Soon as I heard there was a Wal-Mart Truck involved in that horrific crash that critically injured comedian Tracy Morgan and killed his friend, writer/ comedian James McNair, the first thing I thought of was driver fatigue… Now we know that the man behind the wheel Kevin Roper was awake for 24 hours… Wal-Mart has vowed to take full responsibility and as noted on local news Fox 5 in NY, Wal-Mart says they believe the driver was operating within federal/ company guidelines.
Folks need to sit back and think about that for a minute.. First, lets note that driver fatigue is major cause of accidents with big trucks. Drivers are under pressure to deliver goods on time at all costs or risk losing their jobs and payment..Thats real. There have been number of ‘special reports’ about this over the years and thus far very little has been done to reign things in..And before folks start blaming the driver, let’s think about that for a minute.. Who the hell wants to stay up 24 hours driving anything? I know the times I been on the road and ready to pass out I would pull over and rest unless I was under pressure to be at work the next day and couldn’t afford to be late.. Key word AFFORD… So what sort of pressure was this driver under?
Yes, there are federal guidelines that truckers are supposed to follow, when folks are dealing with economic pressures and tyrannical bosses, rules get tossed out the window.. Either you deliver the goods or they will find someone who is desperate enough to do what you can’t..
Kevin Roper
With Wal-Mart vowing to take full responsibility, what does that mean? Are they able to bring back a lost life? Will they make sure the family of James McNair is taken care of for the rest of their lives?? Will they provide legal counsel for the driver Kevin Roper who has been charged with killing by automobile and assault? Will Wal-Mart seriously change policy or will drivers still be expected to bend the rules and drive 24 hours or else?? Thus far we know that Wal-Mart has stepped forth to deny that Kevin Roper owned a twitter account where he had in his bio ‘Trying to win more than lose! Driving trucks for a living, It’s my road, move or get hit‘. More importantly do any of us care?
The pressure folks are put under are not unique to truck drivers. We are finding more and more people are being forced to take work home and get the job down over the weekend without any compensation.. Many are not taking vacation for fear of losing a job.. Many are under pressure to go extra miles for big companies where they do not share in the benefits.. Folks are made to feel, that if they don’t do it someone else will.. It was just a few years ago that companies were expecting prospective employees to work for free for about 6 months under the guise of an ‘internship’ and to see if you would be a good fit. This was on top of those same employees demanding you give them the pass word to your social media accounts so they can thoroughly check you out.. Sadly many went along with it and made the lame excuse about not having anything to hide…
Bottom line.. don’t see this Tracy Morgan situation in isolation.. We are talking about it because he’s famous, but there are scores of other folks who have perished thanks to over work drivers and one can only wonder if the companies they worked for took full responsibility…
We won’t even talk about overworked airline pilots and train conductors.. that’s an a whole other post..And we won’t talk about the fact that as we speak the Senate made moves to weaken rules around trucker fatigue.. Our corporate friendly congress is expected to follow suit.. Read about that HERE.
What about a log book and I know in Canada drivers can drive a max of 13 hours consecutive. I hope info on this is brought to light.
I lost my job as truck driver for Swift on a dedicated Walmart account May 2014, when I couldn’t run an extra load, it was my 6th day of 6 on 1 off schedule, my assign load was to depart 9hr 30 min after, going off duty, after my 10hr break I completed my assigned load, but notified ECT personnel and sent Qualcomm msg before leaving the yard, that I could not take a 2 load. They sanded I take another load. I was not able to safely do it and was terminated, but at least I didn’t kill someone.