I agree that trucking has no more convicts than other occupations, however, we get blamed and publicized more than any other occupation. I'm not sure why that is, but if there is an accident involving a truck, who gets the blame no matter whose fault it is? If there is something negative to be said about trucking, it'll be said, but that goes for everything now days.
What can ya do?!

the reason why they report that "a truck driver" did this or that is that it is news. everybody loves hearing about bad news to somebody else. the trucking industries has as many "bad" people in it as cops or school teachers. how many times do you read about a school teacher, a person we trust with our kids, having "a little fun." cops get cought looking at porn while on duty. like anything else, there is good and there is bad. good does not make news. period.

There's a little schadenfreude in all of us.

The media sucks. I actually had an email discussion about this with a sports writer during the Triple Crown in thoroughbred racing this spring. There is another industry that gets beat up in the media because of one bone head or one bad accident. Never mind all the good that any industry does, we don't hear about that, but let them screw up just once, and it's on! There is one local news channel where I live whose morning anchors actually like, understand, and support truckers. I was shocked the first time I heard one of them reminding the public about how to properly drive around big trucks. I can't remember the particulars of the story any longer. Media portrayal is the biggest problem in getting a better message out about truckers.

__________________
I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.

Dynamite comes in small packages, Nitro comes in smaller ones, take your pick!

My thought on this is that we could weed out some of the bad apples by not allowing them in to start with. We still have states making things worse by training new drivers straight out of prison- [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. and this is causing an accost the board wage cut because there is a glut of Felon drivers who are begging to get out of the state that convicted them. My opinion on this is that Felons may be good workers and if they have been released from prison they have payed for their crime, but paying for your crime does not make it OK and all better. As a Felon you have proven that you will break the rules of society. Why should we be the industry that gets dumped on? If Grand-theft is a Felony then do you want the guy hauling loads of Cigaretts? If the Dude was caught holding a controlled substance should we say OK you can't be a Lawer any more so we are going to put you behind the wheel of an 80,000 lb truck?

My piont is that Trucking seems to be a reward for criminals. Why us? Why do we need to have this influence on our industry? This is a safety sensitive job. Do we really want proven rule breakers in it?