"cl" wrote in message
o.verio.net...

"TJ" wrote in message
news:P1Z2e.864278$8l.567848@pd7tw1no...
It's amazing how just one comment by a single person got this group into
an uproar. I really think that the public in general has a romance with
the life of the trucker brought on by the movie and media hype. Truckers
are just ordinary people who do an thankless job of moving just about
everything there is in North America to and from wholesalers to
retailers. Over the years the average trucker's education level has gone
from grade school drop outs to men and women holding degrees of various
ranges of education. Over the years I've come to know a rather large
group of people from a very large slice of various levels of education,
similar to that of most truckers. I hold two degrees and a commercial
Radio Telephone license, but for some reason I ended up returning to
"trucking" all the time. And all the trucks I've driven, over 1 million
miles, I've always had my amateur radio(s) and a CB. Each had it's own
nicessity and each one had it's own language. On one radio I as a
respected amateur radio operator who drove truck, on the other I was just
another trucker looking for a traffic report.
Oh, for those who are of the illusion that truckers are the cause of all
the terrible accident on the highways, well the only person your fooling
is yourself. To get the facts do a little research and you will find that
four wheeled vehicles cause more accidents than any other vehicle. Trucks
seem to fall into the same catigory as motorcycles do in the public's
perseption of the cause of accidents. After you have done your research
you will find that both trucks and motorcycles end of up being a very low
percentage of the cause of accidents. The only thing the public sees is
that when a truck gets into a bad accident it is very bad and devestating
distruction. But statistics show there are fewer truck accidents than
four wheeled vehicles and there are also far fewer accidents that are
caused by trucks entirely.
But, this is just this over educated truckers opinion.

73 de ve7agw, Al


Eh, I agree with you for the most part - BUT - you "seem" to have missed
the point. "That" "trucker" seemed to be suggesting that the service they
provide sort of entitles them to break the laws. It does NOT. "My" comment
was (not word for word) that if he broke the rules of the road much as he
is suggesting he does of the FCC, then it wouldn't be long or take much to
end the line for him. RULES ARE RULES. LAWS ARE LAWS. Be you a truck
driver, cop, lawyer, politician, doctor, we ALL have laws to live with, if
we're to survive with any sense of common ground. ANY ONE who breaks those
rules/laws is only adding to the problem. "I" know some truckers, I know
the job they do..... I know the sacrifices they make - time away from home
and family. "I" am not disputing that. What I was disputing was that
person's "holier than thou" approach "since he is a trucker". THAT is what
I dismiss........ NOT THE JOB. I was just telling him to come off his high
horse, there may come a day when his services are no longer required, then
what? HE won't be so high and mighty then. It is guys like that who are
the bad apple, and give the rest of you a black eye. Just like a bad cop
gives the rest a black eye, a quack doctor does to his/her profession, a
politician who takes bribes/steals. ALL give their profession a bad name.
Like it or not, every group has them, truckers included. That one stuck
his head out to be noticed. He brought attention to himself. Why can't he
mutually respect hams and what they have, as he expects the hams to
respect him for what he does? It IS a two way street.

There is NO reason he or any of the rest can't do a small bit of studying
when laying over at a truck stop or waiting to be loaded, go take an exam,
pass it, get a license, then talk with the rest of us who would welcome
them. IF they don't want to take an exam, then WHY violate the laws and
pick fights with the hams, because they're too damned lazy to do the right
thing? It isn't the hams fault. The hams wanted their license, so they did
what it took to get it.......

If you intend to defend his approach, then I can't agree with you. As to
the rest of what you said, perhaps you're an example they can follow.
Maybe "you" can convince them, being one of the bunch. As for "accidents",
"I am not a statistician, so I can't say for sure. I could get into the
argument regarding bikes, since I ride one as well, but again, without
facts to back me up, I'm not going to.

cl


Oh yes, laws are made to in most cases protect the greater part of the
public and we all have to abide by the laws. I have no respect for any
person regardless of what trade they perform, if they break the law then
they are a criminal. If it be the FCC, Industry Canada (Canadian FCC) or the
traffic laws then they deserve to be caught and punished. Like you say, if
it be a cop, doctor, trucker or lawyer, we all have to abide by the law
others wise it will be a complete mayham free for all.
I dispise truckers who are of the oppinion that they are above the law, I
know of a fair number of truckers who wrote and passed the exam for their
ham tickett and now only use their CB for loading docks and traffic reports.
But most of these men and women have higher education levels than the old
truckers use to.
Any trucker who thinks he/she is above the law is only fooling themselves,
because it's only a matter of time before they will get caught and they will
eventually. I've been at a scale when the safety bliz happens all across
Canada/USA and the authorities will go right through a tractor and want to
see every licence for every radio in the truck. And if the driver doesn't
have one he losses the radio. And I'm glad they do this, cause it cleans up
the amateur bands from these pirate amateurs. I get really ticked when I
hear some fool talking on a radio who thinks he's some sort of a "god"
because of his trade. Let's face it the astronauts had to pass the exams to
get their amateur licence(s) so why should anyone else get it given to them.
I wish the FCC and Industry Canada had more powers to eliminate the
interferance from unlicenced, licenced and industrial sources. The laws are
there but these agencies don't seem to have the muscle to enforce them,
wheather it be from monatary cut back or whatever. I remember the days when
an unlicenced operator was more likely to get caught than not and this was a
big deteriant in controlling the problem. Now days it seems that we as
licenced operators have do these different agencies job for them. I guess
that's another topic for another time.

73...ve7agw, Al