Well....Outlaw is right in some respects and wrong in others. As to laying blame on the company, he's dead right. It was the driver's choice to run illegal. Claiming the company made me do it won't do him a bit of good in the court. The company maybe fined if FDOT finds a pattern of assigning loads to drivers out of hours or ignoring "doctored" logs. But the driver is the one going to face criminal charges. The dispatchers will go home to momma and a nice dinner. Undoubtedly, the family of the victim will pursue civil law suits against the company if they are in fact found to be pushing drivers to run illegal, but again only the driver will be charge with manslaughter, if he's lucky................chances are if he was over hours and running illegal, then he may be charged with negligent indifference along with the manslaughter. That could add another 10 years or so.

As to the relating of the details by the driver to someone here on the forum and the posting of said details being used against him..........hell any good defense lawyer half his worth will get that tossed out as inadmissible as "hearsay by a third party".

The lesson to be learned here by all the new drivers are simply..........A. - Run legal. When you're out of hours, shut down. Don't let some dispatcher sitting behind some desk somewhere bully you into running over your hours. You're the professional driver and as such, you're the one who will be held responsible if, god forbid, you ever find yourself in this situation. Criminal charges are just the start. Not only will the victim's family most likely file a civil suit against the company, but the driver's family will most likely be included in the civil law suit as well..........Now, what's momma and the kids going to do? B. - Any time a dispatcher sends you a message asking you to call them to discuss the fact you don't have enough hours to make the run.........red lights should be flashing in front of your eyes. The reason they don't want to discuss it in a qualcom message is they don't want a record of it. You can call them if you want to be polite, but the second they start in with any notion that you can just fudge your books to make the run or you get any inclination that they are pushing you to run illegal, you need to end the conversation with one simple statement.........."Send me a qualcom message that you are directing me to ignore DOT rules of operation and safety and have the Safety Manager send me one as well, and I'll take it under consideration." Qualcom messages, just like log sheet records have to be maintained by the company for a defined period of time by DOT. THEY ARE ADMISSIBLE IN COURT.

Unfortunately, far too many drivers fall into the belief that it will never happen to them...........that they can get away with it just this once. Accidents aren't planned and you don't have to be at fault to be involved in one.............maybe the other driver is at fault.........to begin with, but anytime a big rig is involved someone is going to be looking at the logs.........if you're running over, the fault just now became yours.

Run smart, manage your time wisely .........but above all else.....run legal. It only takes one accident like this to ruin so many lives..............

 

dispatchers and managers can only make u run illegal by the threat of being fired (and if they offer this, take them up on it and the second your fired call DOT) or by sitting in the passengers seat and holding a gun to your head.

If the dispatcher or manager held a gun to your head which im suspecting being the case... since its more probable look to your right and say your tired and if it need to get there so fast tell them to drive.

 

More and more, Dispatchers and Managers ARE being held accountable, for forcing Drivers to run Illegally. DOT has for the last 4 years beeen recognizing, that Dispatchers AND Management, hold an Individuals "Livelyhood" in their hands.

How many people, when forced to choose between feeding their family and paying their bills, are going to disobey a direct order from above?

Last October, a Jury in Georgia found that, not only was a driver involved in a fatality accident responsible, but so was the dispatcher that driver reported to, as well as the owners and management of the company. They all went to jail.


I will see if my Dispatcher still has the e-mail of that case on his computer, so I can get names, the city, and the paper that the case was published in.

The company I work for, made it a point to send out a directive, man-dating that Dispatchers be certain that all drivers were running compliant, due to the court case.

 

I'd like to know the case number of this trial.

kc0iv

 

I had a situation like that at one company Distpatcher refused to let me run west unless I ran ILLEGAL he told me that over the phone only not over the Sat system. He thought that way his word against mine I had a dispatch buster aka recorder on the call. I played that for BOTH the federal DOT and the owner of the company he was fired 2 min later for forcing his fleet to run illegal.

 

I too would like to see the case number or newspaper article where you found this information.

It is theoretically possible to hold trucking company owners and officers personally liable for their personal participation in dispatching drivers on trips that cannot possibly be lawfully completed.

Violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations provide applicable standards of care, breaches of duty, and evidence of negligence, specifically including:

49 C.F.R. § 390.13: "No person shall aid, abet, encourage, or require a motor carrier or its employees to violate the rules of this chapter."

49 CFR 390.5: “Person means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or any other organized group of individuals.”

49 CFR 392.3: “No driver shall operate a motor vehicle, and a commercial motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle, while the driver's ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become impaired, through fatigue, illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him/her to begin or continue to operate the commercial motor vehicle.”

49 C.F.R. § 395.3 (2003 version): “Except as provided in §§ 395.1(b)(1), 295.1(f), and 395.1(I), no motor carrier shall permit or require any driver used by it to drive not shall any such driver drive: (1) More than 10 hours following 8 consecutive hours off duty; or (2) For any period after having been on duty 15 hours following 8 consecutive hours off duty.

However, even in the U.S. DOT OIG website, where numerous cases are listed indicating final dispositions, I couldn't find one case where the company owners or dispatchers were sentenced to any jail time where a driver had been convicted of criminal homicide as the result of a trucking accident due to violation of HOS. There were many cases where company officials and dispatchers had been prosecuted and sentenced to probation and heavy fines, but it appears these were cases of on going investigations by the DOT OIG into blatant and ongoing violations by companies.

I think it would be a good thing if some District Attorney had the back bone to go after some of these companies and include the company officials and dispatchers with complicity. It might just be the cattle prod up the anal channel some of these yahoos need to bring an end to this practice. Hiding behind the veil of the corporation protection shouldn't be a get out of jail free card for these folks. But then I guess folks in hell would like ice water too..................until it happens........drivers need to cover your backside with wise decisions..............anytime there is an accident resulting in a death the driver is going to be first to be offered up by the company as the sacrificial goat.

Driver legal and if the company is using strong arms tactics on you to force you to do otherwise, don't hesitate to drop a dime on them with the DOT. You can bet as long as the companies can hide behind the corporation wall, they aren't going to change their habits. It's a money thing and they will always take the money and run. If it's going to change it will HAVE to start with the drivers on the front lines.......and if that means enlisting the help of the Feds..............maybe it's time we start play their game.

 

That is now you and I both that he has called liars. Lets go for the tri-fecta ssoutlaw! :roll:

 

Doesn't the Colin sit behind the rectum....lol I'm not a doctor but I think this is the correct way, and the scientific name for these body parts....lol
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Is that English? What I've bolded makes zero sense.
Why don't you just PM me so you can say what you need to say.

 

Here click this link and check out several stories regarding truck drivers and companies.

Quit a few interesting stories about drivers getting jail time over falsifying their log books.
Quit a few where the dispatchers have served jail time and paid fines for allowing drivers to run illegal.

I can't stress it enough: Dispatchers can serve jail time if proven they knowingly let a driver run over their hours and a Driver can also serve jail time if they knowingly ran over their HOS.

http://www.oig.dot.gov/item.jsp?id=1936