Truck drivers deliver 72 percent of America’s goods and materials at great personal risk. Along with long days away from home, the women and men who keep the supply chains open perform one of the country’s more dangerous jobs without a safety net.
Operating an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer at high speeds too often results in horrific crashes and fatalities. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 800 truckers lose their lives annually while delivering products to our communities. Statistically, the truck driver death rate runs approximately 26.8 per 100,000, ranking it among the most hazardous occupations.
Owner-operators have little to no support from freight and logistics companies when tragedy strikes, and even the families of fleet drivers may not get the assistance they deserve. That’s largely why Robert Palm organized the non-profit Truckers Final Mile to bring fallen drivers home to their families.
“To our knowledge, with eight years of experience doing this charity, there’s no law, no statute, no regulation, no mandate to compel any employer or any company to bring any driver home for any reason,” Palm reportedly said. “It’s a thing a lot of drivers need to be educated about because they have the assumption, they would be taken care of by their employer.”
Palm, an OTR trucker who began his career in 1981, started Truckers Final Mile after several harrowing experiences. He reportedly lost his step-brother to a truck crash in 1993, and family members were left to collect the body and belongings on their own. In 1997, he was hospitalized after a serious truck collision. The outfit he worked for at the time offered no support. Family members were tasked with traveling hundreds of miles to bring him home to recuperate.
And when his appendix ruptured outside St. Louis in 2010, Palm was forced to drive himself to a hospital. Unable to drive home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, he paid for transportation out-of-pocket. This seemingly callous lack of compassion from companies remains all-too commonplace. As Palm became increasingly aware many truckers and their family had no safety net, he filled the void.
Truckers Final Mile helps bereaved families coordinate and pay to transport men and women home who are sick, injured, or lose their lives while on the job. Recent examples include Daryn Worster, a 56-year-old trucker who lost his life the day after Christmas. His grieving widow futilely reached out to his employer for assistance.
“I can’t get a hold of their insurance director. I’ve left four voicemails,” Joani Worster reportedly said. “Which hurts. I first asked if I could ride down and pick him up as they retrieved their truck, but they never got back to me.”
Truckers Final Mile responded and removed at least one burden from the trucking family’s shoulders.
“They’ve given me and our four kids some breathing room. We’re paycheck to paycheck with no savings,” Worster reportedly said. “I would still be trying to find the money and means to bring him home.”
A survey conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health revealed that truck drivers work under extreme pressure to meet delivery times while braving severe weather. The current supply chain crisis and pandemic have only worsened conditions. Thankfully, fellow truckers such as Palm are doing their part through non-profits such as Truckers Final Mile.
Sources: theguardian.com, thehill.com
I had to track my best friend in the entire world down yesterday because he had talked with his kids since Tuesday morning n last talked with me at 3pm n I found him at his 1st stop of the trip at sysco plant in Memphis Tennessee he was still parked on the street n had passed away in his sleeper….he’s from Kentucky n I’m sure his kids need help to get him back home once the autopsy is down…they just lost their mom 4yrs ago thank you in advance
He was the best person in the entire world if he could help u he would without a world said I miss you Wayne Carman