Truck drivers in America have hard jobs that demand that they travel over roads that are broken down and only getting worse. State budgets are gutted and to make up for it are beginning to move higher fines to their highways and turnpikes, putting further strains on truck drivers’ bottom lines. Yet much of the money rarely makes it all the way to highway repairs.
While that’s a sad thing for most North American truck drivers, we thought we would link you up to an article about just how bad a truck route could be, even in developed countries.
We spotted a photo-journalism piece by Reuters author Nacho Doce, as he rode along in a semi truck across Rondonopolis to Sorriso on the infamous 5,000 mile stretch of thin traffic lanes and hairpin turns at nosebleed heights. One mistake can mean the end.
One part of the article we found quite interesting, as truck drivers in Brazil echo the same thoughts that American truck drivers do about their careers.
“One of the reasons for our interest in trucking was to see the results of the government’s new rule mandating rest periods for drivers. Their goal is to limit the number of hours that truckers drive without rest, and reduce accidents. At our first rest stop with Marcondes, who heeded this new rule, I photographed another driver sleeping in a hammock that he tied to his truck. I took some pictures and he asked me what I was doing. When I explained, he said, “Tell President Dilma Rousseff that truck tires are not square. I don’t think she’s ever been on these roads.”
