Comments on: Study: Unfit Truckers A Deadly Road Hazard

Despite Years Of Government Warnings, Sick Big Rig Drivers Still Threaten Highway Travelers

[nojoy01]

daysrnumbrd,
you''''re a better person than i am--i don''''t think i could drive in san fran or cal for that matter--it''''s just too weird out there.

Posted by emokev at 10:47 PM : Jul 21, 2008

Actually emokev, driving in Cali isn''t all that bad. I never met a low overpass or a street/hiway that was basically a paved over buggy path/horse trail. Now, New England & the old South, on the other hand.:) And as far as weird goes, if you just remember that it''s a "cereal bowl" out there, it can actually be entertaining, if you have the right (weird) sense of humor.

[nojoy01]

Ok Drivers, I drove OTR 1980-1996 & got out by changing professions. I keep my CDL up as sort of an "unemployment insurance policy":)) And for those of you who remember the last time somebody said "somthing ought to be done" we wound up with the CDL. I imagine now we will wind up with some sort of CMC (Commercial Medical Certificate). The point is that people who have never driven a "big truck" or haven''t been involved w/a Driver have no clue re: the stresses involved w/trying to compensate for idiots on the road or of the demands placed on drivers by shippers, receivers, dispatch, vs. meeting the demands of an unsympathetic saftey department or life in a rolling telephone booth, for those of you old enough to remember telephone booths. Yes, there are abuses & they need to be stopped. But as long as the OTR drivers are paid by "book" miles or the load, as long as dispatch can "leave you at the house" & not let you make any money because they can''t "push" you into violating ICC regs &/or driving when you should be sleeping, there won''t be any real changes, just cosmetic ones, like the previously mentioned CMC.

[ihave4rugratshelp]

and not all railroad tracks and sidings still in operation are right by places where loads are shipped out of or shipped to. the railroad track in my town has been shut down for twenty-five years and the last attempt at trying to re-open it was not cost effective for the rail company, despite the fact that there was industry along the tracks--the railroad said that it would cost more to fix the tracks than the amount of income generated by serving the industries along the closed tracks.

[ihave4rugratshelp]

why is it no one is talking about bus drivers like they are truck drivers? a bus''s cargo is not goods but people--cbs'' article talked about three bus accidents as opposed to two truck accidents.

[dutchlady104]

One poster said it was safer, more economical and greener to ship by rail than by truck. One question -- how are you going to get things from the farm, factory, etc. to the train and then from the train to the farm, factory, store, mall, etc. without trucks? RR tracks and sidings are very limited considering the destination for all the goods shipped by rail.

[ihave4rugratshelp]

nancy,
the only ones that can stop this are the drivers that shouldn''t be driving in the first place, the carriers who place the load above the general well-being of the public and the shippers and receivers who don''t really care about drivers'' well-being or how the freight gets there as long as it gets there on time and it doesn''t cost them very much. when all of these things change, then just maybe truck drivers can do their jobs the way they are meant to be done.

[nancy1661]

I am proud to be a trucker with over 3 million miles under my seat.But I must say I am not a fit driver.The report on drivers hit home.I am a insulin dependent diabetic.I have driven with blood sugars over 400,I was impaired.I lied to DOT drs who issued my medical certificate.Thet don''t check.I know of at least 10 others that have done the same thing.It needs to be stoped.The long hrs pressure from work to get the freight on time,Its not worth it any more.I don''t want to kill any one or myself.The public should be very afraid.

[ihave4rugratshelp]

my spouse has been in only one accident in his time of being a truck driver--a 4-wheeler crossed over the center line and hit him head-on--the driver of the car died instantly, and the accident was witnessed by several people who saw the car cross the line. My spouse was never blamed for the other person''s death, he did not lose his job over it, but he has to live with that every day for the rest of his life, and it wasn''t even his fault--it could have been a car with a family in it that was hit by this car instead of a semi-truck--then there could have been more fatalities--but the other driver''s family still blamed my spouse for what happened for a while afterward even though the evidence was overwhelming that the car was at fault.

[ihave4rugratshelp]

anytime anyone is in an accident it is a tragedy, but saying that every single accident that a semi-truck is in is the truck driver''s fault is wrong--the article cbs has here is misleading in a lot of ways, and unfortunently a lot of automobile drivers buy right into the myth that all truck drivers are irresponsible cowboys that have no regard for the law or the rights of other drivers they share the road with. if the driver that hit your friends rudy was at fault i hope they threw the book at him--but don''t think all drivers are that way--there are just as many 4-wheelers out there that are every bit as dangerous as any truck driver could be--and they don''t have a list of regulations to answer to or an entire government agency that creates new ones whenever they feel like it.

[rudy654-2009]

A while back some friends of mine were on the highway stopped in traffic during road repairs. A semi driver drove up on them and crashed into them, setting the vehicle on fire, and burning them to death. The truck driver walked away without any injuries, but claimed he fell asleep at the wheel. How safe do you feel the next time you are stopped in traffic and one of those semis come barreling down the road behind you?

There have been many times a semi driver starts a lane change and is completely unaware that someone else is in the lane next to them, nearly running them off the road. And let''s not forget the truckers who have a speed limit but decide that they are too good to obey it.