I really want ALL truck drivers to read this!

Logs, I know money is tight for you so I am gonna help you with some medical bills. Next time you need some dental work I got a drill, hammer and pliers. I know what it takes to be a dentist. I never been one, but I know what it takes, just like you know what it takes to drive a truck, so give me a call!

 

Hahahahaahaha

 

I am just being me. I know my job can do my job, people either like me or they don't. I don't second guess her job or try to claim I know how to do it. I like to rattle her, but she dishes it out but doesn't like to hear it back....

 

I think the log dept should focus on the dispatchers and customers as well because they share blame equally with the driver. I try to run 100% legal but when I was a lease driver my dispatcher would assign loads to me knowing full well they could not be done legally. If I were to refuse the load I would have to deadhead for free to the next pickup, not gonna happen. To add insult to injury I would be in the doghouse with dispatch and receive crappy non lucrative loads. I cant even count the number of times I have sat in excess of two hours waiting to be loaded or unloaded. It only takes thirty minutes to load/unload a trailer and maybe fifteen minutes to do paperwork. In New Mexico I waited fourteen hours past my appointment to get loaded. The delivery appointment could not be changed, I was late and broker and receiver were informed ahead of time but that fourteen hours can never be replaced, resulting in lost revenue for me. I hired a co-driver so I dont have issues with logs anymore, but a solo driver logging 100% legal could be out of business in a hurry if all shippers and receivers waste the driver's precious hours at the dock.

 

Logs,

I can appreciate what you're saying. If I should happen to wreck my truck and someone dies as a result, my fault or not, they will look at my logs with a fine tooth comb and do their damndest to send me to prison. However, does the fact that I may go to prison, prevent me from doing my job in as efficient a manner as possible? No, plain and simple, no.

You could run over an old lady in a wheelchair on your way to the office... or run a redlight in a moment of inattentiveness and t-bone a schoolbus full of kids. The results will be the same:

-They'll pull your cellphone records to see if you were talking on the phone.

-They'll make you submit to a drug and alcohol test to see if maybe you were drinking or popping pills.

-They'll ask your kids, "Was mommy doing her makeup in the mirror?"

Anything they can, to nail you to the wall... and get money out of the insurance company. This is the sad fact of our litigous society, where "someone else" is always to blame for what happens to us, and that "someone else" is #### well gonna pay.

We need to become responsible for our own actions and choices. You choose to drive on the highway alongside 80,000 lb trucks, then you have chosen to take part in a risky behavior that very well could end your life. Every day you wake up in the morning, involves risk. Why should anyone else pay for a choice you made?

Our kids are taught that the first thing that should come out of their mouth when something goes wrong is, "I'm gonna sue!", and that insurance companies are a place to get FREE money. Maybe if we taught them that sometimes life ain't fair, then a visit to the ER at your local hospital wouldn't cost $8000.

 

Logsrus,, it's not that simple! You can say "no" to a load. But there comes a time in every truckers career when you get to shipper or receiver and guess what? Either the load isn't staged or they take 5 hours to load you. And you're at a receiver, and they take 5 or 6 hours to unload you. You've tried your hardest to plan your load and time appropriately. But befoe you know it, your 14hr day is GONE, security is at your door tellling you to get out of their place or you're going to be arrested for trespassing. This has happened to me several times, and I would imagine, to all truckers at one time or another. Shippers and receivers couldn't care less about you being out of hours. So what do you suggest we do? So the over-simplified "plan your trip" and refuse illegal loads does not always apply! The trucking industry is not always black and white when it comes to legalities! What can you offer in response to this, logsrus? Please, not meaning to be a smart aleck, just want to know. Thanks