Pick up trucks are for picking up things and hauling them somewhere. They have evolved over the decades from simple workhorses to luxury cars with towing capability. If you could call steel on wheels sexy, I’d say today’s pick up trucks fill the bill.
They were NOT, however, made to haul living things in the open bed! Oh, plants, shrubs, flowers, and trees are OK, but people – your kids, your wife, your friends, and your animals are NOT safe in the bed of your truck. If there isn’t room inside the cab then leave everyone else at home.
Riding in the back of an old pick up along a country road was romantic and appealing when I was a kid, but today when I see people…or dogs…in the back of an open pick up bed, I get my heart in my throat and hope that someone doesn’t hit the truck.
The laws of physics are always in motion, so when a driver slams on their brakes or swerves, whatever is in the back of the truck will continue in that direction until the motion is stopped by the sides or back of the cab. If the truck flips, whatever is in the open bed will become airborne. No matter how you look at it, an open pick up truck bed is no way to transport your kids or your animals!
There’s another reason no living being should ever ride in the back of a pick up truck. In the summer Phoenix temperatures climb to triple digits and stay that way until the end of October. It’s tough enough to handle in the shade, but we all know how much hotter it feels when we’re in the direct glare of the sun.
Though they shouldn’t be there, I see men riding in the back of trucks all year long. They are wearing hats and are protected from the heat. They have water and sweat to cool off. Dogs don’t sweat and dogs suffer heatstroke much more quickly than people. Dogs get sunburned too.
There just isn’t any good reason for anything with a pulse to be in the open bed of a pick up truck. Not one!
Make it a safe summer. Put your loved ones – human and furry – in the cab of your pick up. Better yet…leave them home.
