I have been reading a
variety of blog posts this summer regarding citizenship, community,
and democracy. Most of these blog posts have been investigating the
reasons why fewer and fewer of us participate in the democratic
process and the feelings of isolation and lack of influence many of
us are feeling these days as a result. It was a blog post titled “The
Myth of the Silent Majority” written by Glen Pearson that really
got me thinking about the challenges the trucking industry faces and
what our responsibilities are as individual drivers to influence
positive change. Glen summed up the silent majority this way:
“How
can drawing in people to care more about their community possibly be
wrong, especially in times of great transition or challenge? And how
can the presence of a silent and ambivalent majority possibly stand
as a viable excuse for the lack of citizen accountability? The
presence of a majority of citizens refusing to face impending
struggles on behalf of their own community is hardly a testimony to
the vigor of the democratic legacy.”
A week or two before
reading Glen's blog I was sat in a line of stalled traffic on highway
#17 west of Kenora. The 20 kilometer long line of traffic was a
result of a fatality accident that had occurred near the Ontario /
Manitoba border. I learned this by turning on my CB radio. But it
wasn't long before the trash talk started over the radio at which
point I joined what I believe to be the silent majority of drivers
and turned my radio off. CB trash talk is all about bigotry, hatred,
ignorance, and fear. Those feelings have found fertile ground for
some in the changes that are taking place around us.
There isn't any doubt
that the trucking industry is in a time of great transition and that
we are all facing huge challenges as a result. The shortage of
qualified drivers, holding drivers to a higher standard through
stricter enforcement, exponential growth of technology, the push to
adopt that technology in the cab, pressure to improve productivity,
pressure to hold down wages, and the impact all of those things have
on our lifestyle add to our feelings of angst.
Much of the bigotry and
ignorance that prevails over the CB airwaves revolves around
immigrant drivers. It has more to do with a fear of change within the
North American trucking culture than with driving skill or knowledge.
Leaving your homeland and moving to another country with a vastly
different culture and lifestyle is about pursuing a better life for
your family and it is something that is incredibly difficult to do. I
can speak to this with some limited experience. My family immigrated
to Canada from Great Britain 45 years ago. Although I was still a
child at the time I can still remember the challenges we faced as a
family despite sharing a common language and similar cultural norms.
The last thing an immigrant family is looking for is a free ride. My
parents saw Canada as a land of opportunity that could provide a
better life for their family and it certainly did. But there were no
guarantees. Success came through hard work and commitment. These are
two qualities I believe all people striving for a new beginning in
our country share. I think the silent majority would agree with me on
that.
There is much room for
improvement in how the rules around safety and compliance are
enforced. There will always be debate about the validity of some of
those rules and whether they are necessary at all. But the fact is
that laws governing conduct and the rules of the road need to be in
place. Many of those rules have been put in place more for the
benefit of the commercial driver than anyone else. I think it may
very well be a silent majority of drivers that prefer they are
limited to a 70 hour week.
As a group we drivers
often complain about the lack of camaraderie today in comparison to
the 'good old days'. That feeling is fueled by negative talk over the
radio. Many of us have dealt with this by simply turning our CB off.
But is that the right approach? Ignoring that attitude certainly
doesn't make it go away but at the same time, I admit, that when you
engage with drivers on the radio it usually degenerates into a
pointless shouting match. It appears that as individuals there's not
much we can do to stop or at least tone down the trash talk. I think
we can agree there is a silent majority of professionals out there.
But in our silence are we allowing the voice of the minority to
dominate? Ignoring it certainly does not seem to be making it go
away.
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