Incredible

Discussion in 'Trucking Accidents' started by fuzzeymateo, Feb 13, 2015.

  1. Raezzor

    Raezzor Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

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    The 1st driver wasn't the only idiot. I'm sorry the guy lost his life, and the 1st driver should have been more careful, but the driver of the 2nd rig played his own part in his death as well.
     
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  3. gpsman

    gpsman Road Train Member

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    It appears motor vehicles are widely considered harmless, and/or their operators infallible... or something. It is not at all uncommon to see people waiting for a bus or to cross a street with their toes or occupied stroller hanging over the curb, and they launch themselves into crosswalks the instant the light changes, never offering a glance at traffic, often preoccupied with a digital device.

    I can only conclude oblivious motorists are also oblivious pedestrians, and familiarity breeds contempt.
     
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  4. Johan

    Johan Light Load Member

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    No accident should ever happen. But they do happen and no one can predict when. And that is exactly why seatbelts exist and should be worn. Sorry the guy in the other truck lost his life. But I feel about as sorry for him as I feel for a smoker who dies of lung cancer.
     
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  5. BrenYoda883

    BrenYoda883 Road Train Member

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    I just do not understand the FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real) that some drivers have of the qualcomm or othe ELDs.. they do not control the driver.. the drive simply uses the qualcomm to log and communicate...

    I have run out of hours and drove after my 14 ran out.. the truck did not go up in flames, I was not surrounded by the qualcomm swat team... I did get a call from logs the next morning.. but that was all...

    Most of the time my qualcomm is silent and dark.. as I turn down the volume all the way and turn the brightness all the way down.. if I get a message and feel I must know what it is.. I simply turn up the volume and press a couple buttons and the message is read to me... so a driver does not have to pull off on the side of the road to answer a message.. the messages do not self distruct.. a driver can read them when they stop next....

    As for this horrible incident.. an electonic box can not be blamed... it was human driver error... and very sad.. it did not need to happen.. please do not try and let an irresponsible driver off by assigning blame to a simple electronic device. .. just like a GPS.. the driver drives the truck.. if the GPS tells them turn turn left and the driver sees a low clearence but turns left and rips the top of the truck and trailer off.. it is the drivers fault not the GPS...
     
  6. BrenYoda883

    BrenYoda883 Road Train Member

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    Great post... spot on....
     
  7. SHO-TYME

    SHO-TYME Road Train Member

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    Driver's don't look and pull out in front of anyone without caring because THEY are in a hurry, watch what this driver did, luckily, I slowed down in case someone did something stupid. (Language warning.)

     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 9, 2015
  8. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    The company I just left put those computers in their company trucks. At first, it was just elogs...no big deal, except they were threatening people's jobs if they went over by even a couple minutes getting back to the yard. Then they started toying with other features that are available to them, receiving alerts any time a truck was exceeding the speed limit. If it was more than 6 mph, they'd go into google earth street view and look for the last speed limit sign to verify, and then warn the driver and taking his bonus. 10 over and they started threatening the driver's job and reducing his percentage. It was also linked into the truck's computer, reporting everything from fuel mileage to idle time to hard braking events and everything else the truck's computer can detect...and all of that info was also used to keep from paying bonuses.

    Maybe YOUR company doesn't abuse their access to the information...yet. It is only a matter of time before they too figure out how to capitalize on the information at the driver's expense...and all in the name of "safety". I moved on when the company I was with decided to mandate those same computers in the O/O rigs, and they wanted us to pay for the computers we didn't want AND the service we don't have any use for...and we had to buy it all through them, which is a breech of contract AND a violation of the federal regulations.

    I'm not putting one of those silly things in my truck, ESPECIALLY not if it gives the company access to more than just my HOS, at the end of the day, AFTER I certify the day's log. They don't need real time data. They don't need to track my every move. They don't need the engine diagnostics or have access to my engine's ECU beyond what is required for the elog to be compliant. Personally, I'm content to record my duty status on paper...where $2 buy's me a month's worth of pages vs. the e-log service that costs me $2/day for the days I work in addition to buying a computer through a company (which is registered to the company, not to me, and therefore cannot be used elsewhere) when the company has no intent on buying back the device when the lease is terminated.

    I'm curious, though. Have you ever driven without the babysitter in the truck? Or has it always been by your side giving you the impression that it just is what it is? I've driven for companies that had qualcomm for communications purposes only, and I've driven for companies without anything but the phone in my pocket. Less than 1/4 of my truck driving experience had the qualcomm, and that was all prior to e-logs...and quite frankly I have no use for any of them. When qualcomms were first put in trucks, they were said to be "for communications purposes only"...but it didn't take companies long to figure out that the DOT could use the time/location stamps associated with those communications during an audit...so then the companies started using these communications devices that weren't supposed to be used to track the drivers to track the drivers and audit logs. As more features became available, companies figured out ways to "improve safety", most of them at the drivers' expense. Just because you haven't seen it happening doesn't mean it isn't happening.
     
  9. SHO-TYME

    SHO-TYME Road Train Member

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    And that's why I call an ELog an EBS. (Electronic Baby Sitter)
     
  10. BrenYoda883

    BrenYoda883 Road Train Member

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    Yes.. When I first started I drove for an O/O using loose leaf paper logs... remember well spending time backing up my log book at a rest area or off ramp before going by scale house... also ran loose leaf for for a small reefer outfit I drove for where creative coloring was pretty much standard and expected as was running back roads around scale houses....

    Actually .. my qualcomm does record hard breaking.. but, I guess I dont worrh too much about it as I rarely do a hard break... I have a silly habit of actually paying attention while I am driving.. also, maybe because I am an avid motorcycle rider I am alway aware of what some other idiot may do and prepared.. so, Yeah I dont rack up the hard breaking incidents.... also, I am not one for going 10mph over the speed limit... on occasion, I will go a few mph over
    But I really have better things to put my money to then a #### ticket... Dont get me wrong, I think it is great how many drivers like to give their Money the different counties and state departments... plus the chargers that the police drive need to get paid for.... I am just too selfish I guess, I figure my taxes are enough and don't care to donate anymore...
     
  11. Pedigreed Bulldog

    Pedigreed Bulldog Road Train Member

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    There shouldn't ever be a reason to sit there catching up a log book that is a couple days behind...keep it current and it solves that. Chances are, the company would never receive an alert about my driving...but that isn't the point. Stuff happens, and you really can't predict the stupidity of some with 100% accuracy...and I don't need my phone ringing with some snot nosed dispatcher on the other end accusing me of not paying attention after some doofus pulled out right in front of me only to stop dead in his tracks to make a left. I don't need alerts ringing in my ear when the computer software doesn't match the posted signs. I'm an adult. I don't need a babysitter watching over my shoulder. I'm being paid to do a job, let me do it. Period.
     
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