Word: hazards
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...trucks that are furnaces in summer and freezing in winter. A good percentage of truck drivers have chronic stomach trouble and other health problems due to the existence they have to lead. Contrary to popular opinion, most truck-stop food is not very good. Truck driving is a physical hazard. Many men die on the highways every year...
Worst Offenders. Once the hazard was recognized, the Federal Water Quality Administration moved with remarkable speed. Within the past year, the agency has clamped down on polluting industries and has asked the Justice Department to prosecute ten companies accused of polluting the waters of seven states. Investigators found that the worst offenders were paper companies that either used mercury to prevent the formation of slime in the production of paper, or chemical companies using mercury cells to separate chlorine from brine solutions...
Because drivers spend so much time away from home, family problems become an occupational hazard. Truckers, says Hadaway, "are closer to their partners than their families, in many cases." Says Al Gregory: "You've got to have one hell of a woman at home in this business. You'll find more divorced guys driving trucks than anywhere else in the world...
...driver's lonely perch high above the highway gives him a special perspective; he can spot traffic patterns developing ahead more readily than the car-bound motorist. He scorns the tourists who dart in and out of traffic. Independent trucking operators pose another hazard, for they often overload their rigs and use pep pills to stay awake on long hauls, which can make them dangerously overtired on the road. The men driving for the big companies superstitiously shy away from rigs that they know have been rebuilt after a wreck. The road limits a man's vision...
Detroit Move. The presence of lead in gasoline poses still another hazard: the metal's residue clogs the antippllution devices that the automobile industry has developed for its next generation of cars. Hence Detroit favors lead removal as a means of meeting federal emission standards that are to take effect in the fall...