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March 2013
From the Editor’s desk...
PRO-TRUCKER PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINEe MAGAZINE
In an earlier issue I wrote that the Surrey Heritage Society was in negotiations to acquire the antique trucks collection VOLUME 15, ISSUE 2 from the Teamsters Freight Transportation Museum which PUBLISHER/EDITOR was closing. The plan was to move the trucks back to John White Cloverdale BC where they had resided for many years in john.protrucker@shaw.ca the BC Transportation Museum which was closed by the Production/CIRCULATION Provincial Government of the day. Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca It is now official, the nonprofit society is preparing to Jen Grimshaw jen.protrucker@shaw.ca John White open the doors of the new BC Vintage Truck Heritage ADMINISTRATION/Special Centre. The Truck collection is housed in the former City of Surrey Museum events Donna White donna.protrucker@shaw.ca located at 6022 - 176 Street on the S.W. Corner of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds. The BC Vintage Truck collection will be open to the general public on weekADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca ends from 10am - 4pm with no general admission cost but donations will be Jen Grimshaw jen.protrucker@shaw.ca gladly accepted. The truck collection ranges in age from a 1914 FWD to a 1951 Contributing WRITERS Chevrolet service truck that was part of B.C. Telephone Co. Two jewels of the Mel McConaghy • Dave Madill collection are a fully restored 1929 White Tanker truck used by Shell Oil and an Ben Proudley • Ken Davie Ed Murdoch • Frank Cox • Tim Schewe even rarer 1935 Dodge Airflow work in progress that was used by Standard Oil. Colin Black • Mark Whitworth photOGRAPHY Hank Suderman • David Benjatschek Jen Grimshaw HEAD OFFICE Ph: 604-580-2092 Fax: 604-580-2046 Toll Free: 1-800-331-8127 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc.,
The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others. Pro-Trucker Magazine is written and produced in Surrey, B.C., and printed by Coastal Web Press Inc., Langley, B.C.
Publications Mail agreement #40033055 Return Undeliverable Canadian addresses to Circulation Dept. 9693 129th Street. SURREY, B.C. V3T 3G3 Email: jen.protrucker@shaw.ca
Several of the vintage Trucks have already attended special events in 2012. After the Vintage Truck Centre is open, the members are planning to have several of the trucks attend various parades in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley as well as various annual Truck shows like BC Big Rig Weekend. The Surrey Heritage Society is also looking to add new members who have a passion for this wonderful collection. The contact number is (604) 372-4093. On another note - in our last issue we asked our readers to let us know of any trucking events in Western Canada and the following events were sent in: Cache Creek Truck Show - July 27 & 28 at the Recreation Centre, Cache Creek BC. Contact ScottMcKenzie at truckclubs@prograph.ca Rempel Trail Reunion - All past employees of Rempel Trail Transportation are invited to attend a reunion to be held in Saskatoon on Saturday, April 13, 2013. For information contact Ed Pogoda at edpogo@sasktel.net or at 1-306-374-1659. New Book - Gordon Tiessen who spent 35 years at Remple Trail Transportation has published a book with pictures and stories of his time with Remple Trail. For more information go to www.gordontiessen.com or call 250-374-3395. West Coast Tow Show - The ARA is hosting their first full blown Tow Show since 2002. It will be held July 19 & 20 at the Abbotsford Fair Grounds, Abbotsford BC. For information Contact Crystal Fournier @ 604-419-3628.
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LETTERS to the EDITOR
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e Whit John zine
Maga cker u r T Pro
John White agazine Pro-Trucker M
lights in front of him he jumped on the brakes and grabbed the wheel in a panic. Ah yes, happy days, keep up the good work John, tata the noo Colin Black, Scotland Hi John,
Letters to the editor are occasionally edited for After our conversation the other day I thought maybe a note advising your readers of a few stumbling blocks I length, language and objectionable content. Hey there John, I’ve just read the February issue. It was fantastic. Maybe I’m getting older but it seemed I could relate to most of the stories in there. The letter from Irshad Khan about drivers who don’t have the ability or forethought to park neatly in a loading bay has been a bugbear of mine for years. My Irish friend, Frank Cox, and his hatred of beans with everything also strikes a chord, beans are not a breakfast item, and the poor Irish drivers had every right to feel they were being picked on by the authorities. Cops and VOSA would almost ignore every other truck on the road until an Irish truck came along. I don’t think younger drivers can fully understand Ed Murdoch and the state of exhaustion the older drivers got themselves into. My mate Mick did the same as Ed, slumped over the wheel sleeping, he forgot he was parked behind another truck, when he woke up and saw the tail-
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found when applying for my Canada pensions. Never mind that after paying into C.P.P since its inception I found that because of a few low income years I would not receive the full pension. I was some upset when I found out that an immigrant to Canada who had paid the maximum amount for 10 years did receive the full pension. I asked which of us had paid in the most to the C.P.P. but I have never received an answer! I am sure that in my lifetime I have paid much more. Oh well, that is another argument that as a taxpayer I or anyone else will not win. I have certainly found that the process of being approved and applying for C.P.P and Old Age Security are not as easy as advertised. Some people believe that the Old Age Pension is automatic when you reach 65 years old. Not true. You should apply a minimum of 6 months to a year in advance for both the O.A.S and C.P.P. You will probably do this online and you will be given an access number that allows you to track the applications and future payments.
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The system is pretty simple if you have used a computer at anytime. Children or grandchildren can be helpful if you have any trouble. Remember you must be able to prove you have resided in Canada for at least 10 years. This also applies to your spouse as it is a family application even if only you are applying. I received my approval but Yvonne, my wife of 44 years, was subject to refusal as she had no immigration papers proving when she had arrived in Canada. Yvonne was 2 years old when she came into Canada from England on her mother’s passport. Her Mother’s Landed Immigrant paperwork was inclusive of Yvonne but had to be surrendered to the Government when she became a Canadian citizen. This is where the paper trail of my wife’s immigration ended. Despite having proof of the airline, flight number, time, date and port of entry, it still wasn’t enough. Please bear in mind my wife was not applying for anything, it is just part of the process so the Government could track our joint income. This paper to track our joint income was the stumbling block. It is also a mandatory part of the paperwork. Yvonne has been a Canadian citizen since 1969 and holds a valid passport. Yvonne also has received her C.P.P since applying at age 60. (Notice that even though the Government says she is not in the country they have never offered to pay back any of the taxes my wife has paid through her lifetime in Canada.) After a long wait and paying additional fees assessed by the Government, my wife is
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now officially here. What a crock!!!!!! So my advice to you youngsters out there is to get your applications in early and beware of conditions that your spouse may fall prey to. Dennis Ruttan, Duncan, BC Editor’s note: With the large number of baby boomers getting ready to retire over the next few years this is great information Dennis. Thank you. John, It is not news to other truckers that this job is hard on personal relationships. I like many others am divorced. The problem I have is that I pay support and do all the things
March 2013
that I am required but I am not being given the visitation rights to my children that the courts say I am entitled to. I realize that there are a lot of dead-beat dad’s out there but I am not one of them. It seems lawyers just want more money and nothing gets resolved. There are hundreds of support groups where women can get advice but nothing that I can find out there for men. Do you know of any groups or do you have any idea of where I should look. Editor’s note: Your letter came at just the right time as I just got off the phone with another trucker going through the same thing. I went on the internet and found the site below. It lists men’s support groups all across Canada. http://www.canlaw.com/rights/fathers.htm
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We have received a number of comments and questions concerning an earlier article that I wrote on vehicle lighting so I thought I would add more information that may be useful. If you have any further questions please send them in as they are always welcome. I would like to say that although some lamps are not authorized by law, it does not mean that police will be deliberately seeking out lamp infractions. This information is intended to let you know what the legalities are. Sitting on the side of the road after being pulled over is not the best place to discover that a store has sold you expensive lights which cannot be used as intended! Commercial vehicles in particular have a large number of lights that are necessary to comply with the Motor Vehicle Regulations. There are various reasons that a driver might add aftermarket lighting to their vehicle. It could be to improve vision when traveling at night or, as is quite common, it could be to add ‘uniqueness’ to their vehicle. Unfortunately some of these modifications or additions may not always comply with regulations. Though drivers
Truck and Trailer Service & Repair - Inspection - Fleet Maintenance Unit 14, 19926 - 96 Ave., Langley BC Mon.- Fri. 8 am - 6 pm Tel: 604-882-3877 Fax: 604-513-8004 take pride in their vehicles and obviously find these lights functional, it would be beneficial to be familiar with the rules in your province for mounting aftermarket lamps. This is especially important when using a colour other than white, amber or red. A good rule to follow is that any lamp at the front of your vehicle must be either white, for things like headlamps and driving lights, or amber, for fog, signal and clearance lighting. Amber lights may also be mounted on the side of a commercial vehicle. Lamps or reflectors to the rear must be red. This would include brake, tail, clearance lamps and reflectors. No other colours are typically permitted for the vast majority of commercial vehicles. In addition to these lights at the rear of the vehicle, no more than two backing lamps may also
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be mounted with a white light and these are only to be illuminated when the vehicle is in reverse. Flashing lights are usually found on vehicles such as highway maintenance, towing, hauling oversize loads, and more commonly, emergency vehicles. Legal problems arise with aftermarket lamps that I am certain all of you have seen on vehicles such as blue or red lamps mounted underneath. The purpose for these of course is cosmetic. Unfortunately, although they may look impressive, this type of lighting is not legal. On top of that these lights do not even have to be turned on to be illegal. If they are mounted on a vehicle, and the driver simply has the ability to switch these lights on from inside the cab, he or she could be subject to a fine. The most common type of unauthorized lamp colour is the blue light, seen attached to a vehicle’s mirror, mounted under the vehicle for ‘ground effect’, or replacing factory headlights. Many drivers have purchased these lamps at a reputable business and were given the impression that use of them is legal but they are not. The best advice I can give for anyone considering purchasing aftermarket lights is to review legislation to ensure the ones you purchase are legal in your jurisdiction. The actual regulations are your best source for accurate information. You can still use ‘illegal’ aftermarket lamps for shows but if you wish to be safe from fines, make sure the switch to turn them on is located outside the cab. r
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Philosophy and Trucking
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By Mel McConaghy
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Cory and I and His Medication
What seems like three or four decades ago in the middle of winter when Cory, another driver and I were headed for the loading rack in Dawson Creek to pick up a couple of loads of gas for the Standard Oil bulk plant in Prince George. This was before log books came into effect in our end of the country so during the day we would do one or two service stations in the morning or early afternoon then get some sleep before heading north to pick up our loads at midnight. At this time the Pine Pass hadn’t been updated and was still very crooked. There were a few slide areas that had a nasty little habit of blocking the highway. Cory was a misplaced Newfoundlander, who at the time had a new conventional Mack V8 tractor with loads of power while I was still driving my KW Cabover with a little 270 horsepower 1674 Cat, but with longer legs than the Mack so being empty I was quicker going up to Dawson and usually loaded first. As it usually worked out, on the way back, by the time we hit the east side of Pine Hill, Cory would go motoring by me like I was
tied to a mountain. On this particular return trip it had been snowing pretty heavy for the last few days, but the snow had stopped by the time we got to Chetwynd and I was sure I had seen the last of him until we got back to Prince George. I was trucking along through the pass at a fair rate of speed but the temperature had risen to around freezing so I should have realized this was snow slide weather. As I came to a corner I could see some lights shining around it. In my mind I thought it was a car approaching and then I came around the corner and saw the marker lights, tail lights and back up lights of Cory’s truck. It was sitting in the middle of the road, with the front end buried in a snow slide up to behind the steering axle. I stood on the binders in a state of panic and slid up along side of the back of his trailer with my heart firmly imbedded deep in my throat until the left front corner of my truck came to a rest against the snow bank on the shoulder of the road. I walked up to the passagers side of Cory’s truck and opened the door and there he was sitting in his seat with a death grip on the steering wheel, his eyes as big as saucers
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and it almost seemed like he wasn’t breathing. I thought he was dead, until a string of profanities came rolling out of his mouth like machine gun fire in his broad Newfie accent. I can remember most of them although there were a few that I don’t know if I could spell but that doesn’t really matter, as I know John wouldn’t print them, so I’ll just let you use your imagination. I backed out and hooked onto him but his truck wouldn’t budge so I backed around the corner so that any one coming from behind would see me and have time to stop. After that we put out all four of our flares across the highway behind me and then went back to check out his outfit. There was no real damage except that his radiator was now full of frozen snow. We knew were could be in for a long night so Cory got out a bottle of Crown Royal that he carried for medicinal purposes. We figured that since he was still breathing hard he should be pro-active and take some of his medicine. We sat up most of the night, and a good part of the bottle, until he finally calmed down enough to go to sheep in my jump seat. I then called it a night and climbed into my bunk. It wasn’t until later the next afternoon that they got the snow cleared. Everyone that was looking for us then thought that we might be late because we had gotten into Cory’s medication a little too early, but that wasn’t the case. We finally did get a day off though. r
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Tyres Across The Pond
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Colin Black lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland and has been driving truck for over 40 years. His story shows us once again that the problems drivers face are universal.
Natural Disaster
Well it happened again; who would’ve thought it would snow in January! The weathermen had told us to expect a heavy fall of snow but they said the same thing the week before and it hadn’t materialized. It also seemed that all the Friday night weekend trippers thought it would be a good time to go Granny. You know the type, drivers who through the week use the car to commute a couple of miles to work and back and then on a Friday night they load up their car and set off to drive a couple hundred miles to a birthday party or a family reunion. When faced with a snowstorm most of these people don’t know what to do and panic. They hit the brakes or spin out and that of course causes a chain reaction back down the line. The next thing you know a three lane highway has come to a standstill and if a truck gets stopped on a hill in the snow the chances of it getting away again are slim. Unlike BC, there’s no legal requirement to fit winter
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tyres to your car over here in Scotland, probably because we don’t get the guaranteed snowfall on a big enough scale. Although after the last country wide snowfall a couple of years ago, some people are starting to see the benefits of winter tyres. Unfortunately unless you live in a hilly region, like the Lake District, or the highlands of Scotland most people won’t pay the money for tyres they’ll only use once or twice every couple of years. Part of the problem with our last snowfall was the snowploughs and gritters (you call them sanders) couldn’t cope, they tried their best to keep the main roads open, but the snow was too heavy. And as it was a Friday night there were reportedly hundreds of cars stuck on minor roads as well, drivers who, had it been a weeknight, would’ve stayed at home. Truck drivers aren’t completely blameless either, It’s not the first time I’ve come up to a line of trucks all tailgating each other because the lane they’re in looks a bit more drivable than the other snow covered lanes. But when the snow is thick on the road the last thing I want to be looking at is the back of another trailer. Of course the simple answer would be for trucks to carry a set of chains. In these times of recession that might seem like an unnecessary outlay, but compared to the lost revenue in one night, not to mention extra overtime and night out expenses paid to drivers, a set of chains for each truck would be chicken feed. I’m sure drivers would rather fit a set of chains and get
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home to their own bed than sit on a blocked motorway for six hours. Then when they do get moving, they find they don’t have the driving time left to get home, along with all the other drivers who were sitting in the same queue. All the company drivers who don’t get the same truck each night were totally unprepared for spending a night on the road. Truck stops were full to bursting with men looking for a meal and a wash, some of my buddies just had to get off the road into an industrial estate and flop into the bunk. With nothing but the night heater and a rolled up jacket for a pillow, they had to take a minimum nine hours off. That Friday night a few weeks ago must’ve been a disaster for my company, and many others, luckily I got back to base, although I still had the same trailer on as I had taken down. One or two others made it home, but freight deliveries were delayed by a couple of days. So, when you factor in dayshift drivers on the clock sitting waiting for trucks and freight to come in, fines from customers for late deliveries, how cheap do a set of chains for each truck look now? *****
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to land on that island you can see below us. Unfortunately this island is not on any maps and we may never be rescued.” The plane landed safely and Joe turned to Esther and asked, “Did you pay our VISA, MasterCard and American Express bills yet?” “I’m sorry but in the rush I forgot to mail the cheques.” “What about our income taxes, truck payment, fuel bill, truck insurance, and WCB payments?” he asked. “Please forgive me Joe,” begged Esther. “I didn’t send Esther & Joe the Trucker them either. They are all sitting on our kitchen counter.” Esther and Joe were flying to Australia for a two-week Suddenly Joe grabbed her and gave her the biggest kiss vacation to celebrate their 50th anniversary. she had had in 40 years. Suddenly, the Captain announced, “Ladies and Esther pulled away and asked, “What was that for?” Gentlemen, our engines have quit and we are going to have Joe answered, “They’ll find us!”
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From
Drivers Seat
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the
By Ben Proudley Ben has been a Class 1 driver for 15 years. He started out driving wreckers and currently heavy hauls for Hertz Equipment Rentals. Ben was our Rig of the Month in March of 2008
Engines Suspensions Transmissions Differentials
At a time when safety is big with most of the companies out there, drivers are trained and certified in many different things. Transportation of dangerous goods(TDG), Work Place Hazardous Information System(WHMIS), company specific and many different job site orientations just to mention a few. Bigger companies create and compile driver training videos designed to teach you what they expect from you as a driver. All this stuff is great, but what if you wanted to improve your driving skills? Watching a video telling you how steer out of a particular situation may help to educate you but let’s face it, if you are dropping down the Coq and your trailer decides it wants to pass you odds are pretty good that you will not be able to run through the video in your mind fast enough to correct the problem and prevent a bad ending for you or your truck. For myself, I learn best by doing. I can watch or have someone tell me what to do in a bad situation, but I may or may not remember how to perform the maneuver to solve the problem. If I have done it in a controlled situation, I remember it much better.
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So what can you do to improve yourself as a driver? Well, there is lots of reading you can do online and in books but as for hands on training there is little to none. Andy at Mountain Transport Institute in Castlegar BC has some great programs to teach drivers how to perform in mountain passes. They also teach the proper use of chains, gearing, and much more. It is all great stuff, but I am pretty sure that Andy would not like you to drop down one of the passes and practice what to do if your trailer tries to pass you on a hill. Equipment is not cheap, and the danger to the public is way too large. So that only leaves you with real life emergencies to learn by. In reality, it is in real life situations that we as drivers learn what works or does not work. Lots of drivers will never get into a situation where they
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need this kind of training, but wouldn’t it be great if it were available should we want it? So if we ever did need it we could deal with it confidently and come out in one piece? I looked for such training on the net with no success. The AMA in Alberta offers a course that teaches four wheelers how to drive in bad situations which also offers a possible points reduction off your license. Taking this course or others like it would be a great place to start, sharpen your skills in you four-wheeler, and put some of this training to use in your rig. Another option out there is Emergency Vehicle Operator training. You could take a course in driving a fire truck, not only fun but a great way to understand how a large truck operates in quick maneuvers. Let’s not forget being able to play with the lights and siren as an added bonus. The largest vehicle may only be a tandem straight truck, but it is bigger than a car, and has a very high center of gravity just like our rigs do. So the basics would transfer easily to truck driving. Admittedly there is no trailer, so the skills would apply only if you were bobtailing. But let’s face it the cost factors such as time off, cost of the course, and anything else that may come as a result, would be large to do such a course. But the question that really should be asked is your life worth that cost? Would it really matter if it cost $2,000 dollars to get more training? Not only is it a tax write off, but it would be a small price to pay to gain the knowledge that just may make the difference in your making it home to your loved ones. r
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Driving Through my Memories
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINEe
By Ed Murdoch
Ed Murdoch has held a commercial drivers license for 60 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. He is now “semi” retired.
WHAT! ME OVERWEIGHT?
Umm, that would be my truck & trailers not my personal girth. Settle down. Way back when .... no, I mean waaaay back when, I owned a ‘65 Hayes Clipper Cabover with a 335 hp dynamo, which was a legend in its own time, and I used to haul 100,000 lb. of steel cargo to points throughout Ontario. This engine was tuned, by a stationary engineer, to a rating which Cummins was unable to capture on its dyno. The technicians thought it might be putting out as much as 480 hp - to the ground! Sounds like a lot for a boat anchor almost half a century ago, doesn’t it? The energy output was transferred through a 4X4 Spicer transmission to 46,000 lb. SQHD worm drive rear ends. With this combination I pulled two 20 foot trailers connected with a tandem converter dolly, so there were 34 rubber wheels, (yes, wooden wheels went out the year before) crammed into 55 feet which was the maximum overall length back then, but my unit could gross 142,000 lb., legally and was
always maxed out. One year in the mid to late 60’s, there was a rail strike, and when I presented myself to the cold rolled coil department at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, I was asked by the shipper if I would take along a little extra tonnage, since they couldn’t ship any coils by rail and the demand in Toronto was exceeding the supply. Being young and cavalier I of course agreed. Since we were paid by the pound I just said, “Fill ‘er up!”, which he proceeded to do. The Algoma scales only went to 150,000 lb. so I had to weigh the front trailer and then the converter and back trailer separately. My total gross vehicle weight turned out to be a paltry 175,000 lb. No problem, “Let’s get with the program!” Well, the government scales at Parry Sound were open, but the inspector was a friend of mine, he having been on duty at the Niagara Falls bridges when I hauled bananas from the docks in New York City and New Jersey, back even earlier in the 20th century. I smiled and waved upon placing the steering axle on the scale platform. John’s eyes grew wider and he became more and more agitated as I rolled across and when the last tandem hit the scale he burst from the scalehouse waving his fist and screaming, “You #^$^! You get the #&*% out of here and don’t you ever tell anyone you drove over this *&^#’ scale!!” Of course I brought him a sipping, Christmas ‘turkey’... Incidentally from Sudbury to the Boy’s Restaurant south of the scales, Ray, a buddy of mine in a souped up V-8 Mack
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hauling 90,000 gross on a triaxle, was unable to catch me. He was just a little choked, but albeit impressed.
THE TRUCKERS’ BOTTOM LINE Some years following the steel incident, I was eastbound from Winnipeg, in the same ‘65 Hayes Clipper, but now pulling a dry van on my way to Southern Ontario. Somewhere around Kenora, I gradually became aware of a growing discomfort deep inside, which ultimately became a hot poker, and the resulting agony made further forward progress an impossible activity. Most of you can empathize if not sympathize with the situation. Gingerly I laid myself down on the mattress and lay there in a delirious state, moaning and groaning to no one in particular. At last, as darkness fell about my mobile infirmary, the pain subsided and I was able to proceed, tentatively at first, but with more and more confidence as the miles, kilometres not yet having been invented, slipped by. There were other episodes, although I don’t remember any as debilitating or uncomfortable as that first one. Finally, years later, I swallowed a jugful of pride and gathered enough moxy to present myself to my family practitioner. He referred me to a .. a ... a ...., yes one of those, and I was promptly scheduled for a procedure known publicly as a colonoscopy. Which sounds innocent enough to one who has never undergone the indignity of the procedure. As I have gained experience over the years to maturity
The
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(I s’pose you want a second opinion on that too), I have come to realize that this event is not all that uncommon. I believe it could be one of those occupational issues. In fact in the last few months I have learned of three of my wimpy trucker friends who have succumbed to the above procedure. One my closest buds whined so much that his wife begged me to give ‘hemorrhoid’ to the hospital on the appointed day. *****
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Rig of the Month
By: John White
photo’s by: jen grimshaw
The following story is not the typical trucker profile that we feature in Pro-Trucker Magazine. Actually it is quite the opposite. Most people come from what we may think of as a reasonably normal family background but
there are altogether too many who, through no fault of their own, come from extremely dysfunctional and abusive backgrounds. In most cases people who are exposed to this type of start in life never achieve what most of us
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would consider a productive lifestyle. This is a success story about one person who did. My name is Christine (Chrissy) Cellier and I was born in Collingwood Ontario. I spent the first couple months of my life in a foster home and then was adopted by a flight attendant from Sweden (Lena) and a pilot (Captain Yves Cellier) from France. We lived in Barrie, Ontario, until my Dad was transferred to Vancouver and we settled in South Surrey. Two years later they adopted another daughter Veronica and 2 years after that, they were divorced. My dad would take me on flights from time to time, so I have traveled the world, Amsterdam, Australia, Italy, Sweden, Fiji, Hong Kong, Tokyo and many other places. However I was just a child at the time and my Dad spent most of the time sleeping after and before the flights. My experience in those exotic places was usually to be handed the charge card for the room and a bag of quarters for the arcade so I was on my own a lot and became quite independent. I was totally a tomboy growing up, I would rather ride a BMX and play tackle British Bull Dog than wear pink and play with a Barbie doll. I would love to say my early years were pleasant; however they were far from it. I lived with my adopted mother but I spent most of my time with a friend’s family, who had seven children and were quite poor. They had a friend of the family
Christine Cellier that would take advantage of the young girls, including myself, so unfortunately we were abused from a very young age. Ages 7 through 12 was a nightmare, and by the time my mother remarried, I started acting out
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disturbingly and by grade 8 I was totally out of control. After being attacked by my mother’s new husband I was placed in a foster home. That was the first of 4 foster homes I would be in, culminating with me running away to downtown Vancouver. By the time I was 18 I had straightened out to a certain extent and I went back to school taking a heavy duty mechanic course but I soon found that the older generation did not approve of female mechanics. They wouldn’t even let me touch the equipment at trade shows! Although I did great on my tests, I was too young to know how fight back so, feeling I was being forced out, I finally gave up. (That is something that I definitely would not do today.) When I was 21 I started going to a group that dealt with childhood sexual abuse recovery and I learned that the abuse was not my fault and that I no longer had to be a victim. This was a real turning point for me as it took away some of the guilt I had been holding inside since I was a child and gave me the tools to live my life more effectively. At the same time I was introduced to mud racing through the North West Mud Racing Association. That turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me. I raced a stock truck in 1995 and then volunteered at every race after that. From 1998 to 2001 I raced a boyfriends blown alcohol truck and my fastest time was
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3.12 seconds through 200ft of mud! I continued to volunteer until in 2007 when they placed a microphone in my hands and declared me the announcer! It was terrifying at first but I continue to do it to this day. From ages 21 to 27 I worked at fulltime jobs like Aircare, parts delivery and oil and transmission services but none of these paid enough for me and my two children to reach the poverty line, so welfare would “top up” my cheques. Things started to change when I went to work for Canadian Body Shop Supplies. That’s where I learned to be a courier and do route deliveries. It was a very fast, well-run shop and I would do 5 runs a day throughout the lower mainland. When I was 28 I decided I was done with these low paying jobs and I asked welfare if they would put me through Class 1 training. In those days, driver training was not normally paid for, however since I was a foster child to welfare recipient, they said they would consider it, but only if I did a pile of research first. I was set up with a social services employment counsellor and jumped through all their hoops until the day came for me to pick up the cheque for a class 1 course. When I went in his office the counsellor held the cheque in his hand and said, “I shouldn’t give this to you, you’re going to fail, you’re not going to make it. You will be back on welfare soon enough.” I kept my mouth shut until I had the cheque in my hands, and then I said “I will NOT fail - I will never be
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on welfare again!” After a few select expletives I stormed out of the office and thankfully have never had to go back. I took my Class 1 at Valley Driving School Surrey and my instructor’s name was Javed Beg. He is a great teacher. For my first lesson he drove down to a remote road in Surrey where he stopped and taught me how to double clutch. He then asked me to get behind the wheel of the huge Kenworth with at sleeper and 53’ trailer. I was pretty freaked out but at the same time I was thrilled to be driving down that road. When we reached the main road I thought he would change seats with me and was shocked when he told me to turn left. I ended up driving all over Surrey that first day, and I was hooked! I loved everything about it especially the sound of the turbo! I passed my Class 1 and fully expected to be hired immediately, however that was not meant to be as with no experience, no one would hire me. After a few weeks I contacted Javid again and asked him what I should do. He suggested I drive a 5 ton to get some experience and said he would speak to Hari Prasad for me. Hari is a very nice Fijian man that had 5 trucks hired on with Phoenix Truck and Crane and was an amazing boss. The next day I picked up my first truck, a 1987 Ford 5 ton with a 20’ flat dump deck, but it was an automatic! Not in any position to be picky, I took it in stride and headed over to the Phoenix office where I met the dis-
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1991 Dugald Road, Winnipeg, MB Phone (204) 663-9037 patchers, John Cochran and Derek Warnock. They were not impressed and on my first day they had me follow a semi up to Gold Bridge with a load of roofing materials. It was a bit traumatic as we went by way of the Hurley River road. The Hurley is a 74km rough dirt road which starts just north of Pemberton and is only open in the summer months. It crosses the Lillooet River then climbs over the 5,500 foot Railroad Pass before dropping down to Gold Bridge. I ate the dust of the semi all the way and almost ran out of fuel - but I made it. We took the easier way back through Lillooet to Litton and down the Fraser Canyon on Highway 1. I often wondered if that run was given to me to see if I was mentally strong enough to handle the job. The next 6 weeks was a crash course in fast paced P&D deliveries around town. Ten months later I got a “better” truck, a 1989 Ford CF8000 Cabover with a 22’ deck but best of all it was a standard! The drivers at Phoenix were great. They taught me all the tricks of flat deck driving but by far the most positive experience I had there happened shortly after I started working there. It all started just before Christmas when I came home to find my house had been broken into and the thieves had stolen everything I had, including all the presents for my 3 kids. A few days later I was called into the office to talk to Bill Dick, the owner. I thought for sure I must have done something wrong and I was
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going to get fired, but instead Mr. Dick said he wanted to talk to me about the break-in. He said that every year at Christmas he donates to underprivileged families, but this year he was going to donate to me and he handed me a check for $2,000. It was the most amazing thing anyone had ever done for me and I was, and still am, very grateful. I had all sorts of crazy experiences during my time at Phoenix, like the time a bee flew in through the window and landed in my lap, while I was wearing shorts and doing 100kph down the highway. Another time I was tightening a ratchet strap in an alley off East Hastings and it slipped off the side of the deck and smashed me in the face nearly knocking me out – there was blood everywhere. Somehow Roy Taylor, a driver with Mr. Naturals, found out that I wanted to drive tractor-trailers and asked his boss, Jim Binding, if he could train me! Jim agreed and Saturday mornings at 4:30am I would meet Roy and drive a 1981 Kenworth hauling 53’ tridem reefer vans full of frozen meat to Konings on Annasis Island, then to Atlas Cold Storage in Port Kells. It was awesome to be driving a semi and Roy was a great teacher. Hari was a great boss but after training with Roy I got bored driving a flat deck and decided it was time to make the move into a Class 1 job so I went to work at Radius/Crossroads Transport in Port Kells. I soon found
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that driving a rig during the day was a far cry from early Saturday mornings when there is no traffic, but Glen, my trainer was very patient and thorough. After a while I was on my own, driving tractor trailer for $15.75 an hour. This was short lived as when work slowed down, the company wanted me to “downgrade” and drive tandem straight trucks for much less money, which I couldn’t afford to do. I had been applying at Gary’s Delivery ever since I left Hari because I knew their drivers were paid by the hour and made lot more than I was making driving on commission. They also had china-tops which meant no more tarping. The problem was that no matter how often I applied, I would never get a call back. I knew I could do the job as I had delivered to Sauder Moulding and Millwork, one of Gary’s main customers, for about five years while with Phoenix. One day I made a comment to the shipper at Sauder and I guess he called Gary Marling and put in a good word for me because later that day I got a call to come in for an interview. Gary finally hired me after I convinced him that all those years of doing flat deck work made me physically strong enough to do the job. I started with them in November of 2006 making more money than I ever had before. I drove a 1991 Freightliner tandem china top straight truck with a tired old cat engine that, when I drove with the curtains closed, it looked like a giant black marshmallow going down the
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road! The sides billowed out so far I couldn’t even see out the mirrors so I developed a syndrome called “ditch hugger” or line hugger disease! I had to or my curtains would be in the other lane and scare the 4-wheelers! Drivers always know when there is something wrong with their truck and I knew there was something up with the brakes in the Freightliner so I took it to the mechanics but they couldn’t find anything wrong. I set the brakes up and then reset them again but there was still something that wasn’t right. One day I drove through Nordel scale while they were having a road check and noticed a weird van parked next to the scale. It turned out the van was equipped with a heat sensor that checked the temperature of your wheels as you drove by. When I went by they called me in and parked me because they said there was no heat coming from my front brakes which meant they were not working. A mechanic came and couldn’t find anything wrong so I took it back to my mechanic where they finally found that the air proportioning valve wasn’t working properly! Good news - I wasn’t crazy after all! I worked for Gary until 2008, when he decided to sell the company to Protrux Systems owned by Darren Racine, Karen Fawcett and Ron Huizenga. I don’t like change and seriously thought about leaving with some of the other drivers but something told me to stay. I was leery of my new bosses at first and quite shy, so I didn’t talk to them much in the beginning. The following year I
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asked Protrux if I could use my Chinatop as an announcing booth at the Chilliwack Mud Race, they said yes so I gave them free tickets to the race. To my surprise, they came out and watched me announce the race in front of hundreds of people. Monday morning my bosses said that I had impressed the hell out of them at the races and that I wasn’t allowed to be shy anymore. After another year or so I ended up having deep conversations with my dispatcher (and boss) Darren Racine, which resulted in me being invited to some personal growth seminars which dramatically changed my view of life. I started to relax, not get upset that it was raining, or that I was working 11 hours a day. I stopped worrying about the small stuff and began to look at the big picture.
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I quit smoking, started eating healthy and actually began to enjoy life. In July of 2011, Protrux bought me a new truck, well not ‘new’ but newer than anything I had ever driven before. She is a 2006 International 7500 HTS70 tandem china top with lots of power and a 26’ deck and fancy sliding curtains with buckles - no more marshmallow bungee cord curtains! I’m not sure how I drove for 10 years without air conditioning, power windows and cruise control, but I’m not going back! The only downside to this truck is there is no air or spring suspension, just a rubber block system that re-acquaints me with the ceiling every time I hit a bump. I guess I’m an old fashioned driver because I try to avoid soaking pedestrians on rainy days and I always give a wave or flash my 4 ways in appreciation if someone lets me in. I still look both ways while crossing a railroad track, I honk my horn if I back up, and I put a strap on every 4 feet, and always put that extra strap on the pallet at the back, all of which I notice some drivers don’t do. Sometimes I hear truckers brag they don’t even need to put on a strap - crazy. When people cut me off I try to take it in stride, but it is really becoming a problem in the city. Road rage seems to be getting worse too. Last month I had a man in his early 50’s who got upset because I missed a gear on the hill, he instantly got all road ragey on me, cutting
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in front of me and then slamming on his brakes over and over again for about 10 km. I tried changing lanes but he would change lanes too and then slam his brakes on again. All of this went on in heavy traffic with me fully loaded. I finally called 911. Then just last month in Port Kells I was waiting for traffic to clear before turning left into a complex. A 4 wheeler in a full size van was facing me in the oncoming lane with his signal on to turn left in front of me. He didn’t feel like waiting any longer and, even though he couldn’t see around me, he decided to turn anyway and a lady in a car hit him head on. I thought she would have been dead, but it turned out she was okay. As I helped her out of her car she told me that she usually rides her motorcycle to work, but that day she decided to take the car… People can get used to living in poor conditions, I know because that’s how I lived for far too many years. I can definitely say that through those years I lived for my sons - Jamie - 24, Kevin 18 and Jay 13 and they are why I’m alive today. I have a hard time patting myself on the back but I think I turned out pretty good considering the obstacles I’ve had to climb over, under and around. I believe that no matter how you start out in life, if you work hard and along the way are lucky enough to meet the right people, at the right time, who are willing to give you a helping hand and the benefit of their wisdom, then anything is possible. I have been very lucky to have met more than my share of these people. Darrin Pastoor, Teressa Williams, the NWMRA and the Band 54-40 to name just a very few, helped me up, helped me along and inspired me to change my life and to succeed. I can’t thank them enough. I do not know any of my blood relatives. I found my birth mother but she doesn’t want to meet me because I was ‘a bad time in her life’. I figure that she doesn’t have a clue about what a ‘bad time in life’ is really like but that is her loss. You can choose your friends not your family…My friends are my family. In driving school they tell you to never mind who or what’s behind you, don’t let them bother you, and I think it’s the same in life. We just have to keep moving forward and don’t dwell in the past, it’s behind you… r
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March 2013
View From An Irish Volvo
Frank Cox is an Irish truck driver who has driven extensively in many European countries. He now hauls containers and reefers out of Dublin and lives in Dundalk. halfway between Belfast and Dublin.
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Once again, lads, something completely different!! You all know that Europe, as a very ‘old’ continent, has many long established countries. We have had our fair share of empires, kingdoms and, often going hand in hand, territorial wars between them. As a legacy of our long history, we also have quite a few Royal Families. Now, for a truck driver, plying his trade in and out of these different countries, the only evidence of a King or Queen he will see is a head on a coin, or some embarrassing photos of the younger royals taken by paparazzi. Monarchs and us do not generally move in the same circles. Once, in Goteborg, Sweden, I heard heavy guns being fired somewhere across the city. I asked a Swedish driver friend what was happening and he informed me it was to mark King Carl XVI Gustaf’s birthday. Over the years, many of these families have inter-married and most of Europe’s Royal households are related in some way – still didn’t stop them warring with each other!! Some enjoy a high profile – the British House of Windsor
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Jason Wilks • 604-575-9516 • jwilks@shaw.ca www.pamperyourmotor.wboil.com easily lead the field – others are more reserved and rarely make tabloid headlines. From small Principalities like Luxembourg and Monaco, to huge Kingdoms like Britain and Spain, people have mixed feelings about Royalty and the pomp, ceremony and protocol that goes with it. Above all, the protection of the line of succession is paramount to these families. Seventy years ago, a Princess was born in Ottawa, Canada. It is the only recorded Royal birth in North America. At the time, World War 2 was raging in Europe and many of the continent’s royal families had to flee from Hitler’s advancing armies. One such family was that of Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. Herself, her husband, Prince Bernhard and their two daughters, Beatrix
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and Irene had moved to Canada in 1940, ahead of the Nazi invasion of their homeland. They took up residence in Ottawa, Ontario and were quite active on the social scene there. By late 1942, news broke that Princess Juliana was expectant, thus creating a dilemma for the Dutch Royal Family, the House of OrangeNassau. If the child was born in Ottawa, he or she, under Dutch law, would be considered a Canadian citizen and therefore lose all succession rights to the throne. The Canadian Government of the time, rose to the occasion, and passed a special law, which declared Princess Juliana’s maternity suite at Ottawa’s Civic Hospital to be ‘extraterritorial’. In effect, the maternity ward became ‘international territory’ and not, as popular belief had it at the time, ‘Dutch Territory’. That change satisfied the rules of succession in the Netherlands. On Tuesday, January 19th 1943, Princess Juliana gave birth to a baby girl, Margriet Francisca. The following day, the Dutch flag flew over Canada’s Parliament Building – apparently the only time a foreign flag has flown there. The royal child was christened at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ottawa in June the same year. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Britain’s Queen Mary are listed among her Godparents. Princess Margriet is currently ninth in line to the Dutch throne and, at the time of writing, is hail and hearty and carrying out her royal duties. Those duties have often taken her back to Canada, the land of her birth. r
Reflections Thru My Windshield By Dave Madill Dave was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001
Two Friends
I sat by the bed and slowly read to the frail old man who was lying there propped up on his pillows so he could see out the window to the river in the distance. I finished the article and put the fishing magazine down and took the old mans hand. “I’ve got to go now Len, its time for me to go home, do my chores and milk the cows.” The old man coughed and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze, “You run along Dave and maybe tomorrow I’ll be feeling well enough to go down to the river and do some fishing, the browns should be biting about now.” “I’ll be here Len,” I replied as I left the room. I walked slowly down the stairs and as I entered the kitchen of the old farm house the lady at the table held her finger to her lips and walked over and shut the door to the hallway. “How did he seem to you today,” she asked? My eyes welled up with tears, “He’s not getting any bet-
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ter and his mind is beginning to wander a little.” Muriel sat back down. “I know,” she replied, “but keep coming over if you can, he loves to hear you talk about fishing and to read those stories to him.” “Well,” I replied, “I owe him that much, he taught me how to fish and hunt and all your sons are away.” Muriel looked at me and nodded, “He was saying yesterday that even if he couldn’t have our boys home he has you here, but he also said he would like to go drop a fly in the river one more time. “I’d like that too,” I choked out as I turned and left. The next day was a Saturday and I finished my chores early, grabbed a fishing rod and a clean milk pail and headed off toward the river then returned about three hours later with a couple of cleaned trout for the supper table and a big grin on my face. “What kind of trouble have you been in,” asked my mother suspiciously? “Nothing Mom, gonna run over and see Len and then do the milking and I’ll be in for supper,” I said as I ran out the door. Sunday arrived and again chores were done early and rather than get changed for church I started out the door. “Where do you think you are going,” Mom hollered? “Going to spend some time with Len,” I answered as I went down the stairs.
I trotted down the road to the old farmhouse then went into the shed and took out Len’s prized trout rod, tied on a dry fly and leaned it against the fence by the long cement water trough. The cement trough stood twelve feet long, four feet wide and three feet deep with a constant supply of cold water entering from an artesian well at one end and exiting from a pipe at the other end where it went down the ditch to the river about a hundred yards away below the hill. I went in the house and got the rocking chair out of the kitchen and placed it beside the rod and started back in. “What do you think you are doing Dave?” Muriel asked. “Taking Len fishing,” I replied as I started up the stairs. Muriel went to the phone on the wall and phoned next door, “Rachel,” she said, “You and John better get over here, I think Dave has gone crazy. He says he is taking Len fishing.” Minutes later a pickup truck slid to a stop outside and my parents climbed out to see me carrying my old friend across the yard and placing him in the rocking chair. Dad climbed up on the porch and stopped the two women, “Just be quiet and leave them alone,” he said, “Dave wouldn’t hurt Len, the sunshine will cheer him up and besides I think that kid has something up his sleeve.” Gently I placed a blanket across my old friends knees then picked up the slender bamboo rod and placed it in his hands.
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“Don’t ask,” I said. “Just see if you can drop that fly in the water trough and pretend we are at the beaver dam.” Slowly Len swung the rod forward and the tiny fly settled gently on the surface of the water, where it rested for a moment then disappeared below in a large swirl. Len jerked the rod in amazement and a large brown trout exploded from beneath the water and tail walked the length of the trough, spray flying in all directions creating a rainbow as the trout’s dappled scales glistened in the sunshine. Lens eyes sparkled as he played his catch back and forth along the length of the trough until, as the fish and the old man tired, I reached in with a net and scooped the fish from the water and carried it carefully to my friend. Lens trembling hands touched the fish gently, “Quick,” he said, “get a milk pail full of water and take this one down to the river and let him go for me.” I turned and did his bidding and as the three on the porch looked on a smile broke out over the face of the crippled old man and then a single tear trickled down his cheek as he looked out over the river he had loved and fished for those many, many years...
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examined the remains of all the crows, and confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu (to everyone’s relief). However, he determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, and only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. The Province then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine the disproportionate percentages for truck versus car kills. The Ornithological Behaviorist determined the cause, ***** the conclusion in short order was: When crows eat road The Importance of Communication kill, they always set-up a look-out crow in nearby tree to Approximately 200 dead crows were recently found warn of impending danger. His conclusion was that the lookout crow could say near Saskatoon Saskatchewan, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist “Cah”, but he could not say “Truck.”
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An Ounce of Prevention...
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By Ken Davey Ken Davey has 30 years experience in the trucking industry. He is currently a Director at Accord Transportation Ltd., and a member of the Board for the Trucking Safety Council of BC
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“Professionalism: It’s NOT the job you DO; it’s HOW you DO the job.” – Anonymous Anyone that has ever driven truck knows that it is a job – a hard job - and maybe wonders how anyone smart enough to be a trucker could ever forget. Some drivers, especially owner operators, work a lot of hours. When working so many hours, it begins to feel that your job is intruding on your life and so you naturally let your life intrude into your job. This works out ok until ‘off duty guy’ shows up at work. “Off duty guy” is my way to describe a driver that shows up at work without shifting the safety gear that is between his ears from off duty to Professional Driver. ProTruckers actively drive. They scan the road ahead imagining threats and devising action plans in case something happens. They understand that a cell phone or CB is an important safety tool and keep talk to a minimum when in traffic. Off duty guy holds the steering wheel, often with just one hand and chatters incessantly no matter what.
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19045 94TH AVE. PORT KELLS, SURREY 604-888-6912 or 1-877-888-6913 www.reflectionstruckbody.com Here are 2 recent examples of how things went bad when “off-duty” guy showed up instead of Mr. ProTrucker. Hopefully they will better illustrate what I mean. Just before Christmas, one of our owner operator’s had a busy Saturday planned getting ready with the family for Christmas. Also his truck needed a CVI. No problem. He decided to take the truck to the mechanics where his wife would pick him up and then they could spend the day together. In his mind he was just moving the truck…not really going to work. Well he left home without a log book and got to the truck where either he did not do one, or had nothing to record his pre-trip inspection on. He decided to drive to the mechanics anyway. Two blocks from the mechanics he rolled through a stop sign. The policeman issued three tickets; failing to stop, failing to have 14 days supporting documents, failing to pre-trip. Unfortunately, “off-duty guy” shares the same license with Mr. ProTrucker and together they had an 8 demerit day. To add insult to injury because the demerits were earned in a commercial vehicle they also show up on his NSC abstract and the carriers NSC profile. Can you imagine the liability issues if he had injured someone in an accident? The shame of it is this driver had an otherwise good record. He had logged almost 200 thousand miles on our fleet without a ticket or accident. Yet he let off duty guy drive for an hour and earned 3 tickets. Long haul trips are always made shorter when you can hook up with a buddy for a chat on the CB or to share a
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meal stop. A real buddy remembers to be a pro-trucker, not off duty guy. At one stop a couple of drivers turned into “off duty guy” and decided to pull a friends 5th wheel lock while he was in the shower so that when he went to pull away, the trailer would be left behind. In their mind they made it ‘safe’ by cranking down the trailer landing gear so the trailer would not fall and nothing would get damaged. Well the target of the joke hopped up into the truck and when he pulled away. He noticed the trailer stayed in place. He got out of the cab to find his air lines stretched, really stretched, as they were still connected to the stationary trailer. Now, we all react differently in an emergency. In hindsight, I’m sure this guy would have gotten back in his truck and backed up under the trailer to re-couple the unit to the trailer. However at the time he was worried the stretched airlines would break and cause him some delay so he struck the glad hand with the heel of his hand popping the line free of the trailer. An airline is made of rubber and if you stretch it far enough, like a rubber band or a bungee cord, it will snap back. In this case it snapped back propelling the metal glad hand into the driver’s forehead. It was a serious but not permanent injury. Sorry for lecturing but even though Pro-Truckers can be the life of the party…a truck yard is not a party and a glad hand smack to the head is no party favour. Here are some basic ways to ensure your pro-trucker
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Hike Pilot Car Service (780) 919-6344 keeps “off duty guy” safe. • Find some protective boots comfortable enough to drive in. Sandals and stocking won’t serve you in an emergency and just putting boots on will help keep pro trucker guy in control. • A truck yard is more like a construction site than it is like a parking lot. Pro-trucker guy knows it is a dangerous place. Use your hi-vis vest whenever you are around trucks and it will remind you that you are not off duty. • Use a clipboard and or a briefcase for your paperwork. Despite the time paperwork sucks up on the road, it causes you to think about what you are doing while you are doing it. • Whenever possible, keep days off, days off. The owner operator in my first example might have been able to drop off his truck at the mechanic at the end of his trip instead of in the middle of his day off. • Keep cell phone and CB chatter in control when you are working. Even with a headset conversations cause you to think about something other than keeping safe while doing a dangerous job. • Remember some stories are only funny when you put what if in front of them. Horseplay and messing with someones equipment can go terribly wrong. You can read more articles like this one at krdavey. blogspot.ca. There are trucking specific safety tools, tips and interactive safety tools and videos at http://www. safetydriven.ca.
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Official Vehicles: The Tow Truck By Constable Tim Schewe (Retired) The tow truck is a bit of an orphan when it comes to being an “official vehicle” as defined in our Slow Down, Move Over laws. Drivers happening across a tow truck working at the side of the highway must slow down and move over if possible just as they would for an overtaken police vehicle, fire apparatus or ambulance. The latter three types of vehicle are easily identified by the colour of their flashing lights but the tow truck blends in with all the other flashing yellow light equipped vehicles on our highways. It goes without saying that a defensive driver will slow down and move over if possible for any type of vehicle displaying flashing lights while stopped on the
shoulder. This would even include a broken down car with the hazard flashers showing. However, there are those who will not unless mandated by law. Perhaps a tow truck should be given the authority to use a combination of amber and white flashing lights to more easily identify it as being part of the group of official vehicles that we must slow down and move over for. This would allow drivers to make the identification from a distance and they could then take action well ahead of time. Remember, slowing down for stopped official vehicles at the side of the road is mandatory under all circumstances. Not moving over is only an option if you cannot do it safely. The rule was enacted to protect emergency workers when they are looking after us. Let’s look after them too. r
The Trucker and The Bear A big rig in the darkness, heading east the other night, Overweight and way behind; his logbook was a sight. Suddenly, behind him he saw the blue lights flash, The Bear had come to get him and take away his cash. He pulled up on the shoulder and climbed down from his rig, They really had him fair and square; this fine would be real big. In the headlight glow he saw her; that little honey Bear, Her shape divine, her ruby lips, and oh, that golden hair, She said she had a warrant; was there to take him in, He just stood there staring, with a big old goofy grin. She said, “37 women from up and down the line, Were charging him with broken hearts; he was going to do some time.” Standing in the courtroom, scared as he could be, Thirty-seven women; one cop, the judge and he – The judge said he had been riding high; wasn’t going to set no bail, The sentence he was handing out was worse than any jail: The judge said, “Look around the room and prepare to pick your bride. Your single days are over; in harness you will ride.” Now he’s back out on the highway, taking special care He has to mind his P’s and Q’s: he’s married to a Bear. There’s those that think an officer would be a lot of fun, But first you have to realize: she’s the one that has the gun.
Dave Madill Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores.
Reflections Thru My Windshield PAGE 38
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