Crackdown Inadequate for Truck Problem

Re “CHP Targets Unsafe Truck Drivers Today in Crackdown,” June 14: Big deal! Awareness is raised for one day. While the California Highway Patrol is posing for photo ops, President Bush is about to open our southern border under the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement to thousands of unsafe trucks driven by unregulated, uninsured and unqualified drivers (June 7). Big companies will save a lot of money in shipping costs while your family and friends die on the freeway. Maybe then the CHP will hold a two-day crackdown. Drive safely!

David Hawkins

Riverside

Each time the grille of that big rig on my tail at 70 mph fills up my rearview mirror, I’m reminded just how fragile life is. I hate to think, however, that if I should be killed I might fall into the “acceptable level” of fatalities. I wonder too if anyone gives a hoot about the “bottom-line issue” accidents cause. I’ll bet the family of that young father in Sacramento who got killed by one of those rambling freeway monsters doesn’t. In short, your article was a grim reminder of the cold, inanimate times in which we live. We’re just statistics.

Timothy L. Wahl

Glendale

My wife and I drove from Pasadena to Berkeley and back this past week on I-5. I’d like to defend the truckers. They were all courteous, letting people pass and signaling their intentions to turn or to pass well ahead of their actions. Yes, they drove above their 55 mph limit, but in their professionalism, they are much better than the rest of the drivers. Two-thirds of the cars do not signal when turning or passing, they cut in front of trucks, they drive at uneven speeds, do not allow trucks to pass other slower trucks and they drive in the fast lane without any regard for those people behind them. This is especially true of those driving the oversized SUVs.

I do not object to the CHP sweep citing speeding truckers, but I hope that this is extended to car drivers as well. I am not too worried about the speed but, yes, about the rudeness of the drivers.

George Domingo

Pasadena