Why ticket the driver

Dieselbear...The point that is being made here is that drivers are being placed in an akward position by their companies and that no one seems particularly interested in doing anything about it!

I have seen way too many company drivers trying to get a tire or some other minor repair made on the road and getting the same old tired mantra from their dispatchers/saftey depts./road repair depts...."Bring it to the yard and we'll fix it!"

Never mind that the yard is 1,000 miles away!

"The driver says no I want it fixed now!" and the next thing he knows he's out of a job!

O/O's are a different story...

Some of us have the luxury of being able to make decisions for ourselves and take care of these issues as they arise. If we choose not to repair something that we know needs repair, It's on us the owner/driver and if we decide to take the chance and "run it" we should be cited and fined accordingly!

The real problem is...

What is not being addressed throughout the industry.... The companies that simply refuse to repair anything on the road and leave it to the driver to try to figure out how the sneak back to the yard if he wants to keep his job!
Many drivers are desperate enough to keep their job to attempt to get it to the yard because they have to keep food on the tyable and a roof over their families heads...

Do you want to be placed in that position?

I doubt it!

If someone in a position of authority in your workplace tries to get you to do something that is blatantly illegal, You have a system that you can work through to prevent that!
Most of these drivers don't really have much recourse available to them!

CSA 2010 does not really address that! It simply puts more pressure and responsibility on the driver! The driver is the person with the least amount of control over the situation at most of these companies!

Your hands are tied...

I realize that it is not your job to go after the company and that it is almost impossible for you to do anything but cite the driver and thereby put him in the unenviable position of being fined and probably fired from his job for something that was for the most part out of his control.

The company will just toss the driver out the door and hire another driver to take his place and continue to do business the way they want to!

The bottom line is...

Until someone realisticly addresses that scenario....This business will continue to have major problems!

 

Good points...What can be done to address it short of a nationwide trucker strike which I think is pretty unrealistic?...

And outside of a union, or unionizing, is anyone advocating for those changes?...

 

And until drivers that allow themselves to be coerced by fear grow a spine nothing will change. let them hire somebody else. My life matters more than a job. My family outranks any Dm, owner, mechanic.

No we need no commune! Let them burn through the spineless. CSA2010 will hold them accountable. Let them train more of the spineless, they will be removed as well.



This all boils down to a simple fact. The driver turns the key.


There is no excuse, nor reason that excuses his decisions. None despite fanciful pleas of fear, and impotence.

Tell me who would these evil companies hire if everyone actually did their job?

 

I understand this completely. I also see this quite regulary. When I pop a driver violating an out of service order. The bad thing for the driver is this, the driver is the one that gets fined and disqualified for violating the OOS. The carrier washes his hands of said driver. I get that, I see that alot. How to fix it? I have no clue, except hope that driver's who educate themselves about the penalties hopefully won't make the mistake to get screwed in the long run.

 

It sounds like you keep going to work for the same kind of dirtball carriers,...

One of these days it will catch up to you,...

 

AC/Defrost and Heat are contract issues where I work,...If they don't work the truck does not move out of the shop,....The same goes for all safety and maintenance issues,....

 

Must be a local thing.

The brown delivery vans that are used and the ones I have driven for delivery have no AC or radios.

 

Seems Landline posted this recently about guys that have become whistleblowers.


http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2010/Oct10/111810/102210-02.htm

OSHA orders FL trucking company to reinstate whistleblower


The U.S. Department of Labor ordered a Florida trucking company to reinstate a driver who was allegedly fired for blowing the whistle on the carrier’s safety issues.
After an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Department of Labor ordered Zurla Trucking to reinstate the trucker, as well as back wages, interest and compensatory damages, and delete “any adverse references” related to the driver’s firing. They also must pay $125,000 in punitive damages.
The case was prosecuted under whistleblower provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act.
“OSHA is committed to enforcing the whistleblower provisions of the STAA, and we will not tolerate employers that attempt to retaliate against workers whose rights are protected by this law,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Cindy Coe.
Attorney Jeff Rice represents Zurla Trucking, which is based in Fort Myers, FL and employs 42 drivers.
Rice said OSHA’s claim is false and will be appealed.
“This finding is shocking,” Rice said. “It’s just simply not supportable. There’s no basis in law, no basis in fact for the ruling. It appears investigators from OSHA really didn’t consider the company’s position.”
Rice said the driver hasn’t been in contact with the company.
“My understanding is, he is still in New York and hasn’t sought to come down and be rehired,” Rice said.
OSHA has come under fire in January 2009 because of the agency’s handling of whistleblower cases, including several criticisms in a review by the Government Accountability Office.
In May, OSHA announced that it was seeking stronger whistleblower protection laws. The agency said it received 2,160 whistleblower complaints in 2009, completing 1,947 of those investigations. It recommended litigation or otherwise found merit in only 3 percent of the complaints, dismissing 63 percent.
In July, OSHA fined a failed California trucking business after the agency said OOIDA Member Curtis Firebaugh was fired for refusing to pull a trailer with a welded leaf spring.
Firebaugh and OOIDA Member Jack Martin were wrongfully terminated, OSHA determined, and the agency ordered the now defunct Bertolini Trucking to pay the drivers $250,000.

 

I'm at Freight,........Same company, Different animal,...

 

When I say delivery, I mean from factory to the location. I do not work at brown.