Around the Bend: Women impacting trucking in positive ways

Ellen Voie

By DOROTHY COX
The Trucker Staff

11/3/2009

It wasn’t that long ago — March 20 of 2007 to be exact — that the Women In Trucking (WIT) organization made its debut, then an unknown player in the unfolding drama known as heavy-duty trucking.

Men have held most of the leading roles for years and even now women comprise less than 6 percent of all professional commercial drivers.

Oh but what a difference women in the industry are making!

I think of Ellen Voie, WIT founder and president who has devoted herself tirelessly to the group, the goal of which is to encourage women to explore trucking as a career and also to help minimize the road blocks women sometimes face in the industry.

Voie got her Commercial Driver’s License at the first of the year so she could better understand what women (and men) encounter when getting their CDLs. She called her CDL training “intense” but said it also was one of the most enjoyable learning experiences she’s ever had.

I also think of Cindy Stowe, an OTR driver who hauls a reefer on a dedicated LTL route from Dallas to South Central Florida twice a week. Stowe helped organize the first ever all-female Truck Convoy For A Cure USA to raise money for breast cancer. It was held at Carl’s Corner, Texas, at Willie’s Place last month. Because this issue of The Trucker went to press just before the event, I will have to wait until the Dec. 1 issue of the paper to give you a report on how it went.

There’s no shortage of women who are making a difference in trucking and who serve as ambassadors — cheerleaders even — for the industry.

For example, after NBC “Today Show” co-host Meredith Vieira climbed up into the cab of a Peterbilt powered by lady trucker Daren Baird, she gained a new admiration for truckers, both male and female, and told the entire country about it on the morning program.

“It was a great education and it opened my eyes as well,” Vieira told The Trucker June 2.

Vieira’s ride-along with driver/trainer Baird was part of a series on the country’s top 10 most dangerous jobs that aired on May 21.

The show provided a little positive trucking PR that was badly needed for the industry. Vieira later remarked to co-hosts Matt Lauer and Ann Curry how enlightening her experience had been.

They didn’t have to have a woman trucker, per se. But in the process of researching trucking, Vieira told me the producers came across Baird and “we liked the idea of a woman trucker because it’s not what most people who aren’t involved with it associate with trucking. Plus Daren is a fantastic character and she has so much knowledge of the industry and [so much] knowledge overall.”

Unfortunately, the 61-year-old Baird was killed Dec. 10 of 2008 during rush hour traffic on Interstate 275 at the Oldham Avenue interchange in Tennessee.

Authorities were alerted about 8:45 a.m. Eastern Time that Baird’s rig had run off I-275 “for some unknown reason.” Her truck slammed through a 12-foot section of the interstate barrier wall and went down a steep embankment. The cab was stuck and it took firefighters until a little after 10 a.m. before they could free her body from the cab.

Sadly Baird, who had made such an articulate, intelligent spokesperson for trucking, also was proof that the road doesn’t play favorites: women truckers can have their lives snuffed out just as suddenly as their male counterparts.

If you’re a hard-working (is there any other kind?) woman trucker take note that there’s a celebration being held just for you during the Mid-America Trucking Show next year on March 27.

“Our goal is to reach out to the 180,000 female professional drivers and invite them to a celebration in their honor,” said Voie of the upcoming event.

“All women with Class A licenses are invited to attend and will be provided with a T-shirt and lots of tokens of our appreciation. We will take a group photo of the largest gathering of female CDL-holders in the world,” she said.

Daimler Trucks and Frito-Lay will be the primary hosts of the event and family members of women truckers are invited to attend as well.

There will be entertainment and refreshments and special gifts from corporate sponsors.

Pre registration is required and you can do that online at salute2women.com. Or, come by the WIT booth during the 2010 MATS.

For more on WIT, go to www.WomenInTrucking.org. (Men members are welcome, too.)    

Dorothy Cox of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at dlcox@thetrucker.com.

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