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In the past few years, the Ontario Provincial Police have lost officers to suicide reaching up into double digit numbers. ย It brings up the question, how can we protect our first responders from the effects of the things they see and experience?
On average, those officers in the traffic detail see and deal with many horrific situations with almost every shift. ย As do EMTs, Fire Fighters and emergency workers. ย Thereโs another group that often sees what first responders see before they see it.ย Truckers!ย Truckers are often not only the first on the scene but often provide that first responder care until the first responders arrive.ย Add to this they see the lead up to the wreck as well as the aftermath.ย Granted as a whole, truckers donโt see the continuous numbers of catastrophic events first responders see but the results to mental wellness have the same lingering effects. ย
For too long, weโve just told people to get over it.ย Man up, itโs not that bad.ย These suicides of first responders proves that you just donโt forget about it.ย It haunts you.ย
Many of us, truckers and first responders alike, served previously in the military and witnessed, partook or otherwise involved in horrific events.ย Add to those traumatic experiences that which is additional traumatic events and thereโs a recipe for a lot of mental grief. ย
Like many, I served and was subjected to and participated in unspeakable events.ย Then as a trucker I experienced far too many of those incidents, witnessing the wreck, and try, often in vain, to assist the injured.ย Many of those events remain clearly in my mind decades later.ย One stands out.
Alcohol and youthful infallibility often lead to terrible wrecks. ย This one I witnessed was particularly terrible. ย Two of us in big trucks headed out of the Border Irving bound for western Canada โ before the new road โ and were about to crawl up over the railway tracks on that overpass right at the New Brunswick/Quebec Border. ย Of course, having just starting out we certainly werenโt up to highway speed.ย Suddenly this fast moving TransAm came up and passed both of us even though there was a double solid line and it was obvious that even though not visible, you could tell headlights were going to crest the hill any second. ย As soon as the pass started both of us trucks backed out to provide as much space as possible for the passing TransAm.ย That TransAm never did try to get back into the right lane and smashed into an oncoming Jeep with tremendous force, head on. ย The Jeep spun on the top of the bridge and went up and over the top of the TransAm.ย The TransAm went on about half way down the down side of the overpass, completely crushed.ย I stopped beside the Jeep which wasnโt badly damaged at all, because thatโs where I was, not that I had to drive up to the scene. ย I got out and ran to see if there was anything that could be done for the occupants of the TransAm. ย The driver of the Jeep had actually gotten out and was walking around.ย When I got to the car I looked in the passengers side of the car.ย There wasnโt a glass panel that remained intact.ย There were two occupants, both female and blood everywhere.ย Both were in serious trouble.ย Both were speaking French and I donโt.ย Both had had an open beer bottle resting between their legs and both were bleeding that profuse pumping artery blood.ย I reached in and took the hand of the passenger and she squeezed my hand and slipped into death.ย The driver died seconds later but I couldnโt hold her hand as she slipped away.ย Both girls, I later learned, were just 19. ย As Iโm trying to comfort a dying girl who doesnโt speak the same language as I do, this irate woman came up screaming at me to get my truck out of the way and stop blocking the highway. ย Then I saw the red lights of the first responder heading to the scene.ย ย
The police came took our statements and we were on the way to Winnipeg.ย In the thirty years that passed since that horrific night, never once has it not been just a tear away from my memory.ย ย About three weeks later, my wife had decided to accompany me on the eastern leg of my run and I saw the Smashed TransAm, in a service station lot.ย I hadnโt mentioned the wreck to my wife but just the sight of that wrecked car and I broke down and had to pull over.ย I really donโt know what I told my wife at that point but I think I told her I witnessed the wreck of that TransAm.ย She never asked another question about the incident and Iโm not sure I ever told her.ย In fact writing this and the tears are right here. ย I can easily see every detail of that wreck as if it had just happened. ย
Thousands of us have seen such carnage and are suffering but nobody seems to care.ย Mental heath workers tell us to talk about it.ย Industry folk not so much.ย They donโt want us admitting we may be having flash backs.ย Flash backs that hurt.ย ย
I know many many of our peers who have suffered similar catastrophic events yet the macho industry sucks it up and thinks they can overcome the after effects and for the most part we do and live with it but for some they donโt live with it well. ย We need to be aware that some of our brothers and sisters hurt through no fault of their own.ย Carriers need to be aware of these crushing hurts and make available counsellors with no questions asked.ย ย
Unfortunately, we donโt relate industry experiences to suicide.ย Maybe itโs time we started examining the statistics. ย I am certainly aware of a significant number of trucker suicides, too many.ย Perhaps what we see on the road is a factor in some of these unfortunate needless deaths.ย
