Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

This country’s fuel prices has gotten so out of hand, that our “American” truckers are going to “Mexico” fuel stops to fill up. It’s approximately $2.00 cheaper in Mexico per gallon than it is here in the USA. I do not know about you all, but this is making me sick to my stomach. What kind of country do we live in where the Government is pushing our Transportation industry to such an extreme as to fuel their vehicles in another country? It’s cheaper for owner ops to purchase the permits for Mexico, then drive to Mexico to fill up.

 

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Recently I have had numerous discussions with drivers whom are slightly confused about the 14 hour rule. The truckers I have talked to say that they have to go “Off Duty” after their 14 hours has been used. That’s not true. The 14 hour rule only applies to your driving time, not your “on duty, not driving” time. If you go On duty not driving after 14 hours, you can remain on the clock so to speak for as long as you want. But you cannot drive after 14 hours until you have had a consecutive 10 hour break.

The reason I bring this up is because we had a driver in our fleet that told a receiver that he could not unload the trailer due to being out of hours. (The Drivers unload their own trailers). He had reached his 14 hours mark and thought that he had to go off duty. This was at 3am in the morning. Well, the receiver could not get in contact with anyone at our facility until 7am that same morning. Due to the driver not unloading his freight, the receiver had to shut their production down at 6am and the driver refused to unload the freight until he had a 10 hour break, when in fact he could have went on duty not driving and legally unloaded his freight and kept our valuable customer in production. We were able to get another driver in the area to arrive and unload the trailer for them so they could get back up and running. It was 9am before they were able to start their machines back up. 3 hours of downtime cost them approximately $9000 in production loss..and it could have all been prevented if the driver had been properly educated about the 14 hour rule.

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If you have ever had a problem keeping your composure when it comes to aggressive drivers then you can definately say you are human. It’s a natural reaction to become aggitated at motorists who seem to have no respect for themselves or others around them. But when it comes to trucking and truck drivers, we as professionals need to set the standard when dealing with these types of situations.

I have noticed over the course of my driving career that many truckers seem to think that they are king, so to speak, of the road. I am sorry to tell you, but trucks are no longer sterotyped as “kings of the road”. I remember 20 years ago riding with my father in his truck that cars and other motorists would actually give right of way to big trucks. And even, sometimes, do so with the friendly wave of a hand. Now, those types of people still do exist, but they are few and far between. Now a days most common motorists do everything they can to be in the front of everyone else, including trucks, and they could care less who they have to cut off or run off the road to achieve it.

As professional drivers, it is up to you to keep your composure and deal with these types of motorists by backing away from them if possible. Keeping yourself out of harms way is key in an aggressive driving situation. Do not let aggressive drivers get the best of you. I know it’s hard to do sometimes but you can control yourself. Remember that no matter where you are, there are going to be drivers around you who neglect the dangers surrounding them and it’s up to you to make predictions and adjustments to keep the road a safer place to travel.

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As a driver, I am certainly aggravated with some truck stops because of the cleanliness of they showers. I went into a large truck stop last week, which will remain nameless but the name sounds like “Pie Lot” to take a shower. The people were very nice in the beginning and smiled from ear to ear when I was greeted at the fuel desk. The young man there said that I would have to wait for a shower due to there being a long line of people needing one.

I waited more than 20 minutes before getting a shower key and when I went into the shower room, I was disgusted by what I saw. When I first go into a truck stop shower, I look at the sink and shower stall before I do anything else. Inside this shower stall I noticed white soap residue all over the floor and on the walls. Also, I looked closer and saw black and green mold growing between the tiles and in the corners. Read the rest of this entry »

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