Obese, you may not have a job soon.

Get back up on the soapbox. We will keep the authorities away!


But I got to say that if the car is behind the truck, they should be at fault!

I still say DOT should take a little more time with the physicals they give drivers. I know a few that hurt so bad after the physical because they forced themselves to go through it just for the sake of having a job. Because they were obese and nboone would hire them elsewhere doing something else.

 

Some lawsuits may be ridiculous but not all . In many cases the wreck was caused by driver fatigue because the company knowingly pushed the driver way beyond HOS limits . The millions aren't for burial . They are punitive damages for criminal negligence . In some cases company officials have been sentenced to prison on resulting investigations . For every driver these companies involved in a fatality they may have hundreds more drivers out there being pushed as hard . These companies and their drivers are the ones that get more and more needless regulations put on safe drivers .
As for the example of a truck driver being held responsible when he was hit in the rear by a car , please post a case verifying that .

 

Thank you, Karen, for your fine example of wsyrob's point.

 

Obese people could always run for Congress . Do you think Ted Kennedy would support regulations threatening employment of obese people ?

 

Rick.....its a figment of my imagination. It is an example, however with how crooked the LEO are, I bet if I do enough searching I would eventually find something relating to that. (I do actually know of an instance where the person that was hit in the rear was charged with the accident. It was 2 cars...the car that rear ended the other was able to prove that it was the other driver's fault. The person that was driving the car that rear ended the other car ended up crushing something in her back and had to have a rod put in, went to sue to driver for medical bills left after the insurance stopped paying that bowed up and that driver claimed bankrupty.) I actually was very happy that she proved that the driver in front made a stupid move. I never understood slamming on your breaks because you missed a road...go down the road and turn around and come back, its common sense. You have a very fine point here.

Ok with suing a company....I realize it is just that...SUING a COMPANY. What is the difference? A fatigued driver kills a person and isn't sued for millions. Wanna blame it on driver fatigue? Go ahead but realize how many people out there driving have just taken cold medicine that makes them drowsy or that only had 4 hours of sleep last night or that just finished a 16 hour shift. Again it boils down to the almighty dollar.

Did you know? OSHA has written laws that protect your job if you feel unsafe due to a job "pushing" you? Yeppers, I have used that one against a company before. I never had another problem from that company and has total respect from the "big wigs" from that point on. Did you know that you are protected with the "whistle blower's" law if you can prove that a company is "pushing" you? Did you know that it is perfectly legal to record conversations as long as ONE of the recorded parties know about it being recorded? That one person could be you. One would be surprised at what is out there to protect your job. I believe in CYA, you have to these days.

It is very easy to blame a fatal accident on a big truck. Why? They don't sleep normally. But who does? They are much bigger and more destructive. They WILL kill you. Trucking companies HAVE the money and insurance. People like money.

Again, the bottom line ends up being the almighty dollar. If a trucker gets killed because he bows up, because of a car's stupidity, can the truckers family sue the driver of that car and win if it were the other way around? Probably not.

The feds will look for anything to make life harder for the life of a trucker...why? It is one of the few jobs where many people are happy with their jobs. It is a very rewarding job. It is so easy to sit behind a desk and assume things.

Put things into perspective.....how many times has a doctor been wrong? Doctors holler sleep apnea and obesity....that is the problem. How many times have you heard of a doctor giving up hope to see the person get a new doctor and live a good 10 years after what the doctor had predicted and died of something totally different? How many people do you know that have been diagnosed improperly? How many people do you know have been given the wrong medications and had adverse reactions? Now ask yourself...is it worth letting these same doctors prevent folks from having a career just because they think this COULD be the problem? If the feds are going to regulate something like this on truckers then they need to regulate it on ALL drivers.....everyone that possess a driver's license.

Additionally....many thin people have sleep apnea. Why stereo type the "obese" people with being the problematic? ....because it is easier to. Don't you know....fat people have all the health problems, or so the docs say. A "fat" man's world is a hard world to live because it is so easy to judge the book by the cover. You get judged because you are different because you are larger than others. The same goes here, the big man is getting judged by its cover and not from an individual basis.

Once the world wakes up and realizes that it is NEVER one person's (or stereo type's)fault and it is really all people in general then it will be a better place.




.....step right up...YOU are the next contestant on Samantha's Soapbox Special!

 

Drivers that are negligent in serious accidents are sued along with the company . Maybe not for millions but for more than whatever assets they have .

 

Actually Karen, you're incorrect. The definition of obesity is 20% of your target weight; thus in a person who should weigh 150 lbs we're talking about being 30 lbs overweight. That's a far cry from 100 lbs over target.

Next if you take into consideration the target range now for a woman 5'6" with a medium frame is between 130-144 lbs then we can see that woman could be considered obese if she was 5'6" and weighed 156-173lbs.

You have a nice day too.

 

WOW!!! Where did you get that info. That is outrageous. The whole world could be considered obese, almost.....lol

 

It is my understanding that if a person is in excess of 100 pounds overweight, they are considered "morbidly obese". A person is considered obese long before s/he hits the 100 pound mark... and yep -- I think I read somewhere that over half the population of the United States is considered obese. I'll have to do some fact-checking first, though, to be certain.

 

I know DeBoer won't hire you with a BMI of 40% if I remember right. I went around with them about it last year, they refused to hire me saying I was too fat to climb into a trailer and unload frieght if need be. Never mind I've been doing this job for 14 years plus in the recent past I have worked asphalt and logging... I bet the a hole who was telling me that couldn't work on an asphalt crew

BMI is the worse indicator of physical fitness that there is and that's what I have an issue with. there is allot of people driving trucks that shouldn't be and if they had a better way of indicating someones health then I'd probably support it. Heck, make drivers take a stress test, doesn't bother me and I know I'll pass. and my bmi is 50%