Rules, regulations, and common sense.
Simple advice, follow the regulations: the Company, State and Federal laws and you're a good driver, correct? Well so I thought until returning to my rig, from the annual Christmas /New Years slow down. I loaded and drove and because of the holidays my delivery was going to span over the coming weekend thus giving me extra time and not have to be clock watching. I'd only driven 6 hours and was sort of looking for a place to shut down. My loading time had forced me into the afternoon part of the day, so a short days, easy schedule... yup, I can handle that but nature was also requesting some response, in the next few miles or at least, within the hour! Crossing into Louisiana I was greated by a Rest Area sign and happiness was soon to be close , so I thought. There were a limited number of commercial parking spots which were all occupied and all the passenger parking was empty except for one car. I swung over and to the end of the passenger parking, set the brakes and was instantly greeted with blue lights! I jumped out , waved and told the officer that I wasn't parking but really needed to use the washroom! "You can't park there!" He barked. I re-explained the situation and he reaffirmed his demand. With a smile I asked, "You're for real, like reallly serious aren't you?".... I climbed back into the cab drove to the on ramp section of the Rest Area, stopped, did some "dust control" in the rain and continued back onto Interstate 20, westbound.
It has been a week since that incident and I've been thinking about how each of us deal and do our best to "be in compliance". Everywhere the truck stops are full, Walmarts on behave of city ordinances have appropriately shunned us from their lots, Cities have boosted; "No Parking laws for Commercial Vehicles" and generally.... nobody likes big trucks! ....but we still must be in compliance! We must allow time for parking, personal needs rest and deal with time zones and difficult shipping times... which I personally percieve as entertainment rather than aggravation!
Okay, todays commercial driver must, with no grace, have their act together at all times with no exceptions other than to abide by the FMCSA Rules, correct? But what about the arena in which we work? More importantly what about just the States in which we should drive? Aren't they hand in hand with the safety requirements of the FMCSA? Seems not! Arkansas does not allow drivers to park on ramps and many other places that are acceptable in other States. Louisiana, ....what if my time was up? I would have been screwed! I mostlikely would have been issued a ticket, committed a violation and had, I presume, have my rig impounded for parking where I should have been.
How many other States are, shall I call it; "In Non Compliance", in lack of supporting the FMCSA Rules?
In short, transportation has a problem that needs addressing, fixing, tweeking, what ever it takes to promote safety, less stress, general pressure and allow the human to exercise the dictates of what the human body needs. Common senseneeds to prevail rather than what seems to appear as robotic rules and regulations.
We are all in this "game" for self gain, believe it or not so let us regain control of a difficult condition that can be easily remedied with a little common sense, responsibility, integrity and grace.
Returning to those fundamentals is a beginning. Its time to start again.
I’m disabled looking for work
this has been going on for decades driver.good luck on changing things.
and this is why i am so glad i was forced into retirement due to spinal problems.(no, not from driving, from a helicopter crash i was in when i was in the Navy)the way that trucking has gone, you are led around on leashes by a dog handler called DOT.and you know why? because YOU ALLOWED IT!!! that's right, drivers allowed it to slowly creep in and consume the profession. more and more reliance in technology,less and less training.and sheer laziness. all of these are contributing factors in the position drivers are in, now. so, welcome to the new steering wheel holder profession. two weeks of training, a few weeks with a "trainer"(who probably only has a few weeks more experience than you do) and you are shoved into a piece of crap truck and put on the road. where we now have to deal with you.in the meantime. more knowledgeable,experienced drivers are being pushed out of the profession.leaving only the non-experienced(and easily led,cheaper payed)drivers. who sit in the drivers seat and hold a steering wheel,while the dispatchers and safety directors remote control the trucks from their cushy little office seats and computers. you are a computer game to them.they guide your truck,via you, to the place it needs to be, and reminds you, by computer, when it is time to stop, start, take a break, pee,crap. and any other function you do . then,while you are on the road, they pass you over to another person who remote controls your truck through the night. tells you to stop, even though the truck stop is full,and park. no matter where it is. and th elast place they want you to stop is a truck stop. because(and this was actually told to me by a dispatcher) they are afraid you will get to comfortable after eating a meal, showering, and resting your mind. they want you dirty, nasty, hungry, and tired. because you won't stop until you get the load off, and then they will sit you in a truck stop for three or four days waiting for a load. THEN, YOU CAN DO ALL THESE THINGS!!! so, welcome to your new life. i am waiting for the next era, when you are phased out of the truck completely, and they become drones. and computer nerds will sit at consoles and play a video game called "deliver the load" , and heaven help the motoring public, then. or, even better, they take the majority of trucks off the road, ship everything by rail(and yes, they have the ability to do that, now, even produce)and a drone truck will sit at the rail head,pick up a load, and deliver it a few miles away from the depot to the customer. and then from the customer to the depot.and truck drivers ,like teamsters(the profession, not the union) will be a thing of the past. and you know who you can blame for it? look in the mirror.you played their game and allowed them to run your truck, instead of you. you let a bunch of computer geeks teach you how to hold a steering wheel and do what you are commanded to do. instead of being the truck manager you were supposed to be. remember, when the violation comes down, it will, most likely, be in YOUR NAME. not the dispatchers, not the safety director's, and not anyone in the company sitting at a desk in front of that computer, yours.that's the difference between the drone pilot and your dispatcher, he has you to take the fall for anything that goes wrong. because , he isn't responsible for that truck, YOU ARE! so enjoy your new career, the world of steering wheel holding.because you are not truck drivers. there are no more truck drivers.the profession doesn't want truck drivers. truck drivers are too expensive forthe they want cheap knockoffs they can control. and that is YOU.
Have that " emergency bucket" with quality trash bag. NEVER just toss anything. I try to drive squeaky clean, and sometimes parking is impossible in spite of back of locations. Time and that computer are against us. Dot calls it free money.
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Hi Ron Lambert - this was a very enlightening post to read. I think that the world of trucking doesn't get much recognition for the huge role that it plays in our modern society where almost everyone is ordering things online to be delivered across the country or even from another country.
I think starting the conversation on this is important, and it's great to see that happening. Drivers definitely need to be following the safety rules and regulations. However, I think the landscape for drivers and the places they drive within need to also be accommodating.
I'd love to hear more on this from you. What changes do you propose happen at a state level or even a federal level?
Talk soon!
How else do you think tickets are issued and money is made by cities just go with the flow take the ticket if it's a parking ticket I think I'm going to pay the parking ticket if it's a violation take the ticket go to court and tell them why it happened tell the judge I have to go to the bathroom there was nowhere for me to park and the policeman gave me a ticket so I was polite to the policeman I told him go ahead issue me a ticket but I'm going to the bathroom and you'll get your ticket I stopped caring about that it's the way the world is now a days