gets maimed or killed just climbing in and out of the metal beast.

I've seen accidents. In fact, I see accidents every time I drive. Trucks are always sliding off the road for one reason or another. Driver error is the most common cause. Pushing through bad weather, driving when you're too tired, road rage, dangerous speeding. But the only time I've been injured is when I was hopping in and out of my rig to adjust the back tires. Luckily I only sprained my ankle. Not like Bob. Bob's been off work for 7 months now.

Bob (not his real name) drove his rig home one night, as he did most weekends. He lives in the rural farmlands north of the Big Smoke and his long driveway had room for truck and trailer, but in order to swing it into position he had to pull onto the left side of the road, facing traffic. This is a normal maneuver for most truckers who have to get their trailers into small-town factory doors.

Bob noticed that his daughter was visiting and her car was blocking the spot he needed to park in. He had to climb out the passenger side because his truck was too close to the ditch. He was tired and frustrated, cursing his daughter's forgetfulness for parking in his way. Luckily, her keys were in the ignition and he quickly moved her car to the other side of the drive. He got out of her car, walked around the back of the trailer and whammo!

Bob's body lifted up and out of his untied boots. He slammed down onto the asphalt, the force shattering his elbow while the momentum continued beating, scraping, breaking and bruising the rest of his body until he lay on the shoulder. The driver of the car that hit Bob ran over and tried to help him. Bob was cursing and swearing as loud as hell. The man left Bob and went to the house. He knocked on the door. A young woman answered. "I just hit somebody," the man said, "he came out of nowhere."

A 1995 Ontario report said truck drivers are the safest group of drivers in the province. Still, 111 accidents occurred that year (that were reported). In the United States the figures are much higher, with some counties reporting two or three hundred truck accidents in their region alone. Death and injury are common on the road. The old timers talk about it all the time.

They warn me to be careful. Their stories remind me of the Vietnam death tolls I grew up listening to on the evening news in the seventies. I know it's bad. I know it sucks, but somehow I don't think it has anything to do with me.