Abandon federal freight load

Knew a guy who did that once. He was allergic to bees and it turned out a load he was picking up in GA had a swarm hideing in a fan on it. So when he went to tarp it he got stung a dozen times on the face and head with even more on his body and arms. His face swelled up so badly it actully caused the skin to split in several places along his face, cheeks and scalp and pour blood everywhere.

He obvioisly couldn't see and could hardly even talk god forbid drive like that and ended up calling 911 after the dispatcher told him he had 20 minutes to move the load or he would go to the TM and get him fired. Ended up getting several stiches due to how bad the skin split and the ####### dispatcher actully TRIED to get him fired. The TM was less then not pleased when he found out about the situation.

Sorry for minor derailment. Point i am trying to make to the OP is, if your not feeling up to drive then park it and do what needs doing then go over the dispatchers head of required.

 

Guess I have a different view point than most here. And everyone has a different threshold or tolerance to being sick and obviously I don't know how sick you actually are. And by all means if you are really sick go to the hospital or clinic or something. However there's been numerous times I've had to drive or work while puking my guys out. Not fun but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. I remember one time hitting the shoulder of I-80 in Lincoln early morning traffic puking out the drivers door while traffic flew past

 

Nope. That's one of the two reasons I will call off for the day. If I can't control what and when something comes out, either the north end or the south end, I won't work that day. Just about everything else, well I can feel like crap making money, or feel like crap in bed. Might as well make money.

 

Did you put your triangles out first?

 

In the past, this might have been an issue! For today just forget about it! As already said your CDL is safe the company can't touch it. As for being hirable trust me! YOU ARE! There is a lot of noise and (bull-redacted) out there in regard to CDLs and such. That's all it is!

 

I may have missed it but did you quit? Were you terminated? If you were with a trainer and were to sick to drive did you get off the truck and go to a hotel? Whatever became of your illness did you tell them you can get back with a trainer?

 

The regs are clear. 49 CFR 392.3 says that if you're feeling too sick/tired to drive safely, it is both your right and responsibility to not drive. Elsewhere in the regs it states that you cannot face adverse action from your employer for enacting any of your rights and responsibilities under the FMCSR (49 CFR). Make sure you have a paper trail to CYA, and stand your ground

 

I won't try to say your take on the regs is wrong, because you pretty much nailed them. The issue is more to the applicability to the OPs situation. The OP reports being a trainee. A carrier can just take the OP out of the trainer's truck then stick them in a hotel and finally make them either wait until another trainer comes available, or put them on the grey dog home! Then to be honest as a student there is not much legally they can do. About 2 years ago I believe it was USA Truck that had a trainee get sick and the trainer had to get him to an ER. The load had to go and the student was going to be held overnight. I heard it took a long time for the guy to get back with a trainer.

Most carriers that train don't even consider a student to be a 2nd seat driver.

In this OPs case, they can ignore this carrier's threats. There are many carriers that will hire them. To be honest this really is not a real serious problem, more like a royal PITA!

 

F em. Make a paper trail so you can protect yourself.
If I feel sick the truck ain’t moving. My immune system will kill just about anything. Few occasions I have been sick I blame subway at the pilot