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Prosecutor: Trucker in Tracy Morgan crash hadn't slept

we have a failure to communicate.:lamo

if the driver in this case acted on his own to break DOT laws, then how would the employer have any responsibility for this accident?

The employer wouldn't be but I was responding to your hypothetical point of:

Even if a supervisor stated to the driver your on for 24+, the driver should have said, no way.
 
we have a failure to communicate.:lamo

if the driver in this case acted on his own to break DOT laws, then how would the employer have any responsibility for this accident?

More then that though, and I'm certainly no expert on trucking, but I suspect the DOT requires the employer to have some idea of how many hours their drivers were on the road for. I don't know if that's Walmart or a third party trucking company but, if true, they would certainly be culpable even if the driver did it on his own.
 
Disagree unless you can prove someone higher up ordered the driver to break DOT rules. If supervisors told drivers to fudge the rules. Then yes, the driver and the supervisor needs to be held accountable.

People need to take responsibility for their actions. Start with the driver. Even if a supervisor stated to the driver your on for 24+, the driver should have said, no way.

Someone else should know who is driving on their behalf and how competent the driver is to get behind the wheel of a car. I would say the same thing if an airline was scheduling pilots for flights without knowing the pilots' schedule of the last few weeks.

I'm not attempting to prove anything. If there was a dispatcher who knew he was driving for 24 hours without a break, it was up to that person to at least try to stop it.
 
This surprises me. My daughter is a dedicated driver now in the Southeast, but used to drive OTR. Her company is extremely strict on allowing them when to drive and when not to drive. They have only a certain amount of hours per day to drive, per DOT regulations. All logs are electronic now, so it's a lot harder to fudge. Also, she told me that Walmart is very, very strict on it's drivers.

A lot of unanswered questions, but the news is definitely saying that lack of sleep was the issue for the driver.

I can't see Wal-Mart allowing a driver to outlaw his logbook, either.
 
Too early in the investigatory process, but it will come out if the dispatcher knew the driver was past the hours of service limitations, and if so, both the driver & WM will be held accountable and a head or two might roll at Walmart Transport LLC.

I did a brief search of Walmart Transportation LLC, and they have a pretty good equipment and driver safety record.

Walmart Transportation Llc USDOT# 63585 - Bentonville,Arkansas Trucking Company

I would think Walmart is probably in the top 5 in terms of safety requirements for their fleet and their drivers.

If the disptacher knew something, he/she should have to answer for it too.
 
we have a failure to communicate.:lamo

if the driver in this case acted on his own to break DOT laws, then how would the employer have any responsibility for this accident?

Well, hypothetically, if the driver was supposedly off the clock, but was not really off, and continued driving, a good dispatcher would probably know where his truck is via GPS tracking. It's too early to tell if that's the case or not, but if the dispatcher checked the GPS data hourly or say every couple of hours, he or she would call the driver and ask him what the hell he thinks he's doing.

Kind of obvious something happened here that wasn't supposed to happen, but WM could be held partially responsible, because they're supposed to help drivers follow regulations.
 
I can't see Wal-Mart allowing a driver to outlaw his logbook, either.

Not too sure, but I'm thinking drivers log electronically, so I don't see how that could be fudged or toyed with.

Don't know if their drivers keep paper logs or not.
 
Well, hypothetically, if the driver was supposedly off the clock, but was not really off, and continued driving, a good dispatcher would probably know where his truck is via GPS tracking. It's too early to tell if that's the case or not, but if the dispatcher checked the GPS data hourly or say every couple of hours, he or she would call the driver and ask him what the hell he thinks he's doing.

Kind of obvious something happened here that wasn't supposed to happen, but WM could be held partially responsible, because they're supposed to help drivers follow regulations.

The driver will be penalised, no matter what.
 
Not too sure, but I'm thinking drivers log electronically, so I don't see how that could be fudged or toyed with.

Don't know if their drivers keep paper logs or not.

Electric logs can't be fudged.

Drivers using electronic logs are required to keep a paper logbook in case the electronic log goes down.
 
Electric logs can't be fudged.

Drivers using electronic logs are required to keep a paper logbook in case the electronic log goes down.

Thanks, I learned something today!
 
Someone else should know who is driving on their behalf and how competent the driver is to get behind the wheel of a car. I would say the same thing if an airline was scheduling pilots for flights without knowing the pilots' schedule of the last few weeks.

I'm not attempting to prove anything. If there was a dispatcher who knew he was driving for 24 hours without a break, it was up to that person to at least try to stop it.
He also could have lied to the dispatcher too. We might never know what happened.

But, you know what? I had a heck of a time locating the partial record for Walmart Transportation.

I did a search on a local trucking company last month, because one of their trucks ran a red light going the speed limit of 55. I had no problems finding their safety record, none at all.

That's weird.
 
we have a failure to communicate.:lamo

if the driver in this case acted on his own to break DOT laws, then how would the employer have any responsibility for this accident?

if you employ a bartender at your bar, and he allows minors to drink
the bartender will be in trouble
but the employer will also be found responsible as the employee acted as an agent on behalf of his employer
the only way walmart can absolve itself from responsibility would be to show that it knew the driver was without adequate sleep and instructed him not to drive ... and that he then ignored the employer's admonitions
if walmart cannot do that, then tracy morgan and his entourage are in for a massive payday
 
if you employ a bartender at your bar, and he allows minors to drink
the bartender will be in trouble
but the employer will also be found responsible as the employee acted as an agent on behalf of his employer
the only way walmart can absolve itself from responsibility would be to show that it knew the driver was without adequate sleep and instructed him not to drive ... and that he then ignored the employer's admonitions
if walmart cannot do that, then tracy morgan and his entourage are in for a massive payday

Unless it was a contract truck, then Wal-Mart can put all the blame in the owner of the truck.
 
if you employ a bartender at your bar, and he allows minors to drink
the bartender will be in trouble
but the employer will also be found responsible as the employee acted as an agent on behalf of his employer
the only way walmart can absolve itself from responsibility would be to show that it knew the driver was without adequate sleep and instructed him not to drive ... and that he then ignored the employer's admonitions
if walmart cannot do that, then tracy morgan and his entourage are in for a massive payday

Yes, you are most likely correct. Whoever had the bigger pockets to pay.

Now in your example. if it was shown that the bartender was instructed by and received training on the law, company policies, etc by the employer that one must not serve minors, then the liability of the employer is reduced, imo.

Welcome to the United States of Litigation. He who has the deepest pockets must pay.:mrgreen:
 
He also could have lied to the dispatcher too. We might never know what happened.

But, you know what? I had a heck of a time locating the partial record for Walmart Transportation.

I did a search on a local trucking company last month, because one of their trucks ran a red light going the speed limit of 55. I had no problems finding their safety record, none at all.

That's weird.

Trucks today have GPS locators on them. If a driver is 5 miles outside where he needs to be, the company knows about it. Even companies like DirecTV, who allow employees to drive their trucks home, have GPS on their vehicles. My dumb ass stepson took his DirecTV truck to the gym and got fired because he was somewhere in the truck he wasn't supposed to be.

When my daughter goes over her hours even by 5 minutes, her driver leader knows, and she gets popped.

There's no way to "lie" about anything now, because everything is electronic.
 
We'll see what happens with this.

Congress just ruled recently to change the 34 hour break rules. This will cause them to reconsider and **** it up even worse.
 
Trucks today have GPS locators on them. If a driver is 5 miles outside where he needs to be, the company knows about it. Even companies like DirecTV, who allow employees to drive their trucks home, have GPS on their vehicles. My dumb ass stepson took his DirecTV truck to the gym and got fired because he was somewhere in the truck he wasn't supposed to be.

When my daughter goes over her hours even by 5 minutes, her driver leader knows, and she gets popped.

There's no way to "lie" about anything now, because everything is electronic.

Not all trucks.
 
Trucks today have GPS locators on them. If a driver is 5 miles outside where he needs to be, the company knows about it. Even companies like DirecTV, who allow employees to drive their trucks home, have GPS on their vehicles. My dumb ass stepson took his DirecTV truck to the gym and got fired because he was somewhere in the truck he wasn't supposed to be.

When my daughter goes over her hours even by 5 minutes, her driver leader knows, and she gets popped.

There's no way to "lie" about anything now, because everything is electronic.

Ya but, I knew this dude who drove expedited cargo for Tri-State and once asked him about that GPS gadget they installed on his van, about them tracking his movements, and he pointed to a fuse link and said see that? when I don't want to be tracked, I pull the fuse and just tell them it must be the weather or something.

not saying this is the case, but something ain't quite right here.
 
We'll see what happens with this.

Well yeah, being awake for 24? I haven't done that for a very long time. Back then, dispatchers liked to push drivers into things they weren't capable of doing.
 
Not all trucks.

Probably most if not all Walmart trucks.

Congress just ruled recently to change the 34 hour break rules. This will cause them to reconsider and **** it up even worse.

Yeah, they keep tinkering because demand for goods and getting it there is so critical. Puts greater pressure on transportation companies and drivers to deliver.
 
Well yeah, being awake for 24? I haven't done that for a very long time. Back then, dispatchers liked to push drivers into things they weren't capable of doing.

Of course that's against the law now.
 
Of course that's against the law now.

It was unlawful back when I drove too. I sometimes kept 3 log books, we used to call them comic books.

Got stopped in Alabama once, the trooper ordered me out of the cab and stepped up and grabbed my log book, I'm sort of glad he didn't grab the wrong one, as it was, I was written for not writing in coming out of the sleeper and back on duty. A stupid mistake. But, when I was tired, I would turn down runs and loads, I wasn't their most liked driver at CP America.
 
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