Editorial: A Truck Driver Tale

Here’s a true story: The editorial office of Transport Topics overlooks a cul-de-sac that leads off a busy commercial street. There is a lot of construction going on in that cul-de-sac and last week one of the trucks delivering ready-mixed concrete broke down.

After the concrete company’s service technician was unable to get the truck started, they called in a tow-truck, a Kenworth T-800 with three load axles. It took a while to hook up to that mixer, and then the tow-truck driver’s challenge was to get out of the cul-de-sac.

There wasn’t enough room to turn that rig around in the loop at the end of the road, so the only option was to back down the narrow city street, lined with cars. Which he did, carefully and precisely. First he tried to turn into a side street, but some thoughtful civilian had parked a Mercedes SUV too close to the corner, so after two attempts to make that turn, the tow driver had no choice but to back all the way out onto the busy boulevard — this was at rush hour, by the way — which he did without incident.

Why does this story matter? Because this is part of the daily life of a truck driver: backing a tow-truck attached to a ready-mix truck carrying 2½ cubic yards of concrete, threading it through a narrow street lined on both sides with parked cars.

The skills that tow driver showed the other day are just one small part of the abilities that 421 drivers from all around the country will demonstrate as they compete in the National Truck Driving Championships Aug. 20-24 in Salt Lake City.

It may seem like fun and games, avoiding rubber duckies, having your tire placement judged by fractions of an inch, or scoring high on a test of myriad rules and procedures.

But as we cheer and recognize drivers we call “the best of the best,” we should remember that, as special as the NTDC contestants are, they represent the skills, knowledge and dedication to safe operation that millions of drivers employ and all the rest of us depend on as we share the streets and highways every day of the year.

So, hats off to the contestants, to the winners and, most of all, to all of our drivers.