Heart Attack?

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workinforwood

workinforwood

Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
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8,173
Location
Eaton Rapids, Michigan, USA.
On my way back from Dayton this morning, coming into Lansing Michigan, our home base, I heard chatter on the CB about a driver having chest pains. 10 minutes later the chatter changed to a driver stuck the pillar of a bridge and the truck exploded. I am not absolutely positive, but I am pretty sure it was the same guy. He hit the bridge and the truck exploded on impact. The load was engine blocks, which burst through the front of the trailer pummeling what was left of the truck and driver and landing on the road. This was about 5:30 this morning and the road is still closed for investigation of the accident and the remains of the bridge.

Everything to do with our lives comes on a truck. God Bless this driver and his family.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...20101214&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=12140801&Ref=PH
 
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might want to contact the MSP let them know of the CB chatter. they may already know, but then again may know already... could contact WLNS channel 6 or WILX channel 10 clue them in to. just a thought.
 
Scary thing is I have a son on the road that I worry about this very thing happening... he's overweight... a lot of truck drivers are because they eat all the wrong things, sit on the backsides for hours and hours on end with no chance for exercise, they drive for long hours without proper rest... so far, he's rated at over 1,000,000 miles without an accident, but I still worry.
 
TellicoTurning said:
Scary thing is I have a son on the road that I worry about this very thing happening... he's overweight... a lot of truck drivers are because they eat all the wrong things, sit on the backsides for hours and hours on end with no chance for exercise, they drive for long hours without proper rest... so far, he's rated at over 1,000,000 miles without an accident, but I still worry.
Click to expand...

I think that to say a lot of truckers are overweight is a little bit of a stereo type, but certainly I understand your concerns. As a trucker myself, I would say there's no more fat truckers than there are overweight people in any field of work. Weight and unhealthy eating are still a concern, especially how we eat, because skinny people can have a heart attack too. Driving a truck can be extremely stressful. What people see on ice road truckers are things that most of us truckers out here consider not that bad a day. Those guys actually have it easy, they just drive back and forth through the snow and cold, dropping trailers. They have no traffic to deal with. When you have large cities and highways full of congested cars, ice on the roads, wind howling and 14 deliveries that you have to unload yourself, now you are stressed to the max. I have to physically unload my truck, and that's good exercise. But, I still don't eat too healthy on the road, fortunately I'm home almost every night, and I eat well at home. Your main concern for you son as a driver is really not his health, but rather the situations he is put in with traffic every day. One false move by a car, and he's a dead man..that's what happens to most of us that die on the road.
 
I personally hope that all of you stay safe on the roads, especially during the winter weather. Sorry to hear about the other driver. Hope his family is okay.
Stay safe.
 
I too am a driver and can relate to what Jeff is saying. My deliveries typically take place in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area where there are well over a million people and none of them drives alike. By the end of the day you're mentally exhausted and physically exhausted from unloading everything that was in the back of your truck. then factor in the weather too, wew, it can be a pain in the rear. Ever since becoming a driver, I have always felt that people should have to somehow be able to see what its like to be behind the driver's seat of a big truck and the many issues we deal with daily in traffic! It might make people appreciate our job a tiny bit more.

Sad story with the driver of the rig. But like others have said, its reality.
 
I drove by that yesterday on my way to Ann Arbor. I couldn't make out the cab of the truck. It was like it had comletely imploded. I said a prayer for his family and was quite shaken up by the scene.
 
seamus7227 said:
I too am a driver and can relate to what Jeff is saying. My deliveries typically take place in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area where there are well over a million people and none of them drives alike. By the end of the day you're mentally exhausted and physically exhausted from unloading everything that was in the back of your truck. then factor in the weather too, wew, it can be a pain in the rear. Ever since becoming a driver, I have always felt that people should have to somehow be able to see what its like to be behind the driver's seat of a big truck and the many issues we deal with daily in traffic! It might make people appreciate our job a tiny bit more.

Sad story with the driver of the rig. But like others have said, its reality.
Click to expand...


When I was in college, I waited tables and thought that everybody should have to wait tables at least one night so they could understand why it took me more than 2 seconds to refill their coke for the 4th time. After becoming a teacher, I thought that everybody should have to volunteer in a classroom, so they can see how their kids behave during the day. After becoming a parent, I thought that everybody who didn't have kids should have to watch over a baby for just a 24 hour period, just so they would understand. Now I understand that everybodies job is difficult and it's a much better policy to just be patient and understanding in general because even if you think the "little thing" that you're asking of somebody else should be easy, you don't really have any idea about what is really going on in all of the other aspects of their job/life.

So, to all of you truckers- thank you for the difficult job that you do. I'm sorry if I ever cut you off, or cursed you under my breath when I had to slow down for you on a steep uphill. Thanks for delivering all of my Christmas presents on time, and making sure I can get what I want at the local store.
 
Wow...you know,that's very well said Ben. I agree everyone should have to drive a semi for a few days..and yet I agree with what you say. And...apology accepted Thanks! :smile: I curse and not under my breath. I understand some of the things that the traffic is doing to me is just other drivers being selfish at that particular time, and even us truckers at the end of the day when we get in our car and go home we can sometimes revert back into that selfish type mode too. Have a great Christmas, stay safe, and save all the christmas bows so that we can lynch the city planner for installing round-a-bouts. :wink::biggrin:
 
workinforwood said:
TellicoTurning said:
Scary thing is I have a son on the road that I worry about this very thing happening... he's overweight... a lot of truck drivers are because they eat all the wrong things, sit on the backsides for hours and hours on end with no chance for exercise, they drive for long hours without proper rest... so far, he's rated at over 1,000,000 miles without an accident, but I still worry.
Click to expand...

I think that to say a lot of truckers are overweight is a little bit of a stereo type, but certainly I understand your concerns. As a trucker myself, I would say there's no more fat truckers than there are overweight people in any field of work. Weight and unhealthy eating are still a concern, especially how we eat, because skinny people can have a heart attack too. Driving a truck can be extremely stressful. What people see on ice road truckers are things that most of us truckers out here consider not that bad a day. Those guys actually have it easy, they just drive back and forth through the snow and cold, dropping trailers. They have no traffic to deal with. When you have large cities and highways full of congested cars, ice on the roads, wind howling and 14 deliveries that you have to unload yourself, now you are stressed to the max. I have to physically unload my truck, and that's good exercise. But, I still don't eat too healthy on the road, fortunately I'm home almost every night, and I eat well at home. Your main concern for you son as a driver is really not his health, but rather the situations he is put in with traffic every day. One false move by a car, and he's a dead man..that's what happens to most of us that die on the road.
Click to expand...

Sorry Jeff, didn't mean to sterotype anyone.. I worked in the traffic and transportation industry for 40 years and we did have as many skinny truckers as otherwise... I think more of what I was trying to impart.. it's difficult for a trucker to really eat well on the road... the cafe's and such just don't tend to pay a lot of attention to dietary needs... I know that a driver who is conscious of his health and diet can make good choices....
On the other hand, I agree with you 1000 percent... truck driving is one of the most stressful and hardest ways to make a living out there. I've seen drivers that in order to make on time deliveries and runs that pay would make some bad choices regarding their hours and sometimes drugs. I remember a driver we had in California... He was in the office on Thursday, stopped by my desk and said hello.... next time I saw him was Wednesday... he looked like had had been drug through a keyhole backwards... I commented and he said he had been to New York City, dropped a load, picked up and delivered in Boston, the another load out of Boston back towards Chicago and then home to San Francisco. That was a killer week for him and he probably had not had more than a few hours sleep over the whole week.... that was back in the '70's when a lot of drivers ran on the "beans"... We had another driver that absolutely refused any load over 8 hours driving.... he said he woke up one day with his truck sitting in 4 feet of water in a Louisiana Bayou. He didn't know how he got there, when he got there or how long he had been there. From that day on, he only ran a dedicated route from SF to Salt Lake... lay over night and back next day...

I don't envy ANY truck driver out there... he earns his money the hard way.
 
I have figured out something, maybe. I was beginning to worry that we were running out of Heros. The Lone Ranger, Tonto, Roy, Gene, the list goes on for a very long way are all gone to their resting place. WE were running completely out of heros. This thread has brought something to the front, the world is just packed plum full of heros. Each and every day, truck drivers, linemen, plumbers,factory workers, police, each and everyone of us, literally put our very lives on the line to make the world just a little bit better for people we do not even know and never will. John Wayne said something like this in one of his movies, 'the hero is scared but saddles up anyway.'
I tell my apprentices, the day I walk on the job and and do not have a bit of fear is the day I must take my tools home, hang them on the wall and never touch them again. That goes in the home shop as well.
All my friends, and that includes you all, please be careful in evrything you do.
Charles
 
Don't worry Chuck...I'm not offended in any way.

And Hero's..no doubt..we all play our part in making the world go round. How about that plumber in Alaska that gets on his ski do and drives for 7 days to fix a frozen toilet and septic system!!! Saw that on Discovery or History channel one day...now that is a hero! Wow.
 
I 've driven that stretch of road many times. It is sad to see such a tragic ending to a man in medical distress. I work for a company that has a fleet of about 65 trucks on the road each day and they hold a function of "eyes on the road" for the Michigan State police. They report issues they see on the roads from stranded drivers to accidents , etc. They share some of those stories with the rest of us. We see what they encounter and it is often not pretty. Cudos to the guys in the big rigs! I've seen Jeffs truck and is she is a biggun. I wouldn't want to sit behind the wheel of it, for sure!
Stay safe Jeff.
 
I didn't drive a big rig, but I WAS in a large truck with 200-600 gallons of chemicals sloshing around in it at any point in time. It was harrowing to say the least. After being on the road with it for like 13 or 14 hours every day I'd have to get in my personal truck and drive an hour and a half home. I'd spend entire days with people thinking their horns and high beams would get me 15-20 mph over the speed limit on residential streets where it was hard enough to stay in the narrow lanes at the speed limit or a little below. And the pressure to push work out was unbelievable. Management expected 10 minutes a stop even if an oversized, underpriced property had severe issues. And that includes time to drive to the stop. I was so badly tweaked out on stress I was afraid for my long-term health. Now that I'm out of that line of work, I NEVER want to go back.
 
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