Are drivers criminally responsable for the contents of the trailer

Most trucking companies would hang you out to dry, whether you were guilty or not.

 

Considering they would have a couple hundred grands worth of equipment impounded I can't imagine their efforts would be focussed on the driver at that point.

 

kinda hard to prove if a driver didn't handle and pack a preloaded sealed trailer with a bunch a numbers and brief description on paper work.. but yes the driver is suppose to know what he/she is hauling.

 

Somebody has to go down for it, may as well be the driver. I sometimes get paranoid when I rent cars. They are often used by drug mules so I can only hope they got ALL their product out before handing the car back.

"It's not mine" and "I don't know how that got there" isn't going to help you if a sniffer dog uncovers a kilo or two forgotten behind the door panels.

 

my employer tells me I can get terminated for opening a loaded trailer with out authorized permission or personnel sealed or not.

what type of freight can a driver thoroughly inspect and know without a doubt what he/she has? how much time would it take to do so? it's the shippers responsability to make it clear in what I do.

what happens if you close the doors and throw a seal on it after a live load?

I dont get inside and go through every little tid bit of what's there. a quick glance at what and where and the occasional securement near the doors is all it gets.

 

If it's sealed with seal # printed on the BOL you should be OK.
Really never gave it much thought honestly.


As far as CBP goes I have never been bothered usually they just wave me on.
Sometimes they ask what I have loaded (Reefer/Dry Van) then they will normally also ask if I'm a US Citizen, that answer is no and I just hand them my green card.
Guess could lie and get away with it.

 

I hauled a flatbed load to El Paso and a guy approached me wanting me to haul a couple used cars to Dallas. The pay was higher than normal. Seemed fishy to me and I passed. First thought was these cars are loaded with drugs. Maybe I am just paranoid.