Arrested on a 34 hour reset, criminal mischeif.

When are you not under companys care? 2 days every 6 weeks? So you sit in that truck, not paid becuse your off, but you cant get out becuse your not at a physical "home"? There is a word for that....

 

Yup! Drinking on the road is a great idea , never understood why some can't go with out having to drink alcohol, on the "how bad this is" part, if it's my company, and someone applies that had been arrested for this reason, I'd pass on hiring

 

of course there's a word for that and that word is robot.I see nothing wrong with going out while off duty and not return to ondury status untill you're completely sober but companies have policies which you agree to when you get hired.you either follow their rules or find a company that could care less what you do off duty.

 

I'm not an attorney and I am too lazy to research it. I think just about every state has a law making it a crime to serve alcohol to someone that's had too much and makes them liable for any thing they do once they leave the premises.

 

I must have missed the post where he qouted policy about not drinking durning a reset. If getting arested for a bon driving offence is a "you should not be a driver" issue than what is a history of drunk driving? A menace is a menace. Off the road for life. and no robot wasnt the word i was thinking of. So you cant gamble, go to a strip club, drink, or hell even leave the truck, if the idea that it may be looked upon as "tarnishing the company" was he wearing his company shirt? Sorry we are going to disagree on this one. Plentty of good people have spent a day in jail. (For the record, i have no arrests on my record and i dont drink.)

 

Who said anything about him driving drunk?the point is he should have got a room.I'm not clear on did the op go back to his truck once he was released from jail or what.

 

Never said he drove drunk, i was making a comparison about what behaviour could or should cause termination. A room? Yeah if he planed to get blotto sure. Doesnt sound like thats the case.
Dont know how he found out about termination, or how the company or co driver learned of it either. At some point it would have become known, theres a lot of unknowns. Im just speaking to the idea that a arrest, outside of the company vehicle, on his off time, and not a driving related offence, and would not cost him his CDL, should not have cost him a job. He may be a piece o' with a history hes not tellin. Sure this may have been the camels last staw and such. But we are talking about what we have for a story. Letting any compay put forth rules for off time, without call BS is just going to lead to a place you dont want to go. Would you sugest a policy nation wide, where in a arrest, ANY arrest, and your fired? Of cource not.

 

OP stated he planned to get a room.

Question: Did you move into a room at a motel before you went drinking?
If so, I don't see any reason for a wrong behavior. Well, you went over your limits but at least you know by now where they are.
You've been Off Duty and the truck was taken care of by the codriver. As long as you didn't wear a shirt or a jacked with the companies name or logo on while on the journey, there was no damage done to the company. As long as you reported back sober and ready to drive, I wouldn't care.
Most important point in that story is, if you had a place to stay, other than the truck, before you went drinking.

We got a statement from our Director of Safety clearly stating, that the driver is not responsible for the truck while off duty. If we park the truck and plan to leave, we should park in a save location, trailer doors secured when loaded if possible backed up against a solid obstacle (lightpole). A minimum of 12 hrs no alcohol before departure. 12 hrs might not have been enough after passing out. It'd take me possibly one more day to clean up.

 

if He went to his trk after released smelling and lookinh like he's been on a five day drunk then I can understand his co drivers concern and company not taking the chance he may start driving while drunk as they see it.

 

No you won't. Most of the megacarriers cover this in their drivers handbook and its an established policy. No court in the country would let you get past a first hearing before your suit would get tossed. You might try to bully someone if your working for a small company but actually I highly doubt you would succeed. As too your babysitting comment you can't have it both ways. When you are issued a tractor and you drive it out of the company property you ARE BABYSITTING IT no matter what you think. Your also responsible for the load once you sign for it. So go ahead park your truck then leave it to go get smashed then see what happens if something were to happen to it.

While I am on the subject I think the FMCSA regulations cover it as well. Pay close attention to the parts I highlighted because you will see a difference between operating a CMV and having physical control of that vehicle. The way I have seen physical control interpreted is once you park the truck into the physical control of your company or their designated person (repair shop, etc) finished any other work then you are off duty and free to do what ever you choose to do.



§ 392.5: Alcohol prohibition.


(a) No driver shall—

(1) Use alcohol, as defined in § 382.107 of this subchapter, or be under the influence of alcohol, within 4 hours before going on duty or operating, or having physical control of, a commercial motor vehicle; or

(2) Use alcohol, be under the influence of alcohol, or have any measured alcohol concentration or detected presence of alcohol, while on duty, or operating, or in physical control of a commercial motor vehicle; or

(3) Be on duty or operate a commercial motor vehicle while the driver possesses wine of not less than one-half of one per centum of alcohol by volume, beer as defined in 26 U.S.C. 5052(a), of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, and distilled spirits as defined in section 5002(a)(8), of such Code. However, this does not apply to possession of wine, beer, or distilled spirits which are:

(i) Manifested and transported as part of a shipment; or

(ii) Possessed or used by bus passengers.

(b) No motor carrier shall require or permit a driver to—

(1) Violate any provision of paragraph (a) of this section; or

(2) Be on duty or operate a commercial motor vehicle if, by the driver's general appearance or conduct or by other substantiating evidence, the driver appears to have used alcohol within the preceding four hours.

(c) Any driver who is found to be in violation of the provisons of paragraph (a) or (b) of this section shall be placed out-of-service immediately for a period of 24 hours.

(1) The 24-hour out-of-service period will commence upon issuance of an out-of-service order.

(2) No driver shall violate the terms of an out-of-service order issued under this section.

(d) Any driver who is issued an out-of-service order under this section shall:

(1) Report such issuance to his/her employer within 24 hours; and

(2) Report such issuance to a State official, designated by the State which issued his/her driver's license, within 30 days unless the driver chooses to request a review of the order. In this case, the driver shall report the order to the State official within 30 days of an affirmation of the order by either the Division Administrator or State Director for the geographical area or the Administrator.

(e) Any driver who is subject to an out-of-service order under this section may petition for review of that order by submitting a petition for review in writing within 10 days of the issuance of the order to the Division Administrator or State Director for the geographical area in which the order was issued. The Division Administrator or State Director may affirm or reverse the order. Any driver adversely affected by such order of the Regional Director of Motor Carriers may petition the Administrator for review in accordance with 49 CFR 386.13.

(49 U.S.C. 304, 1655; 49 CFR 1.48(b) and 301.60)


Citation: [47 FR 47837, Oct. 28, 1982, as amended at 52 FR 27201, July 20, 1987; 59 FR 7515, Feb. 15, 1994; 61 FR 9567, Mar. 8, 1996]