Berm Notes

I am pleased to report that camaraderie is alive and well in the trucking industry. This was my experience this week as an incident occurred in the small town of Riviera, Texas.

While traveling across state route 285 and upon arriving at the intersection of US 77, I noticed a tanker truck had stopped across the railroad tracks. The truck was pointed in the opposite direction in which I was traveling. There was a truck backing up in front of him and I began to wonder what was going on. Just then, a woman walked around the truck and began to tie a logistics strap around the ICC bumper of her trailer and the tanker truck, which was sitting on the railroad tracks. As my light turned green, I pulled off to the right side of the road in order to lend any assistance. I grabbed a Tow Chain which was stored under the bunk of my truck in case the tiny logistics strap wouldn’t be enough to pull the broken down tanker truck. As it turned out, by the time I had my equipment in hand, the truck had already been pulled off the tracks.

As I stood by the road to take this all in for a moment, I noticed a couple of people were running away from the scene in order to warn a potential train should one be coming down the tracks. Luckily, there were no trains at this moment in sight. This is usually a heavy freight train lane so we were all fortunate. I’m not sure if anyone actually called the railroad, as this should have been part of the process. This entire situation began and finished in just a few minutes. Everything happened so quickly and people were at their best to assist however they could. Those involved did what was necessary to help this tanker driver in his difficult and potentially dangerous circumstances. People jumped into action and before you knew it…all was taken care of and everyone exited the scene.

What I witnessed really impressed me on this day. The situation reinforced what I already believe and that is to say that comradery is alive and well today. We just don’t require as much personal contact due to technology and all the devices we use today for communication. A broken down truck today is not alone as we are all well connected and can quickly take care of the many circumstances as they arise. A simple call can have help on the way in mere moments. It’s refreshing to know that we still care and have each other’s backs should we need a helping hand.