Driving without sleep

Cocaine & gin works for me

 

You got it. I've always looked at it this way. It's easier to tell a customer their frieght will be late than to tell them it's rolled over on the side of the road.

 

I understand the problem well enough.
My current schedule has me starting at 9:00 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, 5:00 pm Wednesdays, 6:30 pm Thursdays, 9:00 pm Fridays, and then trying to spend time with family on weekends, which means being up during the days, then switching back to nights on Monday all over again. I have to try to sleep whenever I can, and try whatever method works best at any given time.

 

If you haven't been able to obtain sufficient rest to be able to complete the trip safely, then refuse the dispatch on those grounds.

Stand your ground. The law protects you if your company expects you to drive when you're unfit for duty. Three times I did that with my previous employer when they tried switching me from day to night shift without warning. They finally realized that I meant business, and gave me the schedule that I needed to operate safely.

It's your ash on the line if fatigue causes you to screw up. Make them do their jobs and keep you on a schedule that works for you. Make it hard on them if they don't.

 

Many in an office would argue 10+ hours was more then sufficient time to get "rested".

 

Oh, it is. But not when you vary the start of your work day by more than 2 hours in a 24 hour period.

At the end of the day, the words 'unable to obtain sufficient rest', or 'unfit for duty' will prevail when you file your complaint with OSHA. And they know this.

 

I don't know. Trucking is a 24/7 job. Few have rock solid schedules that never fluctuate, and many have schedules that can flip on short notice. It's not an easy thing to deal with for some (easier for others), but if it's something one can't or won't find a way to do, trucking probably is not a good fit for one.

The FMCSA has determined 10 hours is sufficient time to become properly rested and flipping a schedule does not seem to be an issue in their minds

 

My previous company operates 80+ power units, and has 100+ drivers. If they can't find a way to service their customers' schedules while keeping their drivers' start times within a 2 hour window from day to day, then they're just plain lazy in my opinion. Make the carpet land people do their jobs.

edit: Not to mention that there's nobody in dispatch from 5pm to 8pm at my previous company. Then there's only one person in dispatch from 8pm to 8am. And you want me to flip from day to night and back again in the space of 72 hours? You're outta yer mind.

Carpet land only drives desks. I drive a truck.

 

That's interesting to know there is a place that has a good mix of day and night runners and there is also an opposite one at just the right spot at just the right time. In my circles, this is much harder to accomplish then it is to say and want

 

FYI - The "Scribd" app is a better alternative I've found. $8.99/month and unlimited audiobooks as opposed to 1 credit per month. I haven't had any problems finding the titles I want, either.