Dispatcher tries to force driver to drive tired. *MUST SEE*

Does it really matter how it was logged? The fact of the matter is that if he did all that I presented, and that's a big if as he didn't mention it, then he very well may have been awake 17 hours like he stated.

 

yes, if that those activities were included in the second 10 hour break it matters as they would have run consecutively. I'm just trying to fill in the blanks. The important take away for Abe would be to see what caused the failure so he can prevent himself from being in this situation again. Where did he have opportunities to make better use of his time. He's going to go broke if he can't pull some night shifts. The company may decide that if the wait is too long after being empty to push him to the next day based upon past performance. So where I'm coming from it matters. I'm under the impression that he's out there to make money, not to accept loads that he can't pull off. Rest assured something like this will come up again. I'm thinking he wont want a service failure for the sake of being safe.

 

That comment right there is worth a million bucks over the course of a career. Well, at least half million anyway. When I am not rested, I get pi$$y with brokers, my family, my employer, my co-workers, the customers, other drivers et al. That all costs money.

 

He said the first 10 was a good break. Then he got up and bounced 20 miles...let's say that took an hour. Then he took another 10 and didn't sleep, which is understandable. He should have been awake only 11 - 12 hours when he started to drive. But he was falling asleep after only 2 hours at the wheel. Sorry Patty it all points to him not sleeping enough on his first 10....even though he said he did.

Anyone who has ever driven a truck knows what the story is......he screwed up his first break. That is on him and people need to stop making excuses for him. He needs to own it, learn from it, and move on.

 

Pattyj, is Abe still driving for K&B?

 

I'm no PJ,but I'll say yes.

 

that's been my opinion from the beginning. Anyone who can do simple math would have figured out that he lied to dispatch about getting good sleep on his first 10.

 

Outside of the internet do you personally know Abe?

 

While you may be correct, no one knows what happened earlier that week. Circadian rhythms are not magically reset every 24 hours. I don't know what happened to Abe earlier in the week, for all we know he might have been home for 10 straight days or he might have been running hard the last 10 days.

But sleep debt is a well known phenomenon! And it is cumulative. Like it or not, at some point you have to pay the sleep debt. Maybe that was where Abe found himself that night!

My point is WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING!
He said he was unsafe. That should have ended any further discussion from dispatch, regardless of why he was too tired to continue!

 

I think there are very few arguing against him stopping at this point. Clearly safety comes first, but what is his solution to prevent it in the future. Is the root cause not enough sleep during his previous break? We don't know, we won't know because Abe is not a member. So at best we can speculate. If he wants to make it at a refrigerated company there are going to be sometimes when he'll have to run nights. If he can't figure out how to do it safely, it's going to hurt his bottom line.