I heard the “a” word again used on drivers – attitude. It seems whenever a driver pointedly confronts a law enforcement official, raises his voice to be heard or argues over the facts, he has an attitude. Why is it always labeled attitude?

Oh, I know there are those few individuals driving trucks who really do have an attitude, but why isn’t the officer ever the one with an attitude? The old saying “a little bit of power corrupts a lot.” These people get a badge, a gun, the authority to arrest others and more knowledge of the current laws, and suddenly they can’t fit their hats on their big heads anymore.

Law enforcement officials are supposed to be trained to deal with these incidences, while drivers for the most part aren’t.

Driving is a tough job and requires a lot of the driver in any normal workday. Throw in being pulled over and cited for whatever reason on top of a day, week or a month over the road, and most drivers will be doing their best to have all their paperwork ready and stand there mostly quiet while answering to the officer and signing for the ticket. Maybe this attitude is the driver just trying to defend himself.
Rodney Randal
Corpus Christi, Texas

Hourly Pay is Not for Me
[In response to Editor Randy Grider's column "A New Game Plan" in the September 2004 issue], you go ahead and work by the hour if you wish. If I have to settle for that, just send me to a factory. We need to drop all the limitations and simply log it as we drive it – be it eight hours or 18 hours. The truth is what they want anyway.
Roland Caston
Mineola, Texas

Tow Thieves
There is a situation that truckers who are in the Arlington, Texas, area need to know about. My husband hauls cars and met a customer in a parking lot there, picked up his car, turned the truck around and went into the restaurant located in the complex there to eat. The next thing he knew, the owner of the restaurant said, “Why is there a truck near yours?” The next thing they knew, the truck was disappearing around the corner. An Arlington abandoned vehicle towing company broke into his truck and drove it to their lot. It cost us $975 to get it back the next day. He was legally parked in the lot. The police were called, and they said there wasn’t a thing they could do. They also said that these thieves were a real pain in the butt. They are known to do this all the time. I think the word should be put out to all truckers, so this doesn’t happen to them.
Judy Glancy
Fremont, Iowa