breaking the 70 hour rule

Anyway of telling the name of this company without, i say again, without actually typing the name? You know, kinda like "rhymes with twift" or "should be spelled rail" or "neider if missing the first three", etc. Go ahead, give us a riddle to solve!

 

chrisn, you've gotten some good answers here. It's true that nobody can MAKE you do anything. Believe it or not, there are some drivers out there who will holler for a load, saying they have hours to run, then when they're assigned one, it's all of a sudden, "Oh, I looked at my logbook wrong, I don't have the hours". Because the load is going someplace they don't want to go. These are the same drivers who complain nonstop about not getting any miles.

Having said that...document, document, document. Everything. I tell my drivers to cover their butts, and they better, because I'm sure covering mine. The drivers who are telling you to put everything on the qualcomm are absolutely right, and I hope your company runs it. Because my feeling as a dm is, if I'm not asking you to do anything wrong, I should have no problem asking you to do it on the qualcomm, should I? Your DM shouldn't, either. If my driver is out of hours, or going to be, we will try to get the load re-assigned, or else have them pick it up, do what they can with it, then shut down and we'll try to relay it. Doesn't always work but I don't want anyone running over their hours and my safety department doesn't, either.

The other thing I always tell them is, YOU are the one driving the truck. YOU are the one that will be held accountable if something goes wrong. Since that's the case, it's YOUR decision, not anyone else's, how you manage your runs and your logbook. It's the way I ran and it's the way I expect them to run. Document and keep notes of EVERYTHING, and obey the law. CSA 2010 is not going to be fun for any of us, but I truly believe it's going to put more of the onus on the trucking companies and not on the drivers if they refuse to go along when they think something is wrong.

Cover yourself and be careful out there, good luck to you.

 

Off topic but what is a driver manager, is that just another name for dispatcher?

 

I'd rather not, not a national company, not a freight company.

The issue was over 14hrs on duty.

Owner erroniously tried to invoke 16hr exception not recognizing the provision that the driver must end within the 16 at the HOME terminal.

 

I think so. Sounds better, but SOS. As if they are giving you special personal managing attention and are not just there to make sure the freight gets down the road.

 

Depends on the company. Some, he's a dispatcher. In other's he's the go between from the driver to to all the other departments such as dispatch, customer service, sales.
Generally speaking, a DM is the driver's primary point of contact.

 

They tried to order me to go beyond driving hours once. I marked it on my logbook, "ordered to drive beyond hours by xxx, refused". Then I called safety. I was still employed..never had that problem again.

 

Wow, thanks so much to all! I did not expect such a response.I am thinking that going to the safety guy is the way to go. We do use the qual com and the hours are documented there,I guess. I just wondered if I was the one who would be fined. Not sure I understand the distinction between driving and or working past the 70 hour mark.
Thanks again for all the useful advise,I am glad I found this site and am sure to have more questions.

 

Be Safe..........

be informed !!!!!!