What sort of autonomy do you have as the driver?

A 30+ year veteran driver named Bob once told me a story.

Bob said that a colleague of his was driving a load north through Virginia during a winter storm. The snow and ice got heavier and heavier. The driver told the dispatcher that the weather was getting pretty harsh and he wanted to shut down for the night. The dispatcher would hear none of it. The dispatcher kept screaming that the load needed to get to the destination right away. The driver, failing to get permission from the dispatcher, just kept going. Eventually he came upon a bridge, hit some ice, and skidded off into the water.

Maybe that was an extreme example, due to the weather. What I'm asking, I think, is how much right does a trucker have to say "I am stopping right now."

 

Your life, your career.....YOUR choice!!!

 

Just be sure you are nice when you tell them what is going on and were to go!!:smt071

 

In the case of ice and snow, I would ask the dispatcher where the "Snow-Cat" switch is located on the rig and if they are comfortable sitting in their nice warm office with a nice cup of Joe next to them.

 

Has anyone ever had difficulty telling them or had to face sanctions from their employers for refusing to operate in unsafe weather?

 

Actually, when they tell me I have to keep driving in those conditions, I just tell them I will park here until they get here to finish the load.

 

I would not work for a company that pulled that BS. If you get in a wreck, they are not going to take responsibility and they are certainly not going to make up for the lost income if you loose your license or are injured. I would just pull over and turn my phone off.

 

When I was on route delivery, we had a big snow storm followed by freezeing rain...I was told I was a worthless piece of (you know) and if I wanted to keep my (ummmming) job I would have to work... So I chained up and went, now for the record I'm not even sure it is legal to use chains on the highway in WI....Anyway four wrecker bills and about 19 hours latter the route was finished..... And I was back out five hours latter to do it again, only 15 hours or so that day......So the short answer is yes sanctions are stuck in drivers faces every day......as I see it all management hates drivers.