Wife rallies to help truckers

Support is sought for more rest stops

A trucker takes a break along Interstate 81 near a closed rest stop near the Mahanoy City exit. Traditions, a grass-roots campaign, hopes to raise awareness about problems facing truckers.

Driving down the highway in your car, a tractor-trailer looms in your rearview mirror the chrome grille bearing down like a set of shiny fangs.

It whizzes by, 18 wheels spinning at eye level. The rig passes, leaving a strong gust of wind in its wake.

The trucks may look like monsters but, inside, the driver behind the wheel is just as human as anyone. But chances are the trucker is dead tired.

``Our truckers keep this country going,'' said Brigette L. Fry, Williamstown. ``And they are taking a bashing every day.''

Fry, whose husband, Paul, has been a trucker for 28 years, shared the cab for eight years before staying home to care for their 16-, 15- and 5-year-old boys.

``But what I saw out there made me want to tell people what abuse these drivers take,'' she said.

Three months ago, on a now-rare trip with her husband to Texas, Fry found many interstate rest areas were closed, truck stops were overcrowded and other parking lots didn't welcome rigs.

``It's ironic how my husband can deliver the goods to the store, but then he can't park his truck to go shop there,'' she mused.

When she heard her husband and other truckers tell about being awakened by police and forced to move their trucks from roadside resting places, Fry decided to take action.

Using the Internet and spools of green ribbons, she began a grass-roots campaign earlier this summer. Called ``Traditions,'' her campaign aims to support America's 9 million truckers and their families and ask legislators to open more rest areas.

The ribbons and her ``Traditions'' newsletter are being distributed at as many truck stops as she can contact and she has received e-mail from supporters in Arizona, California, Ohio, Washington, Wisconsin and other states.

Legally, working hours for truckers seem reasonable: drive a maximum 10 hours, then rest a minimum of eight. Drivers are prohibited from traveling more than 500 to 600 miles per day, as well.

In practice, however, drivers are often forced by customers to help unload cargo and encouraged by employers to meet unrealistic deadlines.

``I got a call on a Saturday night one time that I had to be in Houston by Monday morning,'' Mr. Fry said. ``I did it, but I don't know how.''

On that particular trip, Mrs. Fry went along with her husband ``to help keep him awake,'' but many times tired truckers are on the road alone for months at a time.

Trucker fatigue is a very real problem, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

``There were quite a few rest areas that have had to be closed because of undesirable activity there,'' said Cpl. John J. Rigney, of state police headquarters in Harrisburg. ``But these drivers definitely need to rest.''

Rigney describes over-the-road truckers and car drivers, too who suffer from micro-sleep, a condition where a driver's eyes are open, but he is not technically conscious.

``It's like having no driver inside,'' Rigney said.

The micro-sleep spell may only last 20 seconds, but considering the rate of speed traveled on a highway, the danger is apparent.

Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of truck traffic in the country, yet the state continues to close rest areas.

``We are the Keystone State,'' Rigney said. ``Everything for delivery in the the eastern U.S. comes through here.''

Although no rest stops in Schuylkill County remain open, one is planned for an area near the Highridge on 81 Business Park.

Out West, Washington state is more adept at caring for its weary drivers.

``I worked at the fuel desk at a truck stop for six years,'' said Sharon L. Board, North Bend, Wash., who contacted Brigette Fry via the Internet and now contributes to the Traditions newsletter.

``The main thing that (truckers) talk about is being able to get a place to sleep.''

Her former employer Ken's Truck Town, Seattle is the largest truck stop in the Pacific northwest, easily holding 250 trailers and cramming in up to 450 when the weather makes roads impassible.

``But we're lucky,'' Board said. ``Washington hasn't closed down any rest areas, so truckers love to come here.''

Truckers have told her about being coerced into hauling loads on little sleep and complain to her about sharing the road with dangerous drivers.

``People tailgate trucks, they run beside them and they cut right in front of them,'' Board said. ``Those trucks can't stop on a dime.''

Sleep, though, seems to be the biggest factor in truck-related accidents and the absence of at least two hours of solid sleep after a nine-hour drive, increases the odds of crashing 130 percent from quitting after a six-hour haul.

``Sleep is a debt that is only paid by sleeping,'' Rigney said. ``There is no substitute.''