What’s the craziest thing you’ve found on your grill or windshield after a long day on the road?

Some answers were humorous (although we hope there wasn’t really a Smart Car stuck in someone’s grill), but sadly most answers involved animals. Truckers know it can be hard out there for animals who happen across the highway. So we’d like to dedicate this list to all those fallen animal friends who had the misfortune of meeting our bumpers, wheels, grills and windshields.

Here are the Top 10 Craziest Things Found on Truck Grills or Windshields:

1. stop sign
2. wild boar
3. bat (the flying kind)
4. wild turkey
5. owl
6. gold finch
7. porcupine
8. red tailed hawk
9. duck
10. armadillo

If you have other crazy things not included in this list let us know in the comments, on Twitter @lifeotr or on Facebook.

Trucking is a 24/7 job, which means drivers have steered their rigs in all conditions, at every hour of the day. This lead us to ask the question: When do truckers prefer to drive, during the day or the night?

We took to social media, and asked drivers which they liked more. We received over 120 responses, below are some of the best:

Gregory Causey: Day cause I’m more alert.

Dave Viana Night time the highway is alive with trucks no cars

Theo Catsoulis Night except when hauling road trains here in Australia to many roos and stray cattle.

Robert Jones I like the day when its bad weather, but I like the night because its more peaceful…

Jason Wheeler Night for sure, staying on the road to watch the sun come up is my favorite part of my day!

Andy Alkema Day time you can see your surroundings better.

After all was said and done, the crowd has spoken and the verdict is in. Most drivers said they preferred to drive at night, mainly due to road clarity, less traffic, and more aesthetically satisfying surroundings.

Which do you prefer? Drop us a line on Twitter at @LifeOTR, and let us know!

Beautiful photo taken by driver Chris McFadden, showcasing the hills that overlook the Susquehanna River. For more great photos, check out Chris’ Twitter account!

A few weeks back, we asked people on Facebook for their favorite songs to listen to while driving their rigs. We received a lot of great responses, enough to make a full playlist which we are calling “Trucker Tunes: Volume 1.”

We also would like to thank Trucker and Photographer Eric Blacker for another great photo!

This is quite an eclectic group of tunes, with everything from Willie Nelson to Britney Spears. Download the full playlist after the jump.

Members of the trucking industry are the eyes and ears of America’s highways, and more than any other group of individuals, you have the ability, in the course of your jobs, to become everyday heroes in the fight against human trafficking in this country. You are everywhere as you travel the nation’s highways and roads and stop for gas and rest at truck stops, travel plazas, rest areas and restaurants. And since you’re trained to be observant and to watch out for unusual occurrences or circumstances, you have the skills to be able to recognize and report suspicious activity you see that could result in the rescue of victims and the arrest of human traffickers.

Human traffickers make millions on their victims by selling them repeatedly every night. They often move them along large circuits to avoid their rescue and to prevent the girls and boys from escaping or even knowing where they are. While they sell to a variety of people, traffickers find it easy, when they’re traveling, to make quick money by selling their victims along America’s highways to unsuspecting customers.

Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT), a non-profit organization, began in 2009 to help educate, equip, empower and mobilize the trucking industry to understand what’s taking place when they see minors seemingly “selling themselves” and what they can do about it.

To do that, we’ve created:

· A website, www.truckersagainsttrafficking.com, with tons of articles about the problem of human trafficking and what members of the trucking industry can do to fight it.

· A trucking-industry-specific training DVD in three different lengths to watch and learn from and for trucking companies, associations, truck-driving schools, the travel plaza industry, etc. to use as part of training for all members of the trucking industry.

· An online, on-demand webinar on the website that can teach you a great deal about the problem of human trafficking and the solution.

· Wallet cards with signs to look for, things to report and the national hotline number to call should you witness suspicious activity.

· Posters and decals to hang up in break rooms and to post on your trucks (see photo of one trucker who super-sized his decal and had it painted on his trailer.)

· A Facebook page and Twitter account to keep truckers up-to-date with TAT via social media as well as get the word out on missing children.

As a result, more calls are coming into the national hotline today from truckers than ever before, and human trafficking victims are being helped. In 2011 alone, truckers made 185 calls to the national human trafficking hotline, with over 50 percent of those calls referencing human trafficking or crisis cases. TAT was the most common way truckers heard of the national human trafficking hotline.

Law enforcement in numerous places are handing out TAT materials to truckers and at travel plazas. A number of state trucking associations, including California, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as many carriers, independents and truck-driving schools are now already either including TAT training for employees or pushing to have it included by their members. Pilot/Flying J, TA/Petro and Sapp Brothers are all using TAT materials in their locations and are making TAT training necessary for employees. Border agents along the Mexican border are using TAT materials, and in Canada, the TruckStop Campaign has made a Canadian version of trucker materials using TAT as the model.

Both Transport for Christ and Truckstop Ministries are training their chaplains and outfitting their chapel locations with TAT materials.

And last week Rick Youngquist, a Colorado-based driver hauled 25,000 bras from Denver to Chicago for Free the Girls, a non-profit abolitionist group. Their pilot program has shown that women in Mozambique (sex trafficking survivors) selling these bras make three times the daily wage, and this program is truly changing lives and empowering these survivors. TAT was proud to partner with Free the Girls on this project and to have an amazing “trucker against trafficking” step up and haul these bras, showing another innovative way that the trucking industry can combat sex trafficking…even on an international scale! (You can check out our Facebook page for a picture of his truck).

When people hear about TAT, they immediately understand the powerful and critical role members of the trucking industry can play in this fight to end human trafficking. People across America are talking about the way members of the trucking industry are stepping up, using your influence and connections to get the word out about TAT to other drivers and truck stop employees, as well as becoming educated about human trafficking yourselves, so that you can make a significant difference in the fight against this egregious crime.