comedian Tracy Morgan hurt in bus/truck crash

This is a kind of a controversial video because there are so many factors involved and I don't necessarily agree with the driver in this scenario. He calls his dispatcher and records what transpires about driving when he is tired. Most here have already seen it. I'm just posting it in this thread for the benefit of those visiting this forum.


The fact is, sometimes you just have to drive to get business done. Accidents are going to happen sometimes. It would help more to improve the quality of life for drivers with better pay and living conditions.

 

Don't post that don't need another flame war started,lol.That video sparked a lot of attention nationwide and on here.

 

Wrong...they're advertising because they have lowered their standards...when Walmart is in same truck stop publications as co's like Werner etc they have dropped standards....because if they were as good as they used to be they wouldn't being doing that...Appearently their turnover rate has soared otherwise they wouldn't be advertising for drivers so much as they are now

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4065404]I figured some of you would misunderstand my post. I am NOT advocating drugs. I was merely stating how our country is spoiled on expecting our goods to be there because in the past, that's how it was done. Sure, sleep is the best, but just , sometimes not an option. Don't you think this poor guy knew he was tired, and should have taken a nap, but was probably already late. And for the record, I'm semi retired, not because I can't do drugs, it's because I've had enough of the BS of companies making unreasonable demands and the conduct of 4 wheelers, and our govt. making unjust rules. And joseph, some of your comments, I feel, are WAY out of line. The fact that you have a truck crash in your signature photo is especially disturbing to me, and others , as well, I'm sure.[/QUOTE]

You clearly said that crashes could be avoided if we all just had "a little help" to stay awake, and now in no uncertain terms you claim that you were NOT advocating the use of drugs to stay awake?

I guess I'm confused because that's exactly what you did, and then used the excuse that America demands it's products on the shelves.

I've unloaded trucks for a Walmart store. There were many occasions that produce, meat, and frozen trucks didn't arrive due to a variety of circumstances.

Many stores keep a back stock of product for this very reason.

Your comments are what is wrong with the industry. We need to reform the system so that one a driver can drive when rested and two train new drivers to not drive when fatigued.

Sleep should always be the option. Not drugs. Not driving drowsy. Not trying to pull an extra 500 miles this paycheck.

Drivers don't need more regulations, rather they need to be TAUGHT that it is OK to say "I am simply too tired to do this run."

And if you wanna be some trucker cowboy and claim that this is how it's always been... Well you trucker cowboys are the reason we have so many ####### regulations in the first place.

So great! You made all kinds of cash money in the 80s, when you drove from Nashville to Los Angeles with the two hour nap in Amarillo... Yet enough of you crashed or killed someone we are not only regulated against that but also not expected to do it anymore.

Yee haw!

unloader

 

Thing is, I strongly suspect that the number of crashes per thousand trucks is much higher today then it was in the 80's. Prove me wrong? The problem we're dealing with today is simple and 2-fold.

1 - Much higher density of both trucks and cars on highways, many highways designed to carry only half what they are actually supporting today
2 - Much less average experience level today then in the 80's (too many being pushed out of the nest far too early and who were improperly trained in the first place)

 

So let's use this example. Your home. It's home time. You've been up for 24 hours while at home, knowing full well you have a driving shift coming up?

I don't know about you all but generally when I was otr I would spend 10 hours driving, often 11 busting ### to make a few love miles. I'm a shift driver now, behind the wheel for 12 hours at a time.

No matter how you slice it, whether it's illegal or not that is negligence on the part of a driver.

THERE SHOULDNT HAVE TO BE A LAW OR A COMPANY POLICY IN PLACE TO KEEP YOU FROM DOING THAT.

Last I checked operating a tractor trailer was a safety sensitive job, hence why we are drug tested and have to pass physicals.

That means when you fire up that truck, whether you've been up for 24 hours or just got 8 hours of sleep, you are accountable for the actions of not only yourself but that truck.

Just because you have fresh hours doesn't mean your rested enough to drive.

And for the record a paper log can say your ready to drive just as easy as an elog can, so I don't wanna hear that ######## brought into it.

If it takes a law to get these companies to teach drivers that it's OK to say I'm tired and can't drive so be it, although is shouldn't be needed in the first place!

unloader

 

So the reason we have all these rules and regs is because Less accidents happened in the 80s and early 90s?

The government just decided that we needed 11 and 14 hour days because no one was fudging the books or getting caught running for hours on end?

Sure, maybe there are more accidents today, but is that due to fatigue or more due to the fact that Johnny from McDonald's didn't properly learn how to make a right turn? Or was tailgating? Or was hailing ### on ice.

I understand your point but your comment boils down to experience. And an experienced truck driver running hot or running high (whether they crashed or not) is still the reason I gotta jump through 99 hoops to make a fraction of the pay you guys did just thirty years ago.

unloader

 

Bottom line is probably fewer then 10% of all serious truck crashes can be DIRECTLY and POSITIVELY attributed to driver fatigue, yet HOS rules is the only thing the bureaucrats [can] focus on. Vast improvement in truck safety features have been made that no doubt have helped to reduce and minimize truck crashes. But when you increase truck density 10 fold in 30 years, you're going to have crashes. Some worse then others. All the HOS rules and changes are meaningless at some point and it can easily be argued that some of the recent changes are actually counter-productive in terms of increasing driver's rest, and made fatigue issues MORE common ... while operating within the rules set forth. WTF?

 

You're not kidding. If truck drivers would recognize the largest, slowest, heaviest, least maneuverable vehicles with the greatest stopping distances and the most potential for disaster should be the slowest on the road, there would presumably be far fewer crashes involving them, and a lot of things might be different.