Something to Consider.

I am glad things worked out fine for kittyfoot´s wife, it is a risk every driver has and something everyone thinking about becoming a trucker needs to think about.

On the side issue, I agree with Powder Joints. He was 400 miles from home. He had an hour left to drive, that puts him less than 350 from home..., not me, I´m going home.

He says he didn´t sleep his off hours so he had to be exhausted when he did drive home. Doesn´t make much sense to me from a safety standpoint either.

I would have drove it, got the situation under control there. Then called the company and explained it. If they didn´t like it they could have lumped it. You better believe these trucking companies are taking care of them and theirs. That close to home with a life threatening emergency, I´m taking care of me and mine.

My 2 cents.

 

Once again, e-logs aren't the be all and end all of safety! Do you really think everyone operates 100$% in compliance all the time? I had a mishap at the end of my 11, and truck went into a ditch without me behind the wheel. I immediately bobtailed to the closest dealer and put it into the body shop. When the log Nazi asked about the log entry (I logged it as I drove it) I said that was what happened and she dropped it. Sometimes you are out of pocket, but that's the way it goes...

 

I am sure of myself Kittyfoot. That´s what I would have done. I´m not saying it would have been the right thing to do or even the best thing. I might have went 3 hours, got stopped, placed out of service and fined. The end result being it took me longer to get home than it took you. So, who knows.

I am glad it worked out allright for you.

 

Kitty

Thank you for bringing it to the attention of the new bloods. They need to understand that things like this happen when you are on the road and all one can do is pray and get home as safely and quickly as you can. There have been many instances where a significant other, mother, father, etc. has passed and the driver been clear across the country. A new driver has to take this into consideration before they take the job as well as many other not to flattering factors of this life

 

No one is disagreeing with that. But placing being there for your family in a crisis above keeping your livelyhood is not a choice that most would be willing to make. In fact, most would choose to keep their livelyhood in tact because their family is that important to them. You always have a choice, that's true. And some wouldn't make the same choice you would make. Who the heck are you to judge them for that or question where their priorities lie?

 

At my last job, my wife had a fallopian tube rupture while I was at work.
I lived 7 minutes away. 3.3 miles as the crow flies, 5 by drive. This happened at 1230 in the morning. I had to meet her at the hospital at 10am the next morning because of something called "minimum adaquate staffing". So it really doesn't matter the industry or the distance. That's just corporate america.

 

Thanks for being ugly for my being honest. I'm not the only driver that didn't set brakes and the truck rolled.

Best of luck to you and Barb.

 

Someone else posted something similar to this about their mom being in the hospital and they were calling in the family and some BFI didn't or just didn't try to get him home and his mom passed while he's pulling BFI's freight in every direction other than towards home.

This is why I advocate:
Driving for a company close to home and never taking a bus to orientation but driving there in your own car.

Having a credit card good for either the airfare from the farthest point in the Continental US or Canada to your home or that will cover the rental of a car and the fuel needed to get home from that same point!

In the case that the OP did get home was fantastic! The company cared enough to get him there and the fact that he was that 400 miles or 7 hours away was a problem and as most wives out there will do, she told him correctly! Don't lose your job! I know most wives will worry about that especially if shes been a truckers wife long enough to know that good driving jobs are hard to find.

Being that close to home can be a strain. But you winding up in the hospital beside her from an accident because you "pushed it" isn't going to bode well on her or you! She's going to take a larg strip off your hide when she told you it was ok, take your time! Those of us who've been married long enough actually know who holds the whip at the house! You are NOT going to be any good dead or in an ER when your loved one is laid up needing you!

Unless they are dying and have a few hours at most to live, then park and pull that emergency credit card out and get home the safe way! FLY! Or let someone else do the driving! Just get home in one piece!

And as he noted for you rookies or those looking to enter this cesspool of a trade when you are needed at home the greater need for that company to haul freight is a higher need! It doesn't matter to some of them if you even make it home for the funeral! They could care less if it takes a month advance notice for a surgery or medical procedure, they can even give a crapola if you're almost dead in the truck and need to get to a hospital! The wants come over the one person who brings the money into the company. SCREW the brokers, DM, CEO safety and shop! The driver is the one that brings in the money as if that freight doesn't go from A to B then what does a trucking company get paid for? Having good looking trucks? NOT!

Be prepared to get bent. Or be prepared to find out that you got lucky and the company tells you to go to X airport and there is a ticket waiting for you! And yes I've seen it happen! Not often as the above I've sen more than I'd like to have seen but this is life in the fast lane. If you're a very close knit family and are suddenly thrown into a world that was painted as being a home every weekend, making stupid money, and false hopes, it will tear the family apart! Just be careful!