Blog Title Changed

I just changed the title of this Blog.  The old Title only made sense to a few.  The new Title "Truckers are their own worst enemy" seems more fitting.   Truck drivers by nature are independent, but if we do not get organized and start Respecting other drivers and ourselves things  will only get worse instead of better.

When was the last time you sat behind someone who was fueling, who when finished looked right at you, and then instead of pulling forward so you could fuel, they hung their hoses up, locked their door and sauntered into the Truck Stop with a 64 ounce mug?  Have you ever done this?   I have not ever done this.  I try to be as courteous as I can.  If I am having a problem getting the pump started I walk back to the guy behind me and let him know before I walk into the Truck Stop to try and get fueling process started.


How many times have you pulled into a Truck Stop at say 0830, for a quick break and seen 8 or 9 trucks parked where there is no parking?   It is obvious that these folks got there and the Truck Stop was full.  This happens, probably more than it should.  These guys grab whatever space they can, and then go to sleep.  My question is once the folks that were legally parked why can these guys not move into a parking space.  I imagine it is because they do not have the sense to set an alarm for 0700, or possibly they do not care.  I have on several occasions had to  wake a driver up so that I can safely move past his creative park job, or to get out of the space he has blocked me into.  I won't say I have never creatively parked, because I cannot.   I will say that I do set my alarm for when I think the Truck Stop will start clearing out, and then I find a real parking spot.  It is possible that electronic logs are part of the problem here, but guys, you will not get a violation, even if you are out of driving hours if you move your truck from an unsafe parking spot to a safe legal spot withing the same Truck Stop.  You are on Private Property, and you can move your truck.


I feel that Truck Stops should enforce their no parking policy in situations where drivers block fuel islands, or other parked trucks.  I heard an announcement at the TA in Commerce City, CO last night that I actually applauded.  The speaker stated a truck company name and a truck number the stated that truck needed to move immediately or be towed.  Then the voice said, The wrecker has already been called and is 5 minutes out, move your truck or it will be towed you are blocking fuel islands.   If more Truck Stops did this we would have an easier time.    If you have a problem, or have to park because you are out of service hours, or broke down, do not block any one, and tell the Truck Stop you are there and why.   Last winter I spent about 4 hours on a fuel Island in AR.  Roads were bad, and the Truck Stop was full.  I went in and asked the guy if I could stay there till a space opened up, and he said "Not a problem, we are out of fuel because the roads are so bad our supplier can't get here"   then he told me if he got fuel he would wake me up so I could move.   He also thanked me for letting him know where I was, and stated that most drivers don't do that.

So in short lets all start being Proffesional Drivers, and when you see someone do something stupid, don't chew them out in person, or on the CB, but say something.  Good example, I was getting ready to leave a Truck Stop, and a woman Schnieder Driver approached me and asked if I was leaving.  I told her I was and she said great I need to park, I am out of hours.   I told her I would move, I moved to the Fuel Island and did my logging and pretrip there so she could get into the spot I was in.  It did not hurt me to move 5 minutes early, and it helped her out.

So in short we need to start cleaning up our act, and start fixing us, and maybe the industry will get better.  We need to bring back the image of "Noble Knights of the Roadway"  because if we don/t start respecting ourselves and others, no one will respect us.

Dave Talley
Driver/Trainer, Stevens Transport.

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Old Marine is getting better

Just a quick update on the Old Marine. He is off the feeding machine, and all intravenous lines. (They may put him back on the nutrient feeder at night, but that depends on tests later) He is eating solid Groceries now. I didn't get to see what he had for breakfast cause it looked like he licked the plate clean. I guess that is a good sign. My Dad is a strong willed strong man. He walks three times a day as far as they will let him. He really enjoys not having to be followed by the "Christmas Tree" of gadgets he was hooked up to. He asked me how I got so stubborn when I wouldn't eat his soup for him last night. I just told him it was my up bringing.

Any way He is doing better. Thanks to all of my friends and his friends for all the prayers and kind words.

Bounce

Be Carefjul what you ask for

The headline is out the new NOS have been decided. The Teamsters may get what they want. But a 40 hour in 8 day work week will hurt them too because they will not be able to work any overtime. The new HOS rules will be politically motivated and even more egregious than they already are.
The Hours of Service rules are not about safety. If they were drivers would not be forced to drive 11 hours without stopping after a three hour load or unload. The Judge that has ruled three times against the HOS has probably never been inside a modern truck, let alone ridden in one or driven one. The only rule he liked was the one that limited drivers to 14 hours of work and driving combined.

Lets make it so drivers can only drive 8 hours a day, but do away with the 60 and 70 hour rules. Do away with the 34 hour reset. Let drivers work and drive 14 hours a day drop the driving hours to 8 hours a day, but stop telling me that I can only work 70 hours in 8 days and that I have to "work" or be on duty a minimum of 1 hour every day for free. Stop taking drive time away when I have to fuel my truck or wait at a shipper or receiver.

Also in all the statistics used to set up these new HOS did anyone ask how many hours the drivers of the cars ( the vehicles that cause over 90% of the truck vs. car accidents) had driven the day of the accident? Has any one asked how many hours the car driver worked at their job before hitting the road and crashing into the back of a truck that is moving 20 miles slower than the cars move? The new HOS rules along with the Wonderful CSA 2010 (another rule developed by whiz kids in the interest of safety) will cause an even larger driver shortage.

I for one will have to file for bankruptcy and return my truck to the dealer. You see the only constant is that I get paid by the mile, and in order to make money I have to drive. I do not enjoy sitting in my truck trying to rest in 100+ degree heat for 10 hours (Note I am no longer allowed to idle my truck because it burns fossil fuels and running my Air Conditioner to cool it off so I can get adequate rest is illegal and heating or cooling the sleeper is considered a luxury. Sitting inside the truck stop gets you no rest and if you happen to fall asleep in the television lounge you get asked to leave, probably by the same person that will call local law enforcement if you idle your truck.

I cannot afford to "just get a room" like the lady from the Virginia DMV that ordered rest areas closed in that state.
To the teamsters I say I honestly hope you get what you want. After about three months you will probably all go bankrupt too because you cant work overtime, which is probably the only way you can afford to keep paying your union dues.

The HOS are not about safety and neither is CSA 2010, they are both about power, the power of the Government to regulate, and the power of the almighty union to dictate to its members who will govern them.

Family is important

Today I spent the entire day in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the Madison Wisconsin Veterans Hospital. The Doctors and Nurses here are fantastic. I was here with my younger Brother, his Wife, and my Sister and her Husband. All of us were here because my Dad is a patient here.

He was transferred here from the Milwaukee VA hospital because they were full up. I came here to support my Brother, and Sister. I came here to be with my Dad. He was admitted because of an infection, and then he had pain in his stomach. The Doctors found that he had an Ulcer, and they fixed that. He was doing pretty good last night, but today all the surgery and other things seemed to catch up with him. He like the rest of us is tired. When you are a patient in an intensive care unit you never really get any sleep. Every time you nod off another test or procedure has to be done. Sitting with my Dad was hard, but my Brother Shore Party reminded me today that my Dad was there for me when I needed him, and that is pretty much true. Tonight my Brother, his Wife and my Sister and her Husband went to a motel. I am still here at the Hospital. My Dad is worried about a lot of things, and we too are a little worried. He is doing better though, and should be back into a regular ward sometime tomorrow or Monday. But since the sewed up an ulcer in his stomach he cannot eat for a few days. He has started trying to get food snuck in to him, and when he can eat I am going to see that he gets whatever he wants. But that may not be until Tuesday or Wednesday.
I have to get back on the road Monday, but I will be back, we are hoping he will be home soon, but he has to heal first and that takes longer the older you get.

Friends and readers, please say a prayer for his speedy recovery, and thanks

Dave Bounce Talley

Bounce proudly displays run nickname on truck

This week I added "AKA Bounce" onto the door of my Big Truck. I got the decal from Rich, who makes decals up at the Commerce City TA Truck stop. He was very helpful, and the price was very reasonable for this decal.

I got this nickname in May of 2007. While riding as a replacement in the front of the RFTW Central Route first platoon. We were calling these slots "The gang of six". That is because the same six bikes were in these slots every day. For some riders this is a coveted spot, because it is supposed to be easier to ride up there. Yeah right. I got hit by an 18 wheeler riding into Angel Fire, I did not go down, I just sort of bounced off the trailer tires. At the time I did not have time to think about it, but if anything had gone wrong I would not be writing this now, I would be a greasy spot on a two lane highway.

After the accident a friend, "TwoLane" told me my run nickname should be "Dances with Semi's" I liked and still like this. I would use it too, but it is too long for a radio conversation. "Bones" told me he would always think of me as "Semi Slayer" because after the truck hit me it parked and was towed off the mountain (This was not because of the accident by the way it was because there were over 500 motorcycles behind me and Clyde and the driver pulled to the shoulder and got stuck in the same loose dirt that held Clyde up after the accident) I told "Bones" I liked that name too, but that it would not work. I mean when I ride on the Run I talk to trucks and advise them how many more bikes they have to pass. I can hear it now "thanks for the info rider, whats your handle?" "They call me Semi Slayer".
"Bones" agreed that name would not work, but he still calls me that once in a while, and I kind of like it. Then "TwoLane" told me that on the radio they would call me "Bounce". Well that worked, I liked it to and of course Clyde loved it, it sings, "Bounce and Clyde"
So I put it under Grabagear on the drivers door of the Big Red Rig. See Mom, I do not give a name to every inanimate object I own, I just happen to drive a Big Red Rig.
So if you need decals see Rich at the Commerce City CO TA. He works for

DC DEZINE

Also if you have a truck issue in or around Hesperia CA, I was parked at the Pilot there recently and had a problem with trailer brakes. Call All in One Mobile Road Service 800 959-3774. They are very good, and very reasonably priced.

OK enough shameless plugging for the day.
I will be adding more posts to this after the 14th of the month, and will have pictures too. From now till September I will probably be talking about work. No politics here though, that is on the other blog. No rants either, that is on the other blog too.
Thanks for reading,
Please post comments, and make suggestions on things you would like to hear about.

Last thought for the day

"Freedom has a flavor only those that have fought for it can taste."

This was posted on a sign in Commerce City, CO the other day.

Thanks to all our service men and women, active or otherwise, and to you active duty folks, stay safe and keep your heads down

Bounce

Truck Drivers do not know the power they actually have

Today I read an article in "The Trucker" that talked about the fact the the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Agency had completed and submitted for review one day ahead of schedule new hours of service rules for drivers. This article, and the four other articles pertaining to the monumental announcement failed to list what the new rules will be. One of the accompanying articles speculated that if the 11 hour rule, or the 34 hour reset rule was still in the rules that there would be more court challenges.

Truck drivers should think about something. What would happen if they complied 100% with every rule? What would happen if they all suddenly just parked their truck? One of the current rules states that if a driver is not comfortable with the road and weather conditions it is the driver's responsibility to park the truck.
We should all be pretty uncomfortable with the fact that four groups and the teamsters union have the power to limit how much money we can earn. These groups want to make it the law that drivers can only drive 8 hours a day, and combined with wait time for loading and unloading they can only be on duty 12 hours a day. This is wonderful for teamsters that get paid 3 and 4 times minimum wage. But then of course these groups also want to limit drivers to 40 hours a week total work time. Careful there Teamsters you may get what you ask for. That would me that you, the Teamster could not legally work overtime. It would also mean that there would be more, not less accidents involving trucks. You see there is no place to park now, imagine if after 8 hours every driver had to park. Where are they going to park?
Not to mention that if the shippers and receivers continue with their current practices, such as unloading a truck and then taking 6 hours to count 5 pallets of freight, no one is going to have anything to put on their shelves.

Go ahead drivers think about this. What would happen if one morning every Commercial Drivers License holder decided that there were too many cars on the road driven by people that have worked more than 70 hours in 8 days. What if every truck driver in the country just stopped his or her truck? How long would it take before factories would be shut down? How long would it take before grocery stores had empty shelves? How long, not long at all, you see the same receivers that waste your time at the dock unloading their freight, are on a just in time schedule. They cannot afford the space needed to store a months worth of product, so they store it in trucks that are rolling to distribution centers.
We the drivers have the power to change things, and we would not have to do much more than comply. When driving in California drive at 55 miles per hour, stay in the right lane, and stop yielding to traffic entering the highway, after a week the laws would change.
Start logging 100% compliant, park your truck and refuse to drive on the weekends when 90% of the drivers on the road are fatigued under the rules we follow because they have worked more than 70 hours in the last 8 days, do not do this as a job action do it in the name of safety. How long would it take for things to change?
Probably less than a week. As for the excuse of "I can't afford to shut down, I will lose my job." What kind of a job will you have when you can only drive 8 hours a day? When your work day is limited to just 12 hours a day? or your work is limited to 40 hours in 8 days (this would mean instead of 8.75 hours a day to have hours available on the 9th day, you would only be able to work and drive 5 hours a day)? and then the cap on all of it would be 48 hours off duty to get a reset of that 40 hour clock.
How long will you continue to drive a truck when you are only earning $640.00 a week? Instead of $1032.00 a week? I am an owner operator, and if the rules the teamsters have proposed go into effect I will file bankruptcy, give my truck back, and try to find a job that pays minimum wage, which would be an increase in pay.
Think about this under the current rules we as drivers can drive 11 hours a day, how many of you actually do that? I do it once in a while, but it does not pay to do it all the time, because I am limited to 70 hours and I run out of time and have to sit.
We can do nothing or we can agree to do something. We as drivers have the power to stop this nation in a day. We need to get organized and demand that Safety not stupidity rule the day. If the Teamsters only want to work 40 hours a week, then let them. Most of them go home every night and spend weekends at home. Over the Road 48 state drives do not. 10 hours is hard enough to stand, imagine 16 hours trapped in your truck, that you cannot legally idle to keep warm in the winter or cool in the summer, imagine trying to find a place to park if every truck is parked 16 hours a day. Comply 100% would be a good start. Stopping every truck in the nation would be a good second step, but it won't happen. We will be forced to work 40 hours in 8 days, and park 16 hours a day in the interest of safety, and cars will still drive under DOT bumpers, and drive into the side of trucks on the highway when coming the car us coming down an onramp, and more people will die needlessly all in the interest of fattening Teamster leaderships wallet, and Safety.