Last night … traveling south on Interstate Eighty Five in South Carolina …. I came upon a wreck in the medium of the highway. In front of me … was another eighteen wheeler ….As we passed the wreck … an ambulance pulled out b...ehind me with the lights and siren on. Understanding that this vehicle must have had injured people inside on its way to the hospital where life saving medical treatment could be administered to save their lives, I slowed down and moved over into the emergency lane so the ambulance could pass. Not a hard thing to do. Just, the right thing to do; and for those of you who don't know, the legal thing to do whenever conditions allow. Now my big truck friend in front of me, having been slowed down by the wreckage on the highway found themselves at the bottom of a hill trying to pick up speed. He was also coming up on the exit ramp the ambulance needed to take so it could transport its load of injured and dying people to the hospital to save their lives. I know that most of us truck drivers would have done the humane thing and slowed down and moved into the emergency lane to allow the ambulance to pass. That’s what you would have thought. Just, not my friend last night. You see, my friend, having been slowed down by the wreck needed to get his load up that hill. That hill, to them, was the most important thing in the world. By slowing down and allowing that ambulance to pass so they could get off that ramp meant that that driver had to back out of it on that hill; and let me tell you my friends, that just was not going to happen. Perhaps moving into the left lane might have been an option, clearing a path to that off ramp. I guess not. I even once again turned on my CB and asked the driver to allow the ambulance to pass. Of course I got the "you drive your truck" thingy blasted back at me. So, I watched this ambulance weave back and forth from right lane to left lane trying to get this professional truck driver to slow down and move right so he could get his load of injured people to the hospital. I watched as that professional truck driver to damned lazy to get out of the way, held up the lives of those praying they would live through the night. So, their families would not have to go on without them. I watched, as another fine truck driver added yet another black eye to our profession.
First I pray that those involved are doing ok today. Well on their way to a speedy recovery. I offer from the trucking industry a sincere apology. Please know that most of us would like to catch this professional truck driver in the back lot and explain to them a little courtesy for human life.
Secondly. I always wondered, as I watch from time to time drives without regard for anything but their own needs, just how far they would go to never ever, lift that foot up off the fuel peddle. I guess now I know. What a shame. Jeff Head See More
