Women in Trucking - A Woman Driver's Guide

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Predators are around us everywhere in this society. While truck drivers tend to watch out for each other quite a bit more than do the general public, we are still made up from the general public and there are unsavory types among us too. But we are also vulnerable to the public at large, our workplace is not restricted, and we interact with them.

Now granted, many predators won''t target truckers as their prey per se, because like most everyone else they think of them as big burly men. But some may target truckers for a variety of reasons. The first might be cargo. Cargo is the prey of choice and cargo theft is a huge issue. Many organized groups that once did drugs and guns now target cargo of all types. Usually by the time anyone knows cargo is missing, it''s already dispersed.

The problem for the law is to first figure out whose jurisdiction it falls under-the shipper, the consignee, the place the theft took place, the trucking company''s headquarters, the drivers domicile...you begin to see the problems. Even just notifying all those people takes time. So, don''t talk about your freight wherever you might be, anyone can be listening. The worst thing is that they don''t even have to be standing next to you to hear you! Thieves have made a business of finding the cargo they want. Don''t help them, and don''t assume you know what they want. Pay attention to your surroundings, lock and seal your trailers and tractors. If you are in the back checking something, and your cab is open, you are asking for trouble.

One driver with that habit later woke up with a large snake in the sleeper with him! Luckily (I guess), it was not poisonous, and he looked good in his underwear when he went running into the truck stop yelling at the top of his lungs!

But on a more serious note, we all need to be watchful. If you read the various trucker magazines, they keep you apprised of the truckers charged with murder, rape, kidnapping; the list goes on. I don''t often remember that other truckers were their victims but there are too many unsolved crimes against truckers, so who can say for sure. Crimes of opportunity are a big danger to us. Don''t create one for a criminal.

Rest areas are another place we are at risk. The solitary nature of our work and the fact that nobody is there to see if you make it back to the truck, and the fact that attacks, even murders in rest areas, are not documented. I searched the internet and could get little of nothing, but I know from my years out there of specific murders. Also, one time in the north I had stopped to use a rest area and there was a flyer about multiple attacks up and down that highway in the rest areas it was cautioning people and asking for information! Makes you think again about spending money on in-cab facilities, doesn''t it?

I remember a lady trucker, a flat bed driver whose body was found beaten to death in a rest area in Ohio in the 1970s. No one was ever charged with that as far as I know. So use only rest areas with 24-hour security. Get in and get out. Stop with someone if possible. Keep your doors locked, run your seat belt through the door handle of your passenger and driver''s door when you''re sleeping.

Don''t let your guard down just because you are in a place that is "safe" either such as a truck stop, at your terminal, or at your home. Take the same precautions, don''t be an easy target anywhere.

Now having said all that, let me also add that having spent better than 30 years over the road I only met one man that was foolish enough to even threaten me and he was hard to even see as a threat. I was more protected than he realized, but after a while he just slunk away on his own. I am not afraid out there. I am careful and I pay attention to my surroundings.

There is another place to be cautious; I talked last night to a super-nice lady at Truckers Cupid, which was mentioned in an article in our weekly newsletter, and she was telling me what they do to weed out the predators there. They call everybody! They make sure the phone numbers are real, that the people are who they say they are, and they insist on pictures and warn that if there are no pictures, expect a predator!

So be cautious, trust your instincts, and you should be ready for anything.