I've been a professional driver for 13 years, and there have been a few times I have dealt with this exact same situation. A vast majority of dispatch has NEVER driven a semi and don't have a clue what it's like and think these drivers are robots. Everything that those Afterhours dispatch said is what you don't do. If they put safety as an afterthought and put freight over safety, then they are looking at a very low driver retention rate. This is why dispatchers are being fired if they try to do this.
DOT regulations dictate you can’t make him drive if he’s sleepy . By the law you have the right to refuse that load . I imagine that dispatch after this video is fired . Plus I’m surprised the police officer didn’t tell him to sleep and them he’s not driving . First thing I would’ve told the cop safety comes first . Being a survivor of a horrible truck accident I can tell you first hand the repercussion ain’t no joke .
Back in 1993, I was in a trainer truck and although I didn't quit, I stuck it out to the end, I never drove a truck again. My sleep is still disrupted to this very day. Ever since I went truck driving, I have never again had the quality of sleep I used to have, before then
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I’ve been in the situation where I did my work, and took my 10 hour break, and when I was ready to go to work, I got “We are looking for something. Just sit tight.” After about 8 hours of my regular work hours sitting, I called my dispatcher, and said “I’ve been up all this time now. Just go ahead and start looking for something for tomorrow”. lol. The driver is the captain of that ship. I’m not going to be up day and night both for any company. I don’t have to.
You did the correct thing. I drove OTR for 25 years. The dispatchers/ load plannners don't know what there doing. I always put my messages in on free form. When i had a people i couldn't deal with.
Dramatic BS"" What? For the greedy company, Lives don matter ! 2-3 hr nap could help. Talking on CB radio takes another toll from you. You the driver... knows when you need to sleep. Just like don King, don´t care bout you, n don´t care bout me neither.... There is a certain time any driver has to take to haul a load, he must complete the mission, or ruin his own life, and the lives of others.... Company Carrier is like: "It was his fault your honor ".
I sometimes drove for 20hours a day for many days in a row. As a company driver i took home $3,000 for one week work, and that was 16 years ago. You set your own limits, i can drive 2 days without sleep, others can too.
So how many hours had he been driving and for how many days straight? Also for those who would know......is it hard to sleep in the truck and when can you turn off the engine to sleep.
Abe, I respect you so much for making this video, even if you weren’t experienced enough to know what to say. I’ve experienced exactly what you’ve gone through: you have a full night’s rest, you work for a short period of time and they expect you to do another full reset (where you can’t possibly sleep) and then have you drive another 4-11 hours. I’ve learned in this industry: less words === clearer communication. I’d be really curious to see you post an update video on what you’ve learned in the last decade this was uploaded. Me personally, if I have to call I’m saying “I’m tired, going to sleep, I expect to drop at such-and-such time”. If they have a problem with that, say “I can’t do two resets back-to-back”. These guys don’t care if you can sleep or not - if it was them, they would make something work even if it meant stopping to sleep for 30 minutes here or there - these guys are immoral monsters. I’ve talked to countless ignorant drivers who will say, “You had 10 hours and you couldn’t sleep?” ignoring the fact that you just did another 10 hour reset some hours before your second one. It’s always a lot cheaper to sleep than to lose your career, for you and your employer. You’re not meant to be awake for more than 15 hours, and these guys are running you awake for upwards of 40 hours if they figure out how to pull it off. These guys are basically janitors that can’t clean toilets, and you’re the manager being polite and doing their job for them. A good manager does the toilets for the employees he oversees, and a better manager knows when it’s safer to sleep. I would have straight up told the police that you can’t physically drive because the company made you sleep for 20 hours back to back.
Why would anyone listen to someone who starts out saying What's up everybody This guy Seems like he needs to lose and I need to win What the hell are you youngsters bitching about now? We need to get that load there
