WANDA

Hmmmm I think I know, but I maybe I'm off base but the skinny is that this chick is responsible for sleep apnea testing being pushed onto us.
Apparently this woman and her now deceased husband were rear ended by a big truck, I'm sure it was a Celadon truck. Killed him outright but she survived. This event happened in Texas.
Now this gal with her infinite wisdom has declared "war" on the trucking industry. Oh no, not another member of the public who hates the trucking industry !! But should we be surprised
so you can guess what happened next or we can all surmise.
In the events after, some ambulance chasing lawyer probably dug up as much dirt as he could on the driver and lo and behold, found that he suffered for sleep apnea. BTW, the driver was wide awake at the time of the crash.
So there you have it folks, this gal decided to go to congress and we all know where this is going. They have to show their " authority" and they put two and two together to get 5. Meddling Govt at its finest.
Im sooo glad that somebody has brought up the topic of this chick and her antics.
Yes, it's a tragic event that her husband was killed but there is absolutely no evidence that sleep apnea was the cause. And I find her attitude of declaring War rather inappropriate. Why blame all of us on this one incident. Personally after reading her transcript I was pretty disgusted by her.
But unfortunately in their Devine wisdom, the Govt and the big wigs of the trucking industry think it appropriate to introduce testing. This to me is the green light for the next round of scamming the truck driver. The money grabbing healthcare industry are licking their lips on this. And anyone who has read some of my posts will know how I feel about those clowns. This, to me is just one more con job. If you disagree with me, that's fine.
My take is that IF sleep apnea is soooo serious, and it's a big IF, then surely. Let's get EVERYBODY, tested and that includes everyone that drives a vehicle that has wheels. Oh, you mean that drivers of 4-wheelers don't suffer from sleep apnea??
But alas, the interfering Govt or the FMCSA can't legislate that, so they have to create this drama and we the trucking industry have to be held responsible. I'll be interested in your thoughts. Good luck
thanks for the initial post.

 

I so agree with Dr Fandango in fact I believe that all states should hold the same standards for anyone driving, one million car accidents a year but we govern the trucks. LOL

 

I've followed this a little but it's interesting that this gal has conveniently disappeared and has a "foundation" front to peddle her mission. I'm sure after all of this she has landed in a whole bunch of "heat"

Nobody wants to be killed by any truck, but it's just a shame she couldn't be a little more classy and adroit. Showing anger and hatred towards the trucking industry serves no purpose at all. We all have families too and look to protect them against drunk drivers of 4-wheelers for instance.
As a European born citizen who enjoys driving a truck in the US, I find it amazing that people can get way with a DUI by showing enough $$ so that they can get back on the road to possibly create more mayhem
but I guess that's OK. This country is $$ driven, ruled by the almighty buck.
So if the Govt thinks it's OK to legislate for sleep apnea testing, then surely it's just as appropriate to disqualify drivers for at least one year as a result of a DUI. That's exactly what goes on anywhere in Europe for instance. You get a DUI in the UK, you are done for at least a year. In many cases, repeat offenders go to jail.
If anything it's worse, receiving a DUI but then allowed to get back on the road. It's nuts.
Of course we would be fired as truckers never to drive a truck again, but I hope you can see the double standards that this creates. Of course lawyers would lose another gravy train and income source but so what.
Maybe there lies the problem

 

I agree with you Dr F up to the last part of testing 4 wheelers. Sure we all drive vehicles but noncommercial drivers don't fall under the FMCSA. They don't drive 600+ miles a day and have their circadian rhythm messed up. They don't drive 80,000 lb vehicles. The average 4 wheeler drives less than 40 miles a day. With half of that going somewhere and the other half going home it's hard to fall asleep in 20 minutes.

I'd like to see 4 wheelers held to many more standards but the bottom line is the FMCSA doesn't regulate them. They sit behind their desks all day long wondering what to do next to justify keeping their job.

On the other side you can stand outside a truck stop and can't help but notice there are health issues going on. The FMCSA didn't become a separate administration until 2000. They really haven't been around long enough to fine tune all their rules. Besides enforcement and investigations their job is to find problems within the trucking industry and address it. Along the same lines in the past 10 years there has been major advances in the medical industry. Among them lines they are learning a lot more about sleep apnea. Ten years ago it wasn't an issue because nobody knew about it. It's at the point now they do know a large percentage of drivers have it but they can't just jump in and wipe out 35% of the work force. They have to slowly implement it with the ones that are job hunting.

I know a fish called Wanda!

 

Once they have us all sleeping in oxygen tents inside our trucks they'll find something else to fault us on .....

im just wondering what we will be hammered with next .

 

Different Wanda. She is a DM at Melton. All I can really say about her is that she is a deceitful, dishonest, anal retentive woman who would sit in every driver's truck and tell them when they can and can't stop to take a whiz. All she cares about is making her numbers look good, no matter what the cost. She will screw you over at every turn, and simply stab you in the back when she's through with you. I tried to give her an honest chance, and that was a mistake. If you wind up in fleet 14, you don't drive a truck, Wanda drives you.