Blaming Trucks for Congestion

“Truck Traffic at Commute Hour” (Letters, Jan. 24) was enough to gag the collective throats of every truck driver in Southern California. Judy Williams, cry me a river.

Williams states that one tractor-trailer rig equals 10 cars in length. The legal length limit for a rig is 70 feet, so those 10 cars would have to be bumper to bumper and no longer than 7 feet each. Even the smallest Japanese compact is longer than that.

Also, Williams, in case you don’t know, rigs pay an average road tax of almost $5,000 annually in this state. How much tax do you pay on your car just to be able to drive it on the streets? And you’re mad because we’re on the road during your commute hour? Excuse us!

You also mentioned boycotting companies whose trucks are clogging up the freeways and not purchasing their line of products. Wake up, lady! If you bought it, it came in a truck; the eyeliner you bought yesterday at the drugstore, the eggs you had for breakfast this morning, everything from diapers to dog food, all was transported by truck. Without trucks, Williams, you would be naked, hungry, and homeless.

I have a question for Williams. Does she car-pool? How about mass transit? If not, she ought too. The truckers of Southern California don’t want or need her on the streets and highways.

Do all the truckers around here a favor: Take the bus.

MICHAEL L. KELLEY

Anaheim