He’s also using the experience to speak out on the negative stereotypes and poor treatment of truck drivers he sees by companies and the public.
Alan Ray got back to P.E.I. last week after being involved in a pileup on Tuesday, March 7.
However, his journey home saw a number of delays that included being sent on a cross-country drive rather than flown home.
“I was still a little sore and bruised up,” said Ray, who works for Professional Carriers in Hartland, N.B. “I just couldn’t believe how the events unwound. I thought I was going to be flown home, and (my company) said they’d have my back. It just turned out not to be that way.”
Ray thought he wrote off his truck in the pileup, which resulted in him stranded in his rig with no heat for 26 hours.
Once treated by first responders, Ray went to a hotel for two days before his company had him cross-dock his load onto a trailer a friend brought down from Calgary.
The two brought the load to its destination in Saskatoon.
Assuming he would then be flown to P.E.I., with a friend even offering to pay for the ticket, Ray was instead told he would first go on a “team drive” to Montreal.
Once he arrived in Montreal, Ray was again delayed due to a snowstorm.
“The load was more important than getting me home. It’s never about your health, it’s about the load. That’s not how it should be,” said Ray, who felt unappreciated by the ordeal.
Having been trucking since he was 18, Ray said he’s tired of how he sees drivers treated.
“We’re everything in the book that’s hateful to people, but we’re the first people, when someone is in need, to take the shirt of our back,” said Ray, now 29. “So anything I can get out there to show the true feelings and help out my fellow truck drivers, I’m just so tired of how people treat them.”
In fact, it was Ray’s fellow drivers who gave him the greatest assistance following the accident.
Three private Facebook groups for Maritime truckers teamed up, knowing Ray would be without a rig for at least a couple weeks.
Cory Somers, who operates one of the groups, said more than $300 was raised within a few hours.
It quickly climbed to $1,200 with donations coming from drivers who had never met Ray, including one person who donated $400 privately.
“It’s a proud moment as a truck driver,” said Somers. “This is something that needs to be put out there so people can see the good and what extent truckers will go to for the brotherhood and to help out a brother in distress.”
Somers and Mike Ouellet, a creator of one of the other groups, presented the money to Ray Saturday in Charlottetown.
Ray said he was extremely grateful.
“It made me feel like I was part of a family that will always be there for me,” said Ray, who relayed a quote popular amongst truckers. “’If we don’t watch out for each other, then no one will.’ And it’s true.”
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