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September 17, 2009

CSX

I'm venting to you all, so bare with me.

Recently on TV we've seen a few commercials by CSX. In these commercials they are advertising that CSX railway can carry the load of 250 trucks, and wouldn't that make your drive so much nicer! The commercials are very nicely done, and I don't deny that when I'm in my car, I don't enjoy driving around the big trucks.
But it really bothers me because their add campaign seems to be suggesting that if more people would ship on rails, and not use trucks, then you wouldn't have to drive with trucks during your travels, and the road wouldn't be so congested.

Here is what makes me mad. First of all, they CAN carry all those loads and many truckign companies are using the railways to get their shipments cross country. Thats all find and good.
But next time your out in your car, take a look at where the congested traffic is. Where do you feel most squeezed in and where are you forced to drive in close proximity to trucks. Its not out on the open road. Its in the urban areas, in the cities.
Shipping by rail isn't going to clear up any of that congestion! Sure you can ship by rail, but how does your stuff get from the train to the warehouse to the store???? Cause the train isn't going to be able to do that! So the trucks are still there, still on the road, in the city and urban areas where the congestion issues are!
And let me just say that container haulers...the ones that haul the containers from the rail and ship yards to the warehouses...are some of hte most rude, aggressive, dangerous drivers I've ever driven around. They scare me and Malcolm, so I assure you, you don't want to drive around them!
It just rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like they arn't telling the whole story and misleading the public, making truckers looks like the bad guys.
Thanks for listening!

2 comments:

Sharon Tachenko said...

makes absolute sense to me! I appreciate your thoughtful input on this! It always looked like a great idea - but sitting in our sofa at home - we're probably not giving it cohesive - cause-and-effect thought!

Thx for helping us think this through! You open up worlds we'd never give a second thought to! I love to read your blogs! They are not just entertaining - but informative - and downright INTERESTING! Thanks for enlarging our world!

Ed said...

Amen to your post, but you forgot the local day haulers who routinely speed, and are never harassed by the local cops, I had a Indiana local cop ignore 3 speeding trucks and pulled me over in my pumpkin for 5mph over just because he said local drivers have families and don't need the hassles of tickets, that was total B.S. Anyway, hope you guys stay safe, I'll be back on the road on Tuesday.
Hava great run...Ed