Talking on a cell while driving.

True, but you don't even have to bring Gov. into it, everyday there is a post on here from some driver complaining about not having any control and too many rules from the mega carrier he works for, care too guess why all those rules are in place, because just as you said, every #### one of those rules was in response to something stupid that a driver did some where along the way.

They have Fuel Solutions because some dimwit ran out of fuel and between the tow bill and purging the injectors it probably cost the company 1500.00 Or they have a 58 mph governed truck, because somewhere at some point in time some other dim wit crashed at 80 mph while reading his comic book, Or you have forced routing because THE COMPANY DIDN'T WANT TO PAY THE EXTRA 500 MILES THE DRIVER WENT OUT OF ROUTE TO SEE HIS GIRLFRIEND, now you have driver facing cameras, and on it goes.

Unfortunately, this is not an industry problem, it's a social problem, and the more dumbed down society becomes the more l;aws and Rules that will follow.

 

I was just genuinely curious how others felt.

 

The driver is not responsible for a fine given to the company.

However, the rule states "Motor carriers are also prohibited from requiring or allowing their drivers to text or use a hand-held mobile phone while driving and may be subject to civil penalties up to $11,000. "

If you do have a strict policy and do what you can to enforce it I would think you'd have a good case to fight the fine.

 

Truth is CS, we had talked about company phones as I really didn't believe my drivers at the time would abuse them, but with the advent of unlimited text and minute plans, most everyone in the end just wanted to keep and use their own phone, same thing with headsets, I only have/had 8 drivers, if I asked them to decide and pick one headset for the company to supply, I would die before we had that agreement.

 

of course whichever drivers didn't agree with me were obviously wrong

 

I look at it this way! I don't use my phone while driving because it's dangerous whether you have a headset or not. I will admit that unless my boss is calling I answer the phone like this! Hello! Is it an emergency? Ok I'm working so I'll call you back later. Even when I use my headset I lose a little bit of focus. I've missed and exit or 2 before. Second is I'm WORKING. I used to run cnc and there is a lot of down time while you're sitting on a stool watching parts being made over and over again. But I couldn't and wouldn't sit there on my phone. I'm watching the machine making sure the coolant is flowing at the proper rate, making sure it's running at the correct rpm, watching bit changes for the next milling sequence. You have to pay attention to the task at hand. So I don't understand why drivers feel entitled to use their phone. It's a job, it's work. Why should it be any different than any other job.

 

Funny you mention this Mythbusters just had a whole segment on hand held vs. hands free phone use while driving, the result, there is VITUALLY NO DIFFERENCE, you lose about 25% of your focus while talking on the phone.

While I am not claiming Mythbusters to be the one and final word, I did find the way they did the testing and the results interesting.

 

So what I read this as is.. My friend got caught texting and driving then hit the rumble strip because he was not watching the road..

Frankly I'm sick of these idiots, People get #### near killed every day from morons texting and driving. Throw the book at the dude.

 

Hitting the rumble strips is almost un-avoidable in certain areas. It almost looks like the guy running the machine that cuts those was on his phone and with one leg up on the dash while at work. I've seen some in MO that are inside the fog line. In a Prostar, it doesn't take much of a breeze to push you that far. In fact, in previous companies, some of their trailers were mail box killers and in order to stay off the zipper, you had to keep the outside tandems on the fog line. And they wouldn't align them. Pull them, get empty, take them to the company shop and turn in repair order, and they say it is within DOT regulations and isn't wearing tires funny, so it isn't out of alignment.

Now I have a headset, and use it...I can't wear a watch, and my FM radio's clock is freekin' nutz...the only time I have available is either the little mini dash clock I have in my log book holder, or my cell, so looking at my cell for the time is safer than opening my log book holder. If a cop is stupid enough to try to write me a ticket for talking on my hand held phone WHILE wearing my headset...it goes to court.

 

It's way different than most jobs, in many ways.