No APU, 5 minute idle, 90+ degrees - is this legal?

It has been shown that temps inside a truck can exceed 150 deg F.

Do you dispute this?

Heat Stroke can and does set in when body temp exceeds 103 deg F.

Are you with me so far?

If you get heat stroke, your unable to move, think, and are likely passed out or even comatose... yes even healthy adults.

 

The owner of the truck not providing a safe place to sleep if they require you to use the berth, of course.

 

Dispute the onset of heatstroke? Well for the purpose of this discussion I'll concede it.

But why would you try and stay inside a 150 deg truck?

 

I spent many nights in my old cabovers when the temps were in the 100's and as far as I know....I'm still alive.
In my opinion, We as a society have allowed ourselves to get pretty soft and sissyfied.

I pretty much never agree with much of anything that TAZZ says and I believe that most of his stuff is intended to get a reaction rather than having much basis in fact.

But I tend to see his point in this case.

I was in Weatherford, TX. last night and after the sun went down it was fairly pleasant and I turned on the little fan and went to bed...Every other truck in the lot was idling and there was really no need for it.

It was hot today in Dallas and a little humid as well...I left my truck off all day and did some stuff outside and sat in the truckstop for a while and then went out and rolled my windows down and messed around on the computer for a while...Pretty much every other truck on the lot was idling whether the drivers were in them or not!

The human body requires thermoregulation? What did humans do before there was thermoregulation?

I rarely run my truck for climate control...It is unecessary about 90% of the time! Drivers have abused the idle situation for years and now the companies are fighting back because the technology exists for them to regulate it.
There would be no need for the technology if there was not a problem in the first place.

We survived in this industry for decades without A/C and we seemed to do OK...I like my A/C and because I own my own truck I can run it whenever I want to or need to...But I know the difference between want and need.

 

Nope drive for Titan Transfer Shelbyville Tn.

My thoughts on both the business owners and the drivers responsibility are based on the simple fact of individual responsibility.

You cite L/O as an example. They chose to be in that situation.

People who drive for companies that will not let them use the equipment to be comfortable choose to stay there.

Your quite right I have no sympathy for either group.

 

Your risking a tear in the space time continuum

But thank you for seeing my point I bolded

 

They do not provide you with a sleeper?

 

GET a PLUNGER or something close and push the seat forward, or use a bungy cord and hold the clutch down a little. It doesn't need to be to the floor, just enough to hit the sensor on the clutch. OR, UNPLUG the sensor from the clutch that may solve your problem.

Werner does this to all their drivers, I don't know how they stay in business.

 

So where are you supposed to go if you are out of hours in the middle of nowhere? So I shold go inside the truck stop and sleep there? What if I am unloading at a strip mall and have to park there? What if I am at a rest stop on the side of the road and it's 115 degrees out during the DAY and I am out of hour???? Then what?????????

Yeah Okay YOU are alive? What about all the drivers NO ONE has heard about that were found DEAD a month later in their truck or it was just never heard about? Should be go BACK to driving cabovers with no A/C and no power steering because ''that is the way you used to do it'' and we all know that ''the way things used to be done are the BEST!"" No need for changes in technology? REALLY? What is that old saying that is so common, ''Necessity is the mother of invention.'' Should we get rid of light bulbs and go back to candles and fire? You could put little lanterns in the headlights and drive that way because are head lights REALLY NECESSARY?????? If Air conditioning was NOT needed it would NOT have been invented!!

CHOOSE TO STAY there? Really because in today's economic climate it is so EASY to get a good job and stay until they give you a gold watch and huge retirement. And if you are not happy just keep on job hopping every few months and see how far you get on your next application? How many companies today are currently letting their drivers idle anytime they want with NO penalties? Please give me some example as I do not know of any companies.

Oh I forgot the golden ring......I can buy my own truck and idle all I want right? and depending on the state you are in or town you can get a ticket for this!

Define safe.

 

Well Dave....It's like this, I like my A/C and I like my power steering and I like my nice big large car too.
But you are being very melodramatic here...

All of these things we have now are nice but we would not die without them...Quite the contrary in my opinion.
If these trucks were a little less comfortable to sit in all day maybe some of the 500 pound morons would get their ##### out of the truck and get some excersize!
Instead they get a pizza and a gallon of soda and go out and sit in the truck and watch TV all day and you can almost hear them getting fatter on a quiet summer night.

I suspect that most of the drivers that you think are dying from heat stroke are dying from heart failure or strokes from packing around the weight of an extra person all day long!

I was in this business for quite a few years before A/C became common in trucks and believe it or not it was more rare to find a dead driver in his truck in those days than it is now.

I completely understand your position here but the melodrama makes your argument seem weak and uninformed.

The problem in my opinion is that if companies give drivers complete say so with regard to truck idle time, Drivers will abuse it every time.
So now the problem is that the companies have taken the control away from the driver completely because your typical driver is to irresponsible to make prudent choices on the matter!

There is a solution to the problem but it REQUIRES responsibility from all involved parties and as we all know...That quality is sadly lacking in the world today!