Sleeping top bunk while driving on trainer truck
Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by Stanley Williams, Oct 28, 2012.
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Most of the 'training' companies do it this way. Most trainers only train to have the 'extra logbook' on the truck. Trainees are nothing more than a source of revenue to these big outfits.
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You are not supposed to be in the top bunk while the truck is in motion. I'm sure that your safety department will agree. Just give them a little phone call with these issues and I guarantee things will be taken care of.
DO NOT DO ANYTHING ILLEGAL OR UNSAFE WHILE WITH YOUR TRAINER!!!
Your license is your bread and butter and you don't want to risk it or your life by doing something stupid to appease your trainer. Tell them to get bent! If they are doing things this way then they are not an experienced driver and are not a qualified trainer. Call safety immediately and you will be given another trainer. Chances are your company will be glad you reported them. They don't always know what is going on out there with their trainers. Like I said before, a lot of these so called "trainers" are newbies themselves and aren't doing things properly or the way they should be done. So don't be afraid to speak up!
I had an instance just like this while in training. I had already had years of experience so when my wife got her license because we were both new to the company they wouldn't let me train her, so they put us both in the same truck with a trainer. This trainer was wanting us to forge logs and go all kind of willy-nilly crap against the law and I told her "NO". My wife and I got out of the truck and called safety. We were issued another trainer and once we got back to the terminal we met with the safety dept to go over everything and they ended up firing that trainer. They thanked us for it because they can't always know what it going on out there and most times newbies are afraid to speak up or don't know any better.Shardrk Thanks this. -
I slept in the top bunk when the trainer was driving. Dealt with a few hard brakings and some bumps but no issues. Just found the way to sleep to where i.didnt move. Now i did throw my trainer outta the bottom bunk on us95 in socal going over a set of very rough rr tracks too fast. He wasnt amused.
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I slept on the bottom bunk in the trainer truck exactly 1 time. After I saw 3 water bottles with questionable content rolling around that was it for me; moved upstairs.
Dinomite Thanks this. -
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My spouse had this very same set of circumstances recently while team driving with an owner/operator. The guy insisted he sleep in the top bunk, without restraints, while the truck was moving, which seems very unsafe to us. So we stopped in at the local weigh station and asked the DOT officer there if it was prohibited in the federal regs since the language does not specify upper or lower bunk. He said it was not prohibited at all to sleep in the top bunk while the truck was in motion. However, yes, common sense implies that restraints should be used since the language is designed, installed and maintained. Even more so, common courtesy implies that the off-duty driver should be able to sleep on the lower bunk if that is where the best sleep is acquired, for the safety of both occupants. As far as the personal hygiene of the bedding goes, I could see throwing a sleeping bag over existing bedding, or whatever arrangement works for both parties.
NavigatorWife Thanks this. -
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I have always been amazed at who companies put into trainer positions. I trained new drivers for a large chunk of the 90's. I always was either in the passenger seat or maybe doing housekeeping stuff in the sleeper, but always close by and keeping an eye on things so a driver could never get into trouble. If ever I was driving because the student being new, was still trying to adjust to the routine and I could tell they were starting to wear down, I would let them use their pillow and blanket and take a short nap on the bottom bunk which was mine. And because it was the ONLY safe place to sleep in a moving truck. My truck was never involved in team operation nor would I allow some idiot in dispatch try to make it that way. I would drive sometimes, but only to give my student a break and clear their head. I truly felt sorry for those that had to endure nasty trainers that are just in it for the money. I haven't done any training since 1999, and I am not sure I could ever do it again. I just plain got burned out.
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