Just yesterday, truck safety advocates scored a victory when the Senate voted 56 -31 in favor of an amendment which halted a mandate to allow Twin 33s (longer double trailer rigs) on the roads in all 50 states. (Keep in mind that the issue isn’t out of the woods yet.)
http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2015/11/10/Senatevotes56-31toopposetwin33s.aspx
Another advocate wrote a facebook post which commented on this and shared his mixed feelings:
“So we WON. Mind you this is a hollow victory in several ways. It doesn’t get our family members back or make them whole again nor does it make the roads any safer, it just keeps them from becoming less safe.
I’m feeling very weepy over this. It’s a win I guess but one we shouldn’t even have to fight.”
I have talked about this before. The bittersweet emotions that tend to follow what should be an upbeat moment or memory. Swallowing up the elation of progress or the happiness kindled by a recollection.
https://annaleahmary.com/2015/10/blindsided-by-unexpected-loss-the-many-facets-of-grief/
Life is forevermore colored by convoluted reactions. Tangled. Complicated. Tortuous.
The grief over loss never seems to resolve fully enough to result in lasting peace. How can it when the anger and frustration is continuously sparked by, not just the potentially-preventable circumstances which led to the loss in the first place (bad enough in itself) but, the ongoing apparent callousness which allows the senseless slaughter of human life to continue on our roadways–ad infinitum?
A vote based on a motivation to protect states’ rights to determine their own decision on Twin 33s rather than on a motivation to save lives. Really?! How would that make you feel in the wake of losing a loved one in a truck crash?
For me, it opens up the flood gates of grief and lets the loss well up all over again. Senseless. Incomprehensible. Distressing. Missing them dreadfully.
Lives cut short. For no good reason. AnnaLeah & Mary. How many more to come?
In these interviews, I expressed this anger and frustration. Why? Why hasn’t something been done–when it can be done?!
