Evening star., 1952-12-27

OF the cOntlngentS IN the lnaugl
officers of the Long Beach Polio
few turnoffs and no cross traffic,
we can hold a good, steady pace"
AS he pulls up to the bridge ap-
proach, the rear of another big
trailer stares back into his cab
Explosives" is plastered all over
the truck in large letters.
That looks dangerous" he
smiles, but it really isn't-that is,
unless you pile up. Then it doesn't t
make much difference anyway"
Mr.. Stitz stops at the toll gate
entrance to the Jersey Turnpike.
He receives a card with the toll
cost already calculated for him
and he'll pay when he leaves the
road south of Jersey City. He
settles back and stretches bit.
"This sure is lonely country
along these mudflats," he says. II
don't like to think of breakdowns
out here. You'd have to walk 10
miles to the nearest telephone to
Iget help"
BE time to eat soon." he says,
after a glance at his watch. We'll
pull into the next restaurant. You
know, truck driver just about
lives on coffee and sandwiches at
might"
Mr.. Stitz may not know it, but
he has exploded a myth about
truck drivers. According to most
tourists. the food is always good
where truck drivers stop. Don't
look now, but most of these drivers
are merely slipping coffee or eat
ing hamburger and doughnut.
They don't have time to sample
the finer cuisine of the roadside
diners.
The roar of the diesel begins
to pound in the cab as Mr.. Stitz
resumes his run-ryv-s~sss,s.-,-.~r,---ss,s
"Once in a WHILE" he says. ''it
really puts you to sleep. Then
you just have to pull over, catch
40 winks across the wheel and
move on again.
Identifying Lights.
"See those lights ON that trailer
meeting us?" he asks. That's
one of our trucks and the one
behind him is a Mclean job out
of Carolina. We can tell by the
arrangement of the lights on the
cab and trailer"
While Mr.. Stitz won't admit it,
the thought of accident and death
is always riding with him.
There's a stretch of route l
we call a death trap" he says.
Seven drivers piled up there over
a period of a few months. and
most of them burned to death in
their wrecks. In almost every
case, they were trying to avoid
collision with some speeder.
It'll be good to hit the sack
this morning." he continues, as
the eastern sky begins to brighten
with the lights of Railway, Eliz-
abeth and Newark ahead. THE
company just built a nice bunk
house for us at the Jersey City
terminal. We do our own cooking.
Some of the fellows lie around in
bed all day up there. just resting.
A lot of them have back trouble
after driving several years. I
guess the steady vibration finally
gets to their insides, but so far
I've missed it,"
At Goal in 5 Hours.
At 5 am, exactly five hours
after leaving the Baltimore termi-
nal, Mr.. Stitz pulls into Jersey
City. He checks out with the
traffic dispatcher and yawns, "let's
get some sleep. It's a long drag
back to Baltimore tonight"
Mr.. Stitz has been driving for
ID years, and the truck business
has changed a lot since he started.
In 1880 there we're about 100000
intercity trucks on the highways.
According to the American Truck
ing Associations more than 500,-
900 highway giants are operating
now.
In 1880, about 2.5 million per-
sons were employed in the truck
ing industry. Today, Mr.. Stitz
and Mr.. Chambers, are among
more than 6 million workers in
the business.
Limited on Routes.
Because of Interstate Commerce
Commission regulations. a truck
line must stick to certain routes
when it obtains a franchise. One
line may have permission to make
pickup and deliveries along a par
ticular route, while another must
go through without unloading.
The opening Of the new Chesa-
peake Bay Bridge hasn't made
much difference in truck traffic
through Washington for that rea-
son. Most lines are satisfied with
their regular routes and, in many
cases, find them better than the
newer ones. According to the Dis
trict Highway Department, there
has been no decline in truck traf-
f1c here.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Stitz and Mr..
Chambers eat, sleep and drive.
They're not interested in new
highways, unless it will make their
jobs safer.
Find some way to keep the
drunks and reckless drivers away
from us and we'n be satisfied"