- Chamaine Jeffers uses her training as a military police officer to be aware of her surroundings.
- Women make up only 13.7% of truck drivers. Some feel the need to take extra measures to stay safe.
- Tools like tactical pens, hammers, and mag lights are popular means of self-defense.
Chamaine Jeffers was sleeping in her truck in a Walmart parking lot in Laredo, Texas, some years ago, when her children, who were traveling with her, woke her up in the middle of the night. Somebody had opened the door of the truck.
"The seatbelt was strapped in, so they couldn't pull the door all the way open," Jeffers, who's been working as a long-haul truck driver since 1998, told Insider. "I've done it for 20 years. I take my seatbelt and stick it through the door handle, and latch it close."
By the time she and her kids started moving around in the truck, whoever had tried to open the door had already fled.
The seatbelt trick provides an extra layer of protection against potential intruders, and it's just one of the many things that Jeffers, who was a military police officer before she got into trucking, does to ensure her safety on the road.
Because of the nature of the job, truckers often have to park and sleep in isolated places, and they might be a target both because of the isolation or because of the cargo they're carrying.
While the number of women working as professional drivers is increasing — 13.7% of truck drivers were female in 2022, according to the non-profit association Women In Trucking, up from the approximately 10% registered in 2019 — the profession is still overwhelmingly male.
According to a 2023 survey of 386 truckers, only 17% of the respondents have never experienced any harassment on the job, and female truckers tend to take extra measures to protect themselves. Pepper spray, knives, and firearms are common things kept in the trucks for self-defense.
Jeffers has never carried a gun in her truck herself, despite her training, but she's constantly practicing the situational awareness she learned in the military.
"You never know who's watching you," Jeffers said.
Parking
First things first, Jeffers is mindful of where she's parking, which is not as easy as it sounds — there's currently one parking spot for every 11 trucks on the road, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
When she can't find a dedicated truck parking spot — "you could hit three truck stops and not find a place to park," she said — Jeffers makes sure she's stopping where there are cameras.
Walmarts used to be one of her go-to spots, but she says most of them don't allow trucks to park anymore.
"If there's a JC Penney, I would back up into their dock doors at night," she explained. "Because shopping malls have security patrolling, and if you're parked in the docking doors, it looks like you're delivering to that store."
If she finds herself with no other option than to park on an exit ramp, as many do, she tries to pick one where other drivers are already parked, to avoid being too isolated.
Tactical pens, hammers, flashlights
A tactical pen is, indeed, a pen. But, being particularly sharp and sturdy, usually made of steel, it can also be used as a weapon. Jeffers has a bunch of them scattered around her truck.
"In my sun visor, in the back of the sleeper, on the side of the seat, different locations," she said.
Tactical pens can be used both for self-defense and to break down the windows in case of emergency, similar to mag light — a 12-inch long flashlight made of heavy steel – or a hammer, which Jeffer also keeps on the side of her seat. She normally uses it to check the trucks' tires, but once she had to show it to a man who was trying to get in her space to coax him to back off.
Unlike firearms or mace, tactical pens can be legally transported across all state lines, a handy feature for truckers, who cross a lot of them.
Dogs
It's common for drivers to travel with their pets — long-haul trucking can be a lonely job — with some recent articles putting the percentage of pet-owning truckers towards 60%. But if big and trained enough, dogs can also serve as a good deterrent for potential intruders.
Jeffers used to travel with a rottweiler.
"He was a big baby to me," she said. "But I put him through training, and he was very protective of the truck, whether I was there or not."
She says some truckers will make a point of having their dogs on the lookout at the truck window, growling, when they have to walk away.
It's a lot to think about, but Jeffers says it's just the best way to do the job that she loves in the safest way possible.
"You could be a target for cargo theft, you could be a target for sexual harassment or assault. It's not tiring to me, I'm just aware of my surroundings and of how to protect myself."