HELP - Am I responsible?

So I normally sit back & just read the boards to see what is going on but I am actually really in need of some information/advice this time. I just started working for a company (was hired solo but by my own choice I decided to go team for better miles) last week & I was assigned a team mate who had just finished their 2 weeks with a trainer. I myself have been driving for some time now. He was going to drive days & I would take care of the nights to start off. To the point, I was in the sleeper this morning & he hooked our load & was writing down all the information on his notepad. I asked him if he needed help & he said no. Just as we were pulling out of the yard I offered advice & he said "this is how my trainer showed me so this is how I'm going to do it." I noted he had the GPS on the q/c up & he appeared to be good, so I went back into the sleeper & went to sleep. 2 & 1/2 hours later he is yelling back at me telling me to help him figure out whats going on & where we are. Our dispatcher called asking him what he was going. This entire time he was going NORTH & not SOUTH!!! Over 184 miles to be exact. Just waking up I am livid & keeping myself calm I get the truck turned around since he was about to pull into an entirely TOO SMALL gas station. Now I'm awake, watching him & talking to dispatcher trying to explain I was sleeping so I would be well rested as I was about to drive 11 hours when he was done to get the load there on time. Shortly after we got another message to bring the load back to the yard so I instructed him which way to go & so on. He said he wanted a route from the dispatch that he can pull on the GPS on the q/s so they knew where he was. He went on like this for over an hour. I told my dispatcher he did not want to let me drive & what was going on & I was told to just get the truck back to the yard. Finally the snitch box got a signal & he got a route so he calmed down. Just as we are about 15 minutes from the yard he called someone & told them I was sitting in the back & would not help him. Now I am a fairly nice person & I will help anyone (even when I am in the SLEEPER SLEEPING & required to be resting not navigating since I am sure the DOT would frown badly upon that), but that crawled me so badly & when we got to the yard & I instructed him to drop the trailer his reply was "are you sure you know what your doing?" I understand I am we are both new drivers to the company but since I am the experienced driver, am I responsible for his actions while I was sleeping? Hard to believe someone would not pull over & ask why they are being routed north when they need to be going south......... We have to go see someone in safety tomorrow morning & I am wondering if I need to be packing my bags (which I think I do at this point).

 

You're so not responsible for your co-drivers stupidity in this situation.
Calm down.

Maybe get him a stick on compass for Christmas of '14 so he can tell which direction is up and which is down, and call it a day.



EDIT- AND I SAY TO YOU DRIVERS READING THIS; who among you hasn't driven a few miles in the wrong direction? For the love of Christ Almighty, we've all done it at-least once. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar or a weirdo.

Cut your co-driver a bit of slack, he screwed up. You will too, at some point. You've got to be a very forgiving person to run teams. And that works both ways.

 

I am a very patient person & forgiving as well. Yet I am amazed that a person can go over 150 miles in the opposite direction & not think to ask me why. I understand a learning curve, I am have my fair share plus more of wrong turns & so on. I was just told that at this point our truck is out of service & I need to see someone in safety first thing in the morning who will decide what is going to happen.

 

Most of the safety managers I've met were concerned about a lot of big things. I'll never forget the day I accidentally ripped a trailer door off at an HEB DC south of Austin, TX sheerly out of my dumb ### wanting to get out of there.

My saftey manager was thankful that I was upfront, and honest about the situation. Since the police weren't called I got off light and it went on internal records but nothing posted on my DAC and PCP. With that said, the safety manager, and I'll never forget his words, kindly said "Now, if you're done apologizing, I've got a truck that just rolled over in a ditch in South Dakota; and you and your trailer door are the least of my worries."

Calm down, you'll have a chance to explain your side of the story. You were asleep, and justfiably so. I doubt highly that either of you two will be fired for wasting a couple dozen gallons of diesel, and if you are; that company ain't worth working for, guy.

 

Wow dude you really went to sleep with someone who just got off the road with his trainer? You didn't even make sure ya'll was headed in the right direction before you jumped in the sleeper.

1. Failure to cover your Tail. Do not pass go. Do not collect 200 dollars.

2. Failure to manhandle the snotty nose rookie. You wear the pants. You are the man. What you say goes. Seniority rules, and if he doesn't like it. HE CAN GET TO STEP N.

3. Learn # 1 and 2 take two aspirins and call me in the morning. We back quiet.

 

Truly incredible... smh.
They need to make him learn basic directions and map reading and throw that GPS out the window.
Too many idiots rely solely on a GPS screen. Apparently he has ZERO sense of direction. 184 miles in the opposite direction is beyond insane.

It's still a bit unclear at what point his route went haywire. You need to explain this part more thoroughly.
How much experience do you have? I assume not much more than your co-driver.
Ideally, you want to be clear that he knows where he's going before you depart the terminal, but once you hit the sleeper HE is responsible if he has any questions about correct direction he is going. Obviously, if the dispatch didn't call him, y'all might have ended up in the Arctic Circle as clueless as he was.

I wouldn't accept any disciplinary action if there was no fault of my own, and it was all due to your clueless wonder co-driver.

 

When you talk to Safety tell the facts without dwelling on your suspicions before you went to the bunk. The last thing on your mind was that he'd go in the wrong direction and Safety will think the same.

 

I myself have been driving for just over 3 years. I have always been a solo driver but in the past year I have really pushed more toward helping other drivers who are just starting out. When I was starting out I always had questions for months & months. Sometimes it seemed hard to get them answered. This was my actual first time out with anyone other then my trainer & my father. I like to help people so I figured it would be good for both of us. I would get to help someone new out with a few things I have learned & they could get help from someone who is not going to laugh at them for messing up (reverse u-turn, blind side, single dock, under ground, down slope. took me 30 minutes my first time but I got it!). Granted I will admit my fault was not sitting up & watching him but I honestly figured he knew how to read a map. The main issue is he only did 50% of his planning & relied 100% on the GPS. The GPS route for the fuel stop was wrong, it was for the driver who brought the load to us & the routing was never updated. HOWEVER, the ROUTE SOLUTION that was sent with the load information & the 2 fuel stops was correct. Had he looked at the solution & then a map he would have realized from there we were going wrong. I sat back this afternoon & tried to explain a few things to him but all I got in return was "well that's not what my trainer does." I later realized that he never put the load info into the e-log load section & I had to show him how to do that. He then admitted he was never shown that & he was unaware. I explained to him that he would quickly become aware of it via a hefty ticket from the DOT had he been caught. I am not perfect, I am still & always be learning new things, but common sense says lets not go 400 miles north to get fuel only to have to go back south. Total out of route miles today, 354.7.

 

you go to sleep and let a guy just out of school drive your truck?????????
mamma mia

 

Fatal mistake I know, like I said though, I like to help other drivers. This is still however a TEAM operated truck & I can not be awake to drive my hours & baby sit for their drive hours as well. His trainer said he was good. I checked the weather & route so there was nothing I was concerned about until after he had got to the fuel stop. Had there been bad weather or steep grades, I would be sitting up right drinking my coffee peering around the corner of his seat.