A photo of a cloth doll strapped to a truck driver’s trailer in Maine has sparked some discourse on Reddit, questioning whether this bizarre habit is connected to the driver’s ethnicity. Tocamix90 uploaded the picture to r/Weird, questioning why drivers would do this to a toy so boldly. While OP believed it to be related to something a serial killer would do, a large handful of people pointed out how it’s a common thing seen among Hispanic truck drivers, based solely on their experiences.
One commenter claiming to be from northern Texas said they’ve seen dolls and toys tied to trucks quite often over the years. “The first guys I saw doing it were all Hispanic. Maybe it is, or at least started out being a cultural thing,” they wrote, adding how this practice has now become more widely adopted. Almost a hundred people upvoted in support of their claim.
Another person from Central America was of the same opinion. “I live in Belize, and most of the truck drivers here are Hispanic, and I always see teddy bears strapped to the front of their rigs,” they wrote, with a dozen also upvoting in agreement. Of course, their claims are subjective speculation, and others were quick to call the commenters out on it: “You are reading way too much into it.”
Ethnicity Aside, Reddit Agrees That the Doll Practice Is Common Among Trucking Jobs
Whether the doll-strapping practice among truckers is truly a cultural thing, a joke, a visual aid for other drivers, or a call sign of sorts is up for debate. However, one thing hundreds of online users agreed on in the post about the Maine truck driver was that “it’s pretty commonly seen with sanitation work, landscaping, and other trucking jobs.”
Some claimed it was a memento to entertain people when they’re out and about at work. “I second this,” remarked a commenter. “When I was working as a security guard, we kept lost toys we found. They were our little mascots.” Another person chimed in, saying, “I assume it’s to amuse children.”
Unfortunately, not all children would seem to have been amused with this practice, as one Redditor pointed out, “When I was a kid, seeing stuffed animals on the front of trucks was deeply disturbing to me. It felt like they were being tortured.”
