THE DAY OF THE TERRORIST ATTACKS against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon was one of shock, anger, and outrage.
Today is the day after. Time to resume life in a world that may never quite be the same.
In looking back at how the networks reported this tragedy, it seems that the television photographers pointed their cameras in one of two directions — up in the sky, or down on the ground. When the cameras were aimed up, we saw clearly how a product with an outstanding safety record can be perverted into a devastating weapon of destruction when placed in the wrong hands. When the cameras were pointed down, we saw the pain and suffering of the people below — and heroic efforts to save them.
Like the airplane we saw when the cameras were pointed skyward, trucks can be misused. As if we needed a reminder, it was a van body filled with fertilizer that blew up in Oklahoma City — an act of terrorism that the television networks repeatedly showed during their coverage of the World Trade Center sabotage. And as one news service reported, the terrorist organization most widely suspected in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks has antiaircraft missiles mounted on trucks.
But those are rare exceptions. Almost exclusively, the trucks shown during the coverage of the disaster were at work doing what they were designed to do. And the people who were associated with these vehicles (police, firefighters, and medical personnel) displayed tremendous courage as they used this equipment. They put their own lives in danger — or at an end — by quickly rushing to the aid of others.
Throughout the day, commercial trucks played crucial roles in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. It was a fleet of trucks that fought the fires, and it was a fleet of ambulances that delivered medical services to the wounded and delivered casualties to the hospital.
Later, cranes began lifting the debris in the search for survivors. Dump trucks and trailers hauled away pieces of the Pentagon and what previously had been the World Trade Center. Refrigerated trucks delivered food to the rescue workers, and bloodmobiles replenished blood supplies.
We don't have to look far to find a vital service that our industry's trucks perform. While not involved in the events of September 11, one of the major jobs commercial trucks must perform is to keep our streets and highways clear in the wintertime. It's a substantial task, which is why Trailer/Body Builders publishes its Snow and Ice Control Issue each year.
The equipment we depict this month can be used to clear the paths for rescue vehicles or simply make that mundane commute to work a little easier.
As we think about the role this equipment plays, it would be interesting to know how many ambulances have delivered people safely to the hospital because someone ahead of them had cleared away the ice and snow. And there's no way of knowing how many fatal accidents never occurred because snow plows and salt spreaders removed slick conditions before accidents had a chance to happen.
Snow and ice control is a job that increasingly is becoming more and more in demand, and it's a market that has seen significant changes, according to the story John Nahas wrote to start this year's section on snow and ice control equipment. Based on interviews with those who manufacture, distribute, and use snow and ice control products, the story touches on several trends and why they are occurring. Some are economic — they point to new products that provide increased profit margins. Others are demographic — population shifts are helping drive increased demand for clear roads.
But through all these changes, someone still has to get out in the weather and drive a truck under difficult conditions to clear the roads for those who follow. Compared with the rescue efforts we have seen in recent days, it's an unsung job. Television camera crews find it difficult to report on accidents that did not happen and boring to report on people who routinely do what they are supposed to do. But clearing the roads of snow and ice is still a job that saves lives.
Snow and ice control equipment. Ambulances. Fire trucks. Rescue vehicles. Courageous people perform heroic tasks with many of the commercial trucks that our industry builds. While most of us can't take credit for being heroes, we can take comfort in knowing that we help make heroism possible.
And who knows? It may be that our industry already has built the vehicles that will bring terrorists to justice.
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