Word: drivered
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
About the only thing a driver can't get at Transport City is a bottle of beer or a shot of bourbon. No alcohol is available because, says Ralph Hutchinson, one of Transport City's developers, "drinking and driving don't mix." In the 99-unit motel, drivers can rent functional, two-bed rooms for $13.50 a night. They rarely stay that long. The occupancy rate usually runs from 100% to 130%, as truckers slam in, grab a shave, a nap, fill up and head out again...
...lounge upstairs, drivers pass the time shooting pool or watching TV. Afternoons, a handful of drivers usually hang around the call board, smoking and talking. On the board are buttons that connect them directly with the Georgia offices of 29 nationwide freight carriers. "May I have your attention, please," an amplified female voice will vibrate through the room. "Anybody with a reefer interested in going to New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania, please come to the desk." What a driver hauls depends partly on his truck. "Reefer" is jargon for a semi that carries refrigerated items, flatbeds tend...
Weeks on the road are hard on a man's home life. One driver who has been married five times explains, "You get in the truck and leave, and they [the wives] see something they like better at home. But if you worry about that, you can't do your job." On the other hand, prostitutes flock around truck stops. Some drivers complain that Transport City harasses the women traveling with truckers. But the owners say they are just trying to protect the drivers. Like rock music and politics, trucking has its groupies, young girls who stand outside...
Even so, few truckers willingly share their cabs. "That's mainly why a driver is a driver," says Carter, pushing back his tractor cap and folding his arms over his ample paunch. "He's by himself. Drivers can't stand a lot of racket. They like to get out by themselves and think." But not many go to the extreme of one young trucker doing his laundry at Transport City. He literally lives out of his rig. His dispatcher even reads him his mail over the radio. "I wouldn't trade it for anything...
...Truckers will do anything to avoid the weigh stations ("chicken coops") in those seven states. "You just can't make it from California to the East Coast legal," sighs Jerry Reeve, 37. "The Federal Government and state bureaucrats have made liars and thieves of us all," adds a driver. "Everybody finds ways around the rules." Just to break even, they all feel, they must break the speed limit, drive longer than the regulation ten hours or 450 miles at a stretch, and doctor their logbooks...