i work in ltl (less than truckload) shipping.. i have been the office manager in the boston, then the worcester ma terminals for estes express for 14 yrs.. worked for abf, preston trucking & yellow frt before that. about 30 years of working w/drivers
in that time i have known many drivers. you will always have a few bad apples, just like every other profession, but for the most part, they are hard working, talented people doing a very difficult job
we recently had a driver involved in a fatal accident. he was running @ nite, and a 4 wheeler (driven by a teenager, with a carload of kids, coming from a party @ 245 am..) came off an onramp and lost control of her car.. our driver tried to avoid, going from the right lane, to the center lane to the left lane, but the 4 wheeler still spun into him, and a passenger was killed..
he is devastated. he did nothing wrong, did everything anyone could do to avoid it, and will still carry the weight of her death for the rest of his life...
another driver i knew was hit head on, by a guy committing suicide... happened years ago, but he will still drive miles out of his way to avoid that stretch of road...
they keep the economy moving... one of my guys has a bumper sticker on his personal vehicle...
it has a picture of a stork bringing the baby... says "everything else you have, came by truck"
just give them enough room on the highway, surface street and loading docks to do their job.