{"id":1490,"date":"2020-12-09T16:33:52","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=1490"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:33:53","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T16:33:53","slug":"determined-to-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2020\/12\/09\/determined-to-drive\/1490\/","title":{"rendered":"Determined to Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Determined Alabama trucker overcomes obstacles to get CDL to continue family legacy<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By Al Muskewitz<\/strong>

Mikey Ledford has wanted to be a truck driver for as long as he can remember. His father drove a truck, his grandfather drove a truck, his great-grandfather owned a trucking company and his great-great-grandfather used to haul goods by wagon. It\u2019s just in his blood. Against the heaviest of odds, he was not going to be denied. 

Neither the loss of his legs or all the naysayers who ever doubted he could do it could keep him from getting his CDL-A.

Through dogged persistence and the help of several advocates, the 40-year-old owner-operator from Sand Rock, Ala., today is seated behind the wheel of a Dodge dually and 40-foot trailer hauling local hay and construction material until he can lease on with a bigger company.

\u201cWhen I got hurt I always looked for something I might be able to do,\u201d Ledford said. \u201cWhy can\u2019t I drive a truck; I can drive a vehicle. Trucking\u2019s always been in my blood. I\u2019m a fifth-generation CDL holder. It\u2019s in my blood. I\u2019ve basically always wanted to drive a truck.\u201d

But there were challenges. When Ledford talks about getting hurt, it wasn\u2019t just something as temporary as breaking an arm or a couple ribs in a mishap on the job or around the house.

He\u2019s been paralyzed from the chest down since he was 18, the result of an automobile wreck that claimed the life of his girlfriend. It took rescue workers 2\u00bd hours to extricate him from the vehicle.

That didn\u2019t deter him from continuing the family legacy. He had been a welder before the wreck, but trucking is something he thought he could do. He\u2019d been in the truck before with his father, but in order to pursue his dream outright he needed the proper training.

There weren\u2019t many driver training schools willing to take on a disabled student for such a physically demanding job. But he was accepted into a pilot program at Wallace State Community College set up by Craig Rogers, the coordinator of Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services\u2019 Adaptive Driving Program, and after 3\u00bd years of stops and starts finally earned his CDL.

\u201cIt took a lot of fighting,\u201d Ledford said. \u201cThere were not a lot of CDL schools who would even think about taking me \u2026 I had to jump through a lot of hoops.\u201d

Of course, with a program established, the process is a lot faster now. But there were many who worked with him who knew he could make it.

\u201cYou would think somebody with his health condition that he would run into barriers and he might give up,\u201d said Susan Ferguson, Ledford\u2019s rehab counselor at the DRS office in Fort Payne. \u201cOnce you meet him and talk to him and see how he is, his persistence, I don\u2019t know anything that could stand in his way. He is the most persistent person I have ever met. He has tremendous faith in God and his abilities that he\u2019s going to be able to do something. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019d have had the patience to go through all that he has gone through.\u201d

To make the program viable, they had to have two students and together with Kenneth Gamble from the Dothan area they went about knocking out the curriculum. Because of COVID protocols and restrictions what normally is a four-week, 160-hour program took nearly four months. Ledford completed the program in February.

The school had to outfit the truck to accommodate him, modifying the hood so he could do his inspection, putting in a special lift to get him in and out of the cab and installing hand controls to operate the vehicle. Of course, the truck had to have an automatic transmission. With all that in place, it was time to get started.

Ledford took all the tests in a fully outfitted 18-wheeler \u2013 a Volvo tractor with Mercedes Benz diesel engine and 53-foot trailer \u2013 including inspections, backing, hooking and night driving.

\u201cI had to do everything everybody else was doing, I just had to do it in a certain way,\u201d he said.

Ledford called his trainer, Ben Matanane \u201can amazing instructor.\u201d Matanane has trained disabled CDL students before, but this was his first experience with paraplegics.

The former military and civilian truck driver stepped right in and trained his charges with the same zeal and attention to detail and safety as he would with any able-bodied student.

\u201cI knew they would (be successful), it was just going to be a little bit more time consuming and a little harder on their part because they had to do all the work,\u201d Matanane said. \u201cI knew they could start and complete the course. If they were bound and determined, so was I. The thing I learned from it was nothing is impossible; if you set your mind to it, it’l happen.”

Once Mikey received his CDL he was off to find a carrier to bring him aboard. That brought about another set of challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t so much with carriers as it was the insurance companies that made the carriers balk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was one out of Texas and he was all gung-ho until his insurance company (balked),\u201d Ledford said. \u201cThey\u2019ll come up with some excuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInsurance companies aren\u2019t really too keen about it and I really don\u2019t know why. They\u2019ll insure my car; I can drive a car. I\u2019m insured on my 3500 dually and my Hummer, but when you go talking about commercial insurance they get a little nervous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So for now he\u2019s content on being an owner-operator doing business as Ledhead Transport, picking up local jobs hot-shotting \u201cjust trying to keep my truck moving\u201d until something bigger comes along. The hot shot he said is easier to get in and out of, but the big rig is actually easier to handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s already riding a wave of confidence having accomplished something many said couldn\u2019t be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes me (feel) like no matter the circumstance put your faith in God and if it\u2019s something He\u2019s willing to allow you can do anything; there\u2019s nothing can hold you back,\u201d he said. \u201cI just do everything different from everybody else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou just adapt and overcome. God gives you abilities and (if) you waste them, that\u2019s like spitting in His face.\u201d

Al Muskewitz is the Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at <\/em>musky@wrightmediacorp.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Mikey Ledford (seated) proudly displays his CDL certificate. He\u2019s pictured with his father, Mike, a fourth-generation trucker. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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