Up Front

Action speaks louder than words

If you’ve been reading this and other columns in Over the Road and Pro Trucker lately, you know we’ve devoted a considerable amount of space to the subject of drivers’ health and related issues. What you may not know is that we’ve also extensively covered the subject in Inside Trucking Online, an e-newsletter aimed at recruiting directors and other trucking industry officials.
     At this point, we trust we have made the point that the state of the health of the nation’s over-the-road professionals is poor, and that everyone involved—the medical profession, carriers and obviously drivers themselves—needs to do something about it. We’ve talked enough; it’s time for action.
     What can carriers do? They can, as some already have, support health-screenings, smoking cessation and weight-loss programs and on-site fitness centers for their drivers. What can drivers do? Take advantage of these and other programs to stop smoking, lose weight and become more knowledgeable about the state of their own health and take steps to improve it.
     As for us, we’re not just up on the health soapbox, we’re also sponsoring more than 100 Healthy Trucking kiosks at truck stops around the country. In the 35-plus years we’ve been involved in the trucking industry, I can’t recall a more important cause.