Hi. I had a discussion with another driver if the trucking companies CAN disable your truck over the satellite connection/qualcomm? Does anybody know if that ever happened? Like in a case a driver refused a load and drove in a different direction then he was suppsoed to go?

 

There is technology that can do that, but it is based on Homeland Security issues. In other words, they want to know that if there's a tanker truck bomb roaring down the road, they can stop it. Whether that's in effect with some companies, I do not know.

I do not believe, though, that companies have the ability to disable your truck. I can imagine the abuse that would invite. :roll: They can and do, however, shut off your fuel card in certain instances.

 

Last week a werner driver was telling me that there company is getting in big trouble for shutting down trucks while traveling down the road because the driver is out of hours.

After I heard that, I asked my safety director if they could shut our trucks down through the sattelite, and She said they can, but won't.

 

I havent heard that, but you have to remember that Weiner runs paperless logs.(On Board Computers) The dispatchers might just have the power to shut down a truck in a matter of a couple of clicks with the mouse. :P
We have those dumb computers in our trucks, too. :?

 

I think the safety issues with having that ability at the fingertips of every dispatcher out there would be astronomical.

I can see it now...halfway down Donner, some idiot in an office shuts down a truck. :shock:

 

That could be ugly. :shock:

 

and of course the Federal Marshals will save poor defenseless truck drivers from the mean old DOT man... They are natural enemies in the wild..

 

Quite awhile ago I was trucking out west in AZ and a driver told me that his truck was shut down. Not sure if it was true or a Myth.

 

I thought when they were having this huge discussion a couple of years ago that they indicated that companies themselves would not be allowed to do this, because of the enormous potential for misuse and even greater potential for tragic consequences due to some dispatcher being stupid.

 

Pure theory....My guess would be they can shut them down, but it takes a lot higher authority than an FM or dispatcher. That kind of power in a ticked off dispatch/FM would be crazy.