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Traffic Terrors for the Trucking Life |
Written by Allen Smith
Thursday, 12 April 2007
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Photo courtesy of: stockxpert.com The trucking life is a hard life. Any professional driver involved in OTR trucking will confess to this fact. Even local drivers will admit that operating in the world of trucking is a tough business. Seventy hour work weeks and simply not enough rest are a few of the standards for the trucking life. I was listening to a talk show on the radio the other night and they were discussing the dangers of our world being overpopulated. I just had to chuckle to myself. For all the truckers that have ran through such states as Montana and Wyoming, just to name a few, I simply do not believe we are overpopulated. When you can drive for hundreds of miles and only see a "few" other vehicles on the road, where is the mass population? In fact, the amount of industrialization for the U.S. stands at only 3-5 percent! The "overpopulation" exists within the cities of America. This makes perfect sense . . . the people congregate around the obvious living spaces. Travel through the back woods of this country . . . drive pass the Northwest wilderness and the deserts of America and you will see no traffic, no people, nothing. Those in the trucking life see this. The problem with local driving and OTR trucking hits you like a brick when your work takes you into the cities of America. I have caught myself thinking that there are just too many people on this planet! That is why the professional truck driver is so glad to get back on the "open road" and away from the overpopulated areas. But when you realize that this country, as a whole, has a development rate of only 3-5 percent, then the reality is we have a long way to go to say we are overpopulated. When five million people decide to live in a small area such as New York City, obviously you are going to be, how should I say . . . a little "crowded?" The trucking life becomes aggravating at best, when tackling the traffic of these major cities. One of the worst cities for driving is Atlanta. Never-ending accidents and traffic jams are constant. Of course this can be true for most major cities where there are just too many vehicles and not enough lanes to handle them. Former U.S. Department of Transportation secretary, Norman Y. Mineta, in a conference in Washington, D.C. on April 10th, said "The traffic in the U.S. is so bad that when people get behind the wheel, a single vision grips their mind: Traffic Armageddon." His solution is to seek private-sector financing for the U.S. highways and infrastructure. Or in another term: privatization. I tend to agree. Our own government cannot keep up with the building and maintenance of the interstates and highways. Drive through the "George Washington" in NYC, and you feel as if you are driving along the roads of a third world country! It is not just the NYC area either . . . my home state of Oklahoma needs major highway renewal. You can lose thirty pounds just from the "shaking" running along Interstate 40. With all this said, there are some interesting facts about the U.S. and world population. Currently, the U.S. population stands at 301, 593, 922 and the world standing at 6, 588, 329, 647. But this Earth has a way of balancing things out. It has done so for six billion years:
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
About The Author:
Aubrey Allen Smith is the author of the Truth About Trucking and is an expert in transportation. He has helped hundreds of new drivers by unveiling the scams of the trucking industry. If you are considering a career in trucking, please visit http://www.truthabouttrucking.com today, and know the truth.
Aubrey Allen Smith is the author of the Truth About Trucking and is an expert in transportation. He has helped hundreds of new drivers by unveiling the scams of the trucking industry. If you are considering a career in trucking, please visit http://www.truthabouttrucking.com today, and know the truth.You are welcome to publish this article free of charge on your website, newsletter, or e-zine, provided:
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