How Do You Know A Trucker Is Safe To Drive?

This doctor KOTV spoke with ran a practice in eastern Oklahoma in the 80's and 90's. He was deemed a quack and got so bad at what he did that he had to leave the practice due to lack of support. Way to pick'em KOTV!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I think this is a smear campaign....

My heart and prayers go out to all family members.
My main question still remains, if there was already an accident on the interstate, that had traffic at a stand still, then where was the troopers that were working that accident, and if the 1st accident had traffic at a standstill, then why wasn't there a trooper sitting back a ways on the shoulder with his lights on warning everyone headed in that direction of a accident ahead!! Why don't we hear about the 1st accident!!!

Coasters is Clueless wrote:

<quoted text>
Be serious. Pap smears save lives.

and here you go again... making lite topic of a very serious and sad forum... thanks again for your uncaring post

There are 48 ten minute slots of time in an 8 hour work day. Just how much time could actually be spent with each driver being checked up? The answer for 10 minute exams would 48 exams per day X 10 minuets = 8 hours. I guess this doct must work 16 plus hours per day when he's doing 100 exams...

concerned wrote:

My heart and prayers go out to all family members.
My main question still remains, if there was already an accident on the interstate, that had traffic at a stand still, then where was the troopers that were working that accident, and if the 1st accident had traffic at a standstill, then why wasn't there a trooper sitting back a ways on the shoulder with his lights on warning everyone headed in that direction of a accident ahead!! Why don't we hear about the 1st accident!!!

The answer is simple. The other trooper was busy choking out the medic on scene. He has to make him "submit" before leaving to go block traffic.

maybe this is just my young mind thinking but why can't they create a virtual type machine for truckers to test their reactions and such. they've made virtual roller coasters... maybe this is totally stupid on my part.

wow wrote:

maybe this is just my young mind thinking but why can't they create a virtual type machine for truckers to test their reactions and such. they've made virtual roller coasters... maybe this is totally stupid on my part.

You might see something like that in the future... and who knows you might be the one that will develop it...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmm imposters again... I think channel six can handle this

I am a truck driver, you guys are barking up the wrong tree. We all have passed physicals, that is totally not the issue. Try trucking companies pushing drivers to do creative logbooking. Which means lying all the time to push the loads through. And if a driver refuses to do that and wants to drive legal by DOT's standards, the driver gets called in and is told they are holding up production and they have to be let go and they give the driver a bad rap on their driving record. I had it happen to me with Butler Transport out of Kansas City, KS. If you want to point fingers, point them in the right direction. A driver just wants to hold on to their paychecks and drives illegal to keep their job. But if a driver get caught driving illegal, of course the company that they work for will not stand behind them. It's a lose, lose situation for any trucker out there. Trucking outfits are still just a crooked as they always have been. Look there for you answers to your questions.

My son is a truck driver and he will tell you the thing that lets get real is talking about.253

lets get real wrote:

I am a truck driver, you guys are barking up the wrong tree. We all have passed physicals, that is totally not the issue. Try trucking companies pushing drivers to do creative logbooking. Which means lying all the time to push the loads through. And if a driver refuses to do that and wants to drive legal by DOT's standards, the driver gets called in and is told they are holding up production and they have to be let go and they give the driver a bad rap on their driving record. I had it happen to me with Butler Transport out of Kansas City, KS. If you want to point fingers, point them in the right direction. A driver just wants to hold on to their paychecks and drives illegal to keep their job. But if a driver get caught driving illegal, of course the company that they work for will not stand behind them. It's a lose, lose situation for any trucker out there. Trucking outfits are still just a crooked as they always have been. Look there for you answers to your questions.

Spot on. My ex has driven big rigs for over 25 years. Most of that time he did work for the companies, and yes its exactly like you say. Now that he is on his own he does it legal, but you know a one man operation with one truck is such a struggle against the big companies with all the pull. He fights every day to keep head above water doing it legal.
I did ask him what he thought about the older driver in this wreck on the turnpike. He told me he that the older driver probably should not be driving. He said having a clean driving record does not reflect response time in a situation. Also he said he has to wonder sometimes after seeing guys at the truck stops. Some are very old, some are very overweight. He wonders how they CAN pass a physical. They make them do special "non-routine" tests in the physical for driving. When all is said and done, he says that it will just make things harder going through Oklahoma for awhile. And as always the big rig gets the blame for everything regardless of fault (not referring to the turnpike crash, obvious big rig driver fault) in general.

They have to have a physical every 2 years. Now that sounds pretty often until you look at it much closer.

When you are age 40 and younger two years don't mean that many changes. When you get in your 40's and older things start to change more often.

At the age of 76 things can change very quickly - over night even.

They make sure the drivers arms and legs move but have no way to test reaction time??? When you drive a big rig reaction time saves lives.

The semi driver lived, why haven't we heard what he had to say about it? Why hasn't anyone interviewed him?

lets get real wrote:

I am a truck driver, you guys are barking up the wrong tree. We all have passed physicals, that is totally not the issue. Try trucking companies pushing drivers to do creative logbooking. Which means lying all the time to push the loads through. And if a driver refuses to do that and wants to drive legal by DOT's standards, the driver gets called in and is told they are holding up production and they have to be let go and they give the driver a bad rap on their driving record. I had it happen to me with Butler Transport out of Kansas City, KS. If you want to point fingers, point them in the right direction. A driver just wants to hold on to their paychecks and drives illegal to keep their job. But if a driver get caught driving illegal, of course the company that they work for will not stand behind them. It's a lose, lose situation for any trucker out there. Trucking outfits are still just a crooked as they always have been. Look there for you answers to your questions.

This Butler Transportaion needs to be reported to the Federal Government. Companies still do what you mentioned but not so much anymore because things are getting tougher out there if they don't. Some companies do not have paper log books anymore. Companies like Weirner ( I hope that is spelled correctly) have paperless logs. Companies have truck now that are monitored and when there hours are up they can control the truck and shut it off. Computers on trucks and cars these day will tell someone how hard you brake...what the speed was at point of impact in an accident.. and tell investigators much more...One trucking company has someone that monitors that truck all the time. If you brake hard or something unusual happens.. that driver gets a call and asked why? etc..so things are getting safer... but they need to be much safer!!!

Interesting wrote:

They have to have a physical every 2 years. Now that sounds pretty often until you look at it much closer.
When you are age 40 and younger two years don't mean that many changes. When you get in your 40's and older things start to change more often.
At the age of 76 things can change very quickly - over night even.
They make sure the drivers arms and legs move but have no way to test reaction time??? When you drive a big rig reaction time saves lives.
The semi driver lived, why haven't we heard what he had to say about it? Why hasn't anyone interviewed him?

If you take medication for High Blood Pressure etc your physical comes due every year!

You may think companies are driving legal. But I challenge you to become a truck driver and you will see that Creative Logbooking 101 is very active. These crooked companies like Butler will keep going on because drivers know how to beat the system or so they think, till they end up dead from fatigue behind the wheel. And by the way, this is how to spell Werner. Yes, there are only a handfull of companies going paperless and they were forced to do so because of lawsuits from wrecks. They are trying desparately to protect what they have invested and stay afloat, cause better to be late on a few loads, then to take the chance of lawsuits from pushing the drivers. But there is another aspect to consider, though a driver may be parked at a truckstop & supposed to be sleeping, that is not always the case. Prostitutes keep these guys & women busy and there are so many casinos or buses to casinos to keep the drivers busy for the 10 hour break. Or if the driver is home on a break, are they resting properly, usually not, trying to make up for lost time of being away from everybody. There is a lot that goes into understanding a truck driver. There is also drug dealers roaming truckstop trying to push their crack. That is another scary thought, I have personally seen that a lot. Most of the drug dealing goes on in Texas that I personally saw. So my advise, never get near a truck driver chewing on a toothpick, they are usually lased with speed.

Coasters wrote:

<quoted text>
and here you go again... making lite topic of a very serious and sad forum... thanks again for your uncaring post

you don't know

when they aren't in their truck

Coasters wrote:

<quoted text>
This Butler Transportaion needs to be reported to the Federal Government. Companies still do what you mentioned but not so much anymore because things are getting tougher out there if they don't. Some companies do not have paper log books anymore. Companies like Weirner ( I hope that is spelled correctly) have paperless logs. Companies have truck now that are monitored and when there hours are up they can control the truck and shut it off. Computers on trucks and cars these day will tell someone how hard you brake...what the speed was at point of impact in an accident.. and tell investigators much more...One trucking company has someone that monitors that truck all the time. If you brake hard or something unusual happens.. that driver gets a call and asked why? etc..so things are getting safer... but they need to be much safer!!!

dang coast you didn't know how to spell the name of sumpin? holy cow. I figured you would know how to spell them all when you see the name on the door as you get in.

It still goes on wrote:

You may think companies are driving legal. But I challenge you to become a truck driver and you will see that Creative Logbooking 101 is very active. These crooked companies like Butler will keep going on because drivers know how to beat the system or so they think, till they end up dead from fatigue behind the wheel. And by the way, this is how to spell Werner. Yes, there are only a handfull of companies going paperless and they were forced to do so because of lawsuits from wrecks. They are trying desparately to protect what they have invested and stay afloat, cause better to be late on a few loads, then to take the chance of lawsuits from pushing the drivers. But there is another aspect to consider, though a driver may be parked at a truckstop & supposed to be sleeping, that is not always the case. Prostitutes keep these guys & women busy and there are so many casinos or buses to casinos to keep the drivers busy for the 10 hour break. Or if the driver is home on a break, are they resting properly, usually not, trying to make up for lost time of being away from everybody. There is a lot that goes into understanding a truck driver. There is also drug dealers roaming truckstop trying to push their crack. That is another scary thought, I have personally seen that a lot. Most of the drug dealing goes on in Texas that I personally saw. So my advise, never get near a truck driver chewing on a toothpick, they are usually lased with speed.

mmmmmmmm the government can't tell you for sure what to do on your time off... you can sleep, rest, party, whatever you like... they can say you must take so many hours off and that is it... they can't supervise every hour a truck driver is off... I would hope that many would be respsonsible... and sleep... but some can sleep 6 hours and be ok.. some must sleep 10 and be ok...so everyone is different...