Fate of the Crete driver from FLA

It is managements resposibility to manage the company and ALL of it's employess. That's means if someone is NOT doing what they're supposed to be doing then it must be addressed. Ignorance is no excuse.

Don't even think they didn't know, management people are experts at insulating themselves from responsibility when things like this go down. Yep the driver manager will be the scapegoat but they will also take a beating on this one,stand back and watch.

I personally haven't worked for crete but most large companys work like this. I'm sure Crete is no exception.
Again, more freight moved is more profits so if the driver manager can move more freight the company makes more money. If the driver manager loses that account which I'll bet they have, he's gonna blame the driver.
The company is gonna blame the driver manager but upper management doesn't care because now they have either lost the account or not making enough money from it. They don't care what the driver has to do to get the freight delivered just so long as he does. In this case, the unthinkable has occurred. Now it's damage control time. The whole focus will now shift to minimize the finanacial losses that will now ensue. It's a never ending cycle.
You can go ahead and think what you like, just stand back and watch, this thing will drag on for years with all the lawyers and lawsuits and all the legal wrangling that will go on. it's enough to turn the stomach.

 

My dispatcher when I was OTR at central was huge on the qualcom. All messages and communication had to go thru it. Now that I am on a dedicated fleet I still do the same thing. I may talk to my fleet manager on the phone, but every conversation, I will go and make a message about.
He is find with it and realizes that it is to cover both our hides.

 

Unfortunately with a company this size, management cannot go through every msg every time on the qualcomm. They do, however, look when someone brings it to their attention. I know that they will ultimately be held responsible, but the blame should be placed on two people, the driver for not saying no, and the dispatcher or planner for pushing. I know it is not the policy of the management here to force the drivers to run illegal, tired or sick, because they know if something happens, it's their butt. And with this company, in their own minds, they are the best (like every company thinks) and don't want negative publicity, especially at this extreme level.

 

Communacation and Qcomm are your best friends I guess I have it easy I hear all these other people complain about their companys, I am lucky non-forced dispatch and I run regional so I dont have to worry about a "sweet route" I am home every weekend on top of that I am through the house at least one time a week, of course I dont make as much money as most of the people on this fourm do (575-880 is what I get weekly anywere in there hand to the man truth) but all I have is a cell phone and a internet card bill and ive still managed to put away a lot of money in my bank, I know my company enough to ya I know they want me to do a favor when they call on my cell but I get right back on the Qcomm and write back to them "According to OUR phone conversation I cannot run this load legally" BAM gets dropped right there EVERY company driver NEEDS to have that line in their heads at all time

 

Another one I forgot to mention I dont really use this much I dont mind chaining, but I was in Wyoming in December on I-80 it wasent the snow that was bad it was the fact that the load was 14K and it was windy as f--k, I just pulled over and shot a simple message saying "Hey (DM's name) sorry I have to shut it down it is UNSAFE for me to keep driving" all he said back was "No problem just let me know when you get rolling again so I can give them an Idea when you will be showing up"

 

Terrible tragedy.

One that could have easily been avoided if the driver in quiestion had any balls.

Safety for the load and the motoring public is job number one for EVERY professional on the road.

He knew he was tired before he ever got behind the wheel. Whether he felt "pressure" to perform is irrelevant in my view.

No dispatcher can MAKE me drive when it's not safe to do so. They try, I explain why it will not happen. They press, I go over their head. Safety starts and stops with the decisions I make, not some desk jockey who sleeps in a warm bed every night, doesn't have the schedule I do, and doesn't have to deal with the weather and unsafe decisions of others.

I do it all the time. He should have. Because he didn't, an entire family was wiped out.

The lite sentence was given so that it increases the family's chances of winning a big settlement. Hope it's worth it to them.

 

That's the policy Crete has as well. They would rather have the load there late, than have to pull it out of a ditch, or lose the load because the driver decided to push in bad weather and rolled it, or worse, ran into/over someone. All the national trucks are suppose to have chains, but are never required to be removed from the rack. In fact, they don't even supply the tensioner bungees. If it's bad enough to chain up, then they don't require you to chain and roll. It's you're call because you are the one out there in the weather. Their desk is in a warm 72 degree office with 0% chance of inclement weather. That is why this is such a tragedy. It was a clear day, so it was nothing more than driver error, it could have been easily prevented...I just hope this is an example to the outlaw drivers of how fast a lot of lives can be destroyed in a blink of an eye.


And a word of warning to all driver of trucks that can go faster than 62 mph. Crete is turning down their entire fleet of company trucks to 62 in an attempt to save a little fuel. So please don't run us over...we're peddling as fast as we can . I have had quite a few drivers over the last few weeks just about run into the back of my trailer. I guess they think that racing up to me and riding my ICC bumper will scare my truck into going faster... I'm really not sure, because it sure doesn't impress or intimidate me.

 

You need to remember that the only one who protects your CDL, your life, and the safety of the oblivious drivers on the road is YOU. As far as these big companies go, the bottom line is it's all about the dollar. I have been driving for less than a year and have had that aggressive dispatch tried on me a few times as far as going over HOS and I flat out refused to do it. I know it might be a bunch of crap-but most safety depts, I hope will agree with you as far as doing anything illegal, not because they are worried about your life or the lives of the motoring public-it's the multimillion dollar lawsuits they may be responsible for. Thinking that if you do go over your HOS for them to get THEIR load there on time that you will somehow be rewarded w/ better miles, etc-that doesn't happen. Chances are they will be talking about you on their coffee break about what an idiot that driver was and how easy it was to scare him into doing what they wanted him to do. "The load needs to get there on time, we sell a service" regardless of who gets put in harm's way. PS--The driver is in control of whether that vehicle moves or not, regardless. I understand people have mouths to feed and bills to pay but it only takes one bad decision to end your career as a truck driver, and then how do the bills get paid? This is from Bill, the driver/mover

 

Well said. If drivers would quit covering for poor planning (load time allotment) and shippers who take too long to load a truck and just refuse to run illegal, this industry would be changed for the better. BUT too many drivers feel the best way to make money is to fudge on logs and get to places sooner to get another load. That may work for a long time but the day you put it into the back of a school bus, you will wish you learned to say no.

 

What happens if he refused to run "dirty". Would they fire him for refusal to break DOT regulations? Has anyone heard of that happening?

I will be driving soon and I can tell you this. I will sacrifice my job to avoid this type of thing. I will likely not have to worry since I will be team driving but the day will come when I will be solo. When that time comes, I will NOT run illegal just to make a DM happy.