Truck stop casinos
Several times I have written about the difficult lifestyle of truck drivers, and how that adversely affects their health and the safety of others on the roads. It is virtually impossible to find healthy food or a place to exercise at truck stops across America. So truckers are somewhat more prone than other middle aged guys, become obese and develop cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, sleep apnea, etc. (Not that I'm such a paragon of fitness either, but at least it's easy for me to eat healthy, jog around the neighborhood and get to the gym in my office building if I make the time.)
But driving with my son from Los Angeles to Atlanta a few days ago, I noted something even worse affecting truckers' lifestyle. Through Arizona and New Mexico we saw several truck stops with adjoining casinos. I didn't stop to see if they have healthy food or exercise facilities, but they surely have places for truckers to drink and gamble away their earnings.
There are no casinos in Georgia, and certainly no truck stop casinos. For a number of reasons, primarily my view of morality, I would be happy to keep it that way.
Ken Shigley is a trucking safety trial attorney representing seriously injured people in tractor trailer, big rig, intermodal container freight, cement truck, dump truck and bus accidents statewide in Georgia. He served as chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Litigation Institute in 2005, is a national board member of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, and is on the National Advisory Board for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America.
He has extensive experience representing parties in interstate trucking collision cases, and in the past two years has spoken at national interstate trucking litigation seminars in Chicago (trucking insurance), New Orleans (trial tactics and side underride issues), St. Louis (punitive damages), San Francisco (dealing with insolvent trucking companies), Atlanta (trucking insurance, closing argument), Nashville (use of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations), and Amelia Island (overview of trucking litigation).
A Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, he has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" (Atlanta Magazine), among the "Legal Elite" (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (Martindale). In addition to trucking litigation, he has broad experience in products liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. Currently he is Treasurer and a candidate for President-Elect of the 41,000 member State Bar of Georgia.This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.
Comments
Since you are speaking of casinos specifically in AZ and NM, just FYI, those casinos are owned and operated by Indian Reservations. Those casinos are not the same thing as one would find in Vegas.
Just because there is a casino next door to a truck stop, does not mean that all drivers stop. Its called a free will choice to stop, walk into a casnio, and plop quarters or bills into slot machines meanwhile drinking alcohol. And as for the drinking at casinos, again, who forces them to consume alcohol on the clock? Why is a casino any different than a truck stop for purchasing alcohol? If a driver, whether it be a commerical or non-commercial driver, wants to drink alcohol and then drive behind the wheel, they will find the alcohol with ease, especially at truck stops. And again, who is forcing them to drink and then drive (two separate acts)other than themselves?
My other half has been driving a truck for over 20 years. He is currently in his 18th year with the same company, and is nearly 2 million miles accident free. Not to say that he hasn't been involved in accidents (six total), including a fatality accident however, all the accidents he has been involved in are thanks to drunk drivers. He will be 48 in the coming year, is 6ft and weighs 160lbs. His blood pressure is normal, actually on the low normal side, and obviously his weight is not an issue.
While I agree that there are not many healthy choices of food to eat on the road, unless one is lucky enough to have someone at home making up "plates" for them to take on the road; or for them to stop at a grocery for fresh fruit and veggies while on the road, they have little choice. The timing of loads and the clock continually ticking, along with the HOS rule of 10 hours IN THE BUNK, its kind of hard to make your own food, or wait for food at a sit down diner. Not to mention time for going to the bathroom, and showers upon first awakening.
As for exercise, again, where is the time? There's the HOS rules, then personal time for showers, etc., and then food. Where is there room for exercise? It's not like a nine-to-five job, where you get up, follow a routine, drive to work at a building that has a fitness room. And that room is available before work, during lunch, and after work. Last time I checked, there wasn't room for a fitness machine or exercise equipment in the cab/bunk and the HOS does not allow for food stops.
It's not the truckers fault. It's the industry's fault, the truck stop's fault, and the convenience of fast food establishment's fault. There are few if any options available for them.
And I kind of take offense to the fact that you seem to think, with the way you write, that all truckers are fat, lazy and immoral since they all seem to stop at a casinos. And while they stop at a truck stop next to a casino, they will not only gamble, but will get drunk.
Its obvious what side of the courtroom you represent with your statements.
Not ALL truckers are bad. Please in the future remember that point instead of generalizing all truckers into your drunken, immoral category.
Posted by: Steele | December 19, 2009 2:21 AM
Thank you for your post. I agree with several of your points.
I know that most truckers are decent folks. I represent a lot of them, and get calls from a lot more who are seeking legal counsel or representation. There are lawyers around the country to whom I refer truckers regarding CDL, employment law and whistleblower issues, etc.
Your husband is fortunate to have you preparing those healthy meals to take on the road. A lot of truckers lack that advantage.
I understand that the casinos at truck stops in the southwest are operated by Indian tribes, and that it is a voluntary choice whether to patronize them or not. That was never in doubt.
I like most truck drivers a lot more than I like choices made available to them at most truck stops I visit, where it is very hard to get anything healthy to eat, and opportunities for exercise are limited to playing video games and walking around the parking lot dodging trucks.
That observation, lest you misunderstand, is sympathetic to the truckers. I have heard a lot of truckers – including a former trucker client who was an Ivy League educated former pro hockey player -- complain about that, and I have observed it all over the country.
My dislike of casinos is rooted in the fact that I had a strict religious raising as a Methodist, and am now a pretty conservative Presbyterian. While I’ve visited casinos when attending seminars where they are located, and I’m not a teetotaler, I have a dim view of gambling and a lot of other stuff that was simply not done in the Mentone Wesleyan Methodist Church 50 years ago.
Coming from that background, I just don’t think mixing casinos and truck stops is healthy.
Posted by: Ken Shigley | December 22, 2009 4:33 PM
Enjoyment and addiction are the two different things. If truckers are going in the casinos just for the enjoyment there is nothing wrong in that. But when it makes habit to visit such places regularly then it will affects on their body, their earnings and their lives. so truckers have to think on it.
Blog is so nice and very informative. keep it up.
Waiting for coming intresting posts
Posted by: Ford Trucks | December 23, 2009 2:11 AM