Truckers live a hard life. Not only do they bring you ninety percent of what we need and want, they work nearly double the number of hours we do. They drive ten hours a day, seven days a week. Some people may consider driving a truck every day easy, but when you're being brake checked, pulled over for no reason, and having to back up a truck and trailer that is up to seventy-five feet long first try makes it a very stressful job. On top of that, truckers spend every day on the road. Rarely do they ever get a Saturday off to spend with their families. They are too busy getting us what we need. They also must work more because seventy percent of their pay check goes into the truck. With the new emission equipment, they break, costing the trucker more money, but also keeping the trucker of the road more than needed, preventing them from making money- preventing them from getting us what we need.

One part of the emission equipment, is the exhaust gas recirculation device (EGR). It does what the name implies, it takes exhaust gases and puts it into the intake, replacing the air that is needed to do the oxidation reaction in the engine. When it breaks, it sticks open. That makes too much exhaust gases to go into the engine and it won't run right or run at all. This is an example of paying money to lose power and get worse fuel mileage.

The other part of the emission is the diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) and diesel particulate filter (DPF). DEF is sprayed into the exhaust stream of diesel vehicles to break down the soot in the exhaust. If you put the DEF in the wrong tank, it will destroy an engine.DEF is made of two thirds water and one third urea, a product of protein metabolism in mammals and is excreted in urine. DPF burns the soot and exhaust fumes. It must be nice to smell the gas form of urine after it goes the DPF and out into the air we breathe.

The majority people know it cost money to fix things. The bigger the part, normally means it cost more. A cooler for the EGR can cost $1,000. Some truckers will do an EGR delete for$200, but there is a chance of a fine when doing that.  DEF, you have to refill when it gets low. If you put it in the wrong tank, it will destroy an engine. To rebuild an engine, it will cost $1,000, to buy a new engine, it will cost around $10,000. I you don't want to do either, you could by a new truck, which could cost anywhere from $1,000 for an old ratty one to 100,000 or a new, nice truck that you will basically live in. The DPF will cost around $2,000. None of this includes labor.

"the government of the people, by the people, for the people" is what President Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address. So, let the people that work on and drive trucks, the people that know what is best for trucks- decide what trucks need- not some tree hugging, Prius driver that sits in an office all day.