By: Heidi O.- Truckers Wives
A Right to Privacy?
Should we expect a right to privacy in our own trucks while sitting at a truck stop? Are we to expect a right to privacy when we are on the road?
Not long ago, there was a photo circulating Facebook of a driver who was naked in his front seat at a truck stop.
One story was that he was waiting on an ambulance to come, as he was having health issues; one story says he was waiting on his wife to come out of truck stop; one story even said the poor man dead.
I do not personally know what happened to him, but my question is, Where did our right to privacy go?
Did we lose respect for another’s privacy just because social media surfaced? Does social media mean that now we can just take pictures of whomever or whatever we want and plaster it everywhere for all to see?
My husband and I live in the truck, and it is our home. Therefore, we expect that whatever we do in the cab or in the sleeper of our truck should be our business, and not that of our neighbor parked next door or the driver three trucks down who is sitting with his camera ready to take pictures of whatever he may find funny or disgusting.
Where did our morals as humans go?
What about the recent story of the driver who had an accident, and his passenger was naked? Did the news even need to report the fact that his wife was naked in the truck? The driver was apparently distracted as many have already told the authorities and the press. Could they not just report he was distracted and leave the naked passenger (who was his wife, by the way) out of the story altogether?
How about all the pictures that circulate facebook daily of “look at this load” and “is this even legal?” Or my absolute favorite of “look where this driver just decided to urinate!”
I find some of these things beyond ridiculous to even post, let alone discuss amongst other fellow brother and sister truckers.
First, your main concern should be YOUR own load and getting it where it needs to go safely. Secondly, wondering if anyone else’s load is legal just says you probably don’t carry the same type of freight, so therefore shouldn’t be worried about if he or she is legal unless you actually see them doing something illegal.
Lastly, men (and some women) have been urinating across this land where they can if they need too. DO I condone this behavior, NO, but I do understand when a man has to go and does. Is the fuel island the place to do it, ABSOLUTELY NOT, but someone taking a picture of them doing it is also wrong, and last I ever heard, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Since when does everyone live in glass houses and can throw stones at who are supposed to be fellow brothers and sisters of the road?
Everyone asks what happened to the “brotherhood” of the road, well to this I say that social media has overtaken our lives and allowed us to forget where privacy and common sense should end.
Editorial Credit: Twin Design / Shutterstock.com