by John S.
New Jersey, USA
In 1984, cell phones weren’t in common use, and truckers were renowned for helping travelers in need. My brother was heading home from Connecticut in the wee hours of the morning. He was very tired and fell asleep at the wheel on the Merritt Parkway.
The old-style guardrail ripped his car in two, folding the car in half just behind the front seats. The front wheels/axles were literally in line with the rear wheels and axles. The accident was witnessed by a trucker, who used his CB radio to call for aid.
My brother seemed pretty banged up. Police and emergency vehicles arrived at the scene, and my brother was taken to the hospital. After being x-rayed and examined at the emergency room, my brother was ready to leave. He had miraculously only sustained bruises and cuts; very minor injuries considering the accident.
My brother was looking for a phone to call home when, to his amazement, he saw the trucker who had witnessed the accident waiting for him in the lobby. The trucker asked him about his injuries, where he lived, and how he planned to get home.
My brother told the trucker he lived in New Jersey and didn’t yet know how he’d get home. He needed to find a payphone.
The trucker replied, “I’ll take you home.”
Over 100 miles later, a full-sized tractor-trailer rumbled into a quiet neighborhood, and the trucker made good on his word. My brother was home.
My brother offered to reward the trucker for his incredible support. Our parents’ house was very large, so it was evident my father was well-to-do. I’m sure the trucker must have known he could get a very decent reward… if he accepted.
He did not. He refused to even be compensated for the fuel he had used. My brother headed to the house as the trucker pulled away, never to be seen or heard from again.
The incredibly kind and unselfish actions of this man have stayed with both my brother and me all these years. My brother and I have had good lives, and we routinely perform random acts of kindness to this day. I was not even there, and was forever moved by this man’s actions. One day, if an opportunity arises, I will give of myself as the trucker gave of himself.
I wish I had met him. I’d love to tell him about how he affected me. My deepest thanks and appreciation go to this unknown man for the help he gave my brother — and the men he helped us become.
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Must have been on a different road.
From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway
Vehicles over 8 feet (2.4 m) in height, weighing more than 8,000 pounds (3,600 kg), towing a trailer, or containing more than four wheels are not allowed on the parkway. (Under extenuating circumstances, however, ConnDOT may issue permits for oversize vehicles to use the Parkway.[1])
Perhaps. Or perhaps that regulation didn’t exist in 1984.
From The Merritt Parkway: The Road that Shaped a Region, “The only time trucks were welcome on the parkway was during the war years”.
I remember there being no trucks on that road when I was a kid in the 1960s.
Either way, that doesn’t detract from the message of the story.