It's bad enough that we have to have a complete physical exam every two years, but now they want to make it harder to pass. It seems to me that if a trucker has to pass a physical exam to keep all the poor little fourwheelers safe from the big bad trucker, then maybe all the politicians should have to pass a mental exam to insure that they are competent to run the world. After all, all we can possibly hurt would be a handful of people in one spot at a time, but the men and women in Washington are capable of ruining a whole lot of lives with one little mistake!

Wouldn't it be wise to at least know if they were a little light in the hay loft when it comes down to a decision that could potentially ruin the lives of hundreds of thousands of people?

I know that a politician has to do things that make him look like he is really out to help the constituants, while not stepping on the toes of the other politician who may be able to help him on something later, but why does that mean that he has to step on the little guy?

Sure a truck is big, and takes a lot of space on the road, and maybe that scares some people, but I for one would rather be in a car between two trucks at full speed than to be in a truck between two cars. At least I would know that the truckers had seen me there and were doing everything they could to avoid hitting me. I'm not so sure the same could be said for the cars.

The other day I heard a lady reporter on the radio say that her car had been hit by a truck. She went on to say that the trucker had admitted to everyone there that he had not been paying attention, like that was some kind of damning statement. I wonder how many times she has driven to work while talking on her phone or maybe reading some sort of notes on her next story.

Sure there are bad apples in every profession, and I'm not going to tell you that every trucker is safe behind the wheel, but when the statistics come out showing 5000 deaths involving a truck, I wonder how many there are that don't.

How many cars crash into each other every day when no trucks were around? Do we want to make every person who drives a car pass an hour long physical? Why not? Because everyone in any way involved with the decision to do so would be voted out.

As it stand now we already have to pass physicals, stop to be weighed on the side of the road, possibly have our truck inspected on the spot,(at the discretion of the trooper),who, if he wants to can make us sit there on the shoulder until we fix whatever he finds wrong. We unlike cars, must have a fire extingusher, must not have a radar detecter, must carry extra lights and fuses, must not drive over a set amount of hours without stopping to sleep a set amount of time, and Heaven help us if we have an oil or air leak.

Rules are good in every profession, but to over regulate one profession because it's an easy target, and makes the citizens feel a little safer is to my way of thinking, nothing more than an easy way to gather votes.

The next time a politician decides to make another regulation for truckers to abide by, I hope he would stop to think about something every trucker already knows."IF YOU GOT IT, A TRUCK BROUGHT IT."