TB,
Pennsylvania
Driver: Well, you're trying to meet a deadline
and they give you bad directions half the time. For some
reason they cheat you out of miles, so you try to guess
how long to get somewhere and it takes an extra 100 miles
to get there. They are not paying you for those extra
miles and there is an extra two hours that you have to
add on. You don't know till you get there, you know.
DL: Yeah. It's not a good deal, is it?
Driver: No.
DL: Do you have to routinely drive when you
are overly tired?
Driver: Yeah! Because I'm the lead driver.
DL: Do you find yourself going over your legal
miles?
Driver: Ahh, yeah. Cause I try to run 300 miles
in a five hour shift or something.
DL: Why do you feel pressured to accomplish
what they give you to do? Do they give you threats?
Intimidate you?
Driver: Yeah, they do that because it's forced
freight. Like right now I have a student who is not
a
good driver and I told them that. They said, "What do
you think we ought to do?" and I said, "You ought to put
her back in your school." They said, "No, we're not going
to do that." They are not taking her off the truck
and she is making it harder for me.
DL: They are giving you the responsibility to
take care of everything under your own charge and,
if you don't get it done?
Driver: Then it goes against me. If I'm late getting
unloaded then they can get rid of me.
LK,
Illinois
Driver: Well, you know you got to get the load
there no matter what time they give it to you. I mean,
they got an appointment. If you don't get it there somebody
else does.
DL: Do they intimidate you?
Driver: Well, not really. I'd say the company I
work for is about the best I have worked with for a while.
But they let you know there are other people waiting to
unload if you don't take it.
DL: Do you have to routinely drive when you
are overly tired?
Driver: Oh yeah! Last week I was up in Kansas and
they loaded me out of St. Louis and I didn't get loaded
till 6:00 in the morning. I got there at midnight where
I was supposed to pick it up, so I had to stay there all
night, awake, to be sure the load was ready. I had to
reach Kansas as soon and as fast as I could get there.
As soon as I got there they gave me another load and I
had to be up into Indiana within 36 hours.
WM,
Georgia
Driver: Well, my company is a big stickler on logs.
I understand that DOT requires them to do certain things
and run that book as close and legal as possible. And
they will come down on you for violations of that log,
but if that run has got to be made, then they seem to
tend to look the other way.
DL: Do you routinely drive when you are overly
tired?
Driver: Normally I don't. I've been out here for
over 20 years and two things I've been told when I first
came out here: don't mess around with these truck stop
women out here and when you get tired, stop!
MCM,
Florida
Driver: This is an eight-hour-a-day job to me.
DL: Do they try to pressure you?
Driver: Sometimes they do, but the only time I
break the rules is when I'm going home.
DL: In what way do they try to pressure you?
Driver: : Run 600 to 700 miles overnight! Well,
they give it to you, but it's still up to you.
I say, "Screw
you. I'll get there when it's legal."
WJ,
Ohio
Driver: Well, as far as meeting the delivery times.
Then you have the pressures on the road, you know, traffic
wise.
DL: Do they intimidate you if you don't make
delivery on time?
Driver: Well, most companies do. If you don't make
deliveries on time they are going to threaten you with
your job.
DL: Do you routinely drive when you are overly
tired?
Driver: Yeah! You have to do that just to make
sure you keep your job.
EK,
Arizona
Driver: Just being there on time, you know. Maybe
a lot more miles than time. Like going from Detroit
to Salt Lake City in short hours.
DL: Do you routinely drive when you are overly
tired?
Driver: Ah, yeah, once in a while you have to do
that to make the delivery.
CI,
Missouri
Driver: No, they tell us that if we can't get there
in the time we need, they will reschedule the appointment.
DL: That's very good. Do drive when you are
overly tired?
Driver: Not really. If I have to, yeah, but it's
like one in every 200 loads maybe.
KS,
Oklahoma
Driver: When you have a certain appointment that
is a long way to go and a short time to get there.
If you have been up all day and you have to be somewhere
the next morning you don't get your proper rest.
DL: What happens if you don't make your appointment?
Driver: You won't get another load as quickly;
you will be put at the bottom of the list.
DL: Do you routinely drive when you are overtired?
Driver: No! Well, sometimes, because you have to
be at an appointment and you are being pushed for time
so you push yourself a little harder.
JRH,
Iowa
Driver: Well, if you got to get there and might
not have quite enough time on your log to get there,
you still get there and make it work one way or another.
DL: What happens if you don't get there?
Driver: Well, something is going to be late.
DL: Will you get into trouble?
Driver: Oh, well, yeah.
DL: Along with that do you routinely drive when
you are overtired
Driver: I wouldn't say routinely, but probably
at least half of the time. Basically that's the way
everybody schedules things.
DL: They just don't give you time?
Driver: Right.
