Under the influence of alcohol - out of service.

You have the right to fight that the machine could have been out of caliber.

 

Wow !!!!!
this is just crazy ! This guys is gonna lose his job because he had a cold and was trying to make it better. Lol
Okay , I get it . It had alcohol in it , but this is where I have a big problem .
I see guys all the time walk out of a truck stop and climb into their trucks with a 6 or 12 pack. then only to stick a key in and start it to let it run.
I think DOT should worry a bit more about those people and not the guy that maybe cought a cold .......

 

The regulations really need to be realistic. But, like any dealing with the trucking industry, we will never see them.

 

You two are good people. But your defeatist attitude really bothers me. Let me throw this out again. There are a number of regulations that are anti truckers. There are many things that go on at Shippers and Receivers that hurt truckers. There is a total lack of accessibility to restrooms. We are charged more in highway use taxes but are not allowed to use all the lanes. There is a company call DAC that can ruin our career without having to prove the charges are true. They can pull us over at anytime and search us without a warrant. We are forced to drive slower in some states then the traffic around us. We are forced to work for substandard wages in many cases. We do not have retirement plans in many cases. Our pay is the same now as it was in the 70s but cost are way up. Our equipment has to be upgraded to go into some states while cars are free to enter from all over which has to be a violation of the Interstate Commerce Act. We can lose our jobs for minor scrapes as well as traffic tickets. Yet we do nothing.



Now lets imagine a NATIONWIDE TRUCKER STRIKE. It would only last for 3 days because we would be ordered back to work by the President of the United States or Obama if he is still in office. If we had a list of demands that corrected the above, they would all be met. Bus strikes and subway strikes shut down NYC. How quickly would the folks see the importance of trucks without them.

Example, a Teachers strike versus a Garbage truck strike. Which one would you feel first.

We put up with cra p because we feel we have to. That is an illusion.

While you may not agree with a nationwide strike do you believe that doing nothing is going to change things?

 

You guys do realize hand sanitizer and mouthwash arguments fail because they register differently than BAC, right? Especially if the DOT was utilizing a portable Intox 5000, or newer. If a cough medicine had alcohol (do they still have it in them anymore?) the driver should have been smart enough to get a different brand. Does he have a legitimate complain? Sure, but we should remember if he is able to change the industry standard and claim medicine caused this, everyone will use that as an excuse. I am currently in Japan and here the max limit is .03% so I can understand the concern for a .02% for a professional driver hauling thousands of pounds in a massive vehicle. Someone said people don't get drunk on cough medicine...they do indeed. I have seen it with my own eyes. People also get high on OTC medication as well. Have you ever heard of Robotripping? People do a lot of stupid things and since we don't have all the information, we should realize laws are usually implemented because people were doing something wrong causing the need for the law in the first place. Today, is there a way to adjust the law? Maybe, but for now the law is what it is.

 

Depends on the device. PBT device, sure. Calibrated portable test requiring constant QAC testing, not so much.

 

I have seen these guys get pulled out of their trucks and that's the end of their driving career. If that happens, it should be reported immediately! Those guys don't need to be drivers. They go out, have an accident and every driver all of a sudden is drinking and driving in the eyes of the public and laws will get harder. In fact, folks like the ones you mentioned are the very reason the regs are so tight now.

 

The DOT cop should have used common sense, but they rarely do.
I don't trust any of them after all the garbage I've seen them do during my career.
I remember one beating on the side of an 0/0's sleeper with some type of club or tool, so hard he left dents in it. He was trying to wake him in a rest area to check his logs and do an inspection. He told the 0/0, if he has a problem with it, to file a claim.
I remember another case in MO when an off duty DOT cop woke a driver up in a closed scale parking area and was screaming he can't park there, to get moving. The DOT cop was in his civilian car with his wife and children on a Sunday morning.
I don't respect any of them.

 

You all maybe want to check over your regulations, You can not blow anything while operating a cmv, the 0.04 relates to driving while off duty. If you are tested while behind the wheel of a big truck, 0.00, any amount above that will put you out of service. Including a bad hangover, if you blow any positive amount it's all done for you.

b

 

You are wrong, but feel free to post any regulation or law to support your statement.