Should I bust my CoDriver for Texting on his Cell Phone
 

He loves to use his cell phone and puts the Qualcomm on the steering wheel while we go 75mph down the freeways........I've warned him 3 times about it...

So, should I report him to safety??? I have pictures and they can check qualcomm transmission time against his log book.....Irrefutatable proof...

What say you guys that probably do the same thing.......

Report him or not?????

Yes report him before you wake up dead or before he takes out a bus full of kids.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha

good reason NOT to team drive

I doubt if very many drivers that have been at this game for a while can admit they have never used the qualcomm while driving. I have. But, as Clint Eastwood said in one of the Dirty Harry movies.... "a man has to know his limitations".

I never text on the cell and very rarely use the qualcomm while driving. Never, never with other traffic around me. I have also poured coffee from my thermos while driving. Same difference. I am not going to stop every 25 miles to pour a cup or answer a qualcomm message. But I limit myself to doing these things when no one else is in danger.

Yes, I am not the picture perfect driver. But over 2 decades with NO moving violations or preventable accidents, I must be doing something right.

This is a normal practice which carriers might warn against, but condone secretly. They expect you to answer the QC quickly and telling them that you had to stop 10 times to answer the QC is not a valid excuse for being late.
The QC is there to be in constant comm. w/you. if they were satisfied with it being used like an email acct to be answered at the earliest convenience, they'd just call you on the phone instead of spending millions on QC.
You wont get far reporting him, just encourage using it only when traffic and road-conditions allow, provided that he doesnt leave his lane of travel while using it.

I guess it's never happened to you???

qualcomms are disabled while trucks are in motion in the maverick trucks.

Hell ya you should bust him - upside the head WITH the QC.

You don't state what your co-driving arrangement is. Whether you are a permenant team or a trainee. If you are a permenant team, you should decide first if you want to continue teaming with this person as I am sure that it will end that relationship if you go to your safety dept.

If you are a trainee, you will be wasting your time. He might get a phone call about it but if he has been a long term driver with the company then they will probably not do anything and then you will need a new trainer as I am sure that he would make your life miserable.

Warn him that you won't stand for it and then the next time you catch him texting, snatch the phone out of his hand and lob it out the window... then let him complain to the company about what happened.

My Qualcomm isn't disabled while driving down the road,but I don't use it.There is a small red light on dash that lights up if message is important.I usually average maybe two -three messages a day.

i wonder why the dont make the qc talk to you. it couldnt cost that much, everything else talks now a days

I did it when I was in training ,and when I was a trainer....I never had a problem keeping the truck under control , And there are many other distractions that are equal to using the qualcom that I'm 100% positive everyone on here is guilty of ...Drinking a beverage while driving...using the CB while driving ,and so on .



If you are not liking your co drivers habbits get another one . If you are a student get another trainer ....If you are a true team driver and not a student then you better be more accepting of the other drivers habbits b/c there is only 1 way to have the truck operated 100% the way you want and that means only you drive it which means SOLO driving .

They do have voice activated qualcom units ...I rember at Werner there were a few of them floating around on a few million miler trucks .

give him the Ultimate-Stop it or the next time you're on report

I guess I am the only one who thinks the OP is just a troll.

It doesn't matter, it is a good question, real or made up.

who's is?? mine works, although i try to stay off it unless i am all alone on the road

Some people can do other things while their driving. I wouldn't say anything to them as long as they didn't give me a reason to. I have never teamed but I could only team with someone I trusted. If they are all over the road using the phone ect. I really wouldn't trust them in bad weather.

My trainer would wedge the atlas in the steering wheel, sit a big bowl of soup on the atlas. Slurp the soup going down the road while typing in the QC and talking on his cell phone all while sitting cross-legged in the seat.

Yeah I got out of the truck after 7 days LOL

I thought Dean said they were disabled when in gear during orientation (3 weeks ago). Maybe he thinks they are. I will look from the passenger seat tommorrow when I get in my trainers truck and see.

lets don't tell him any different, i'd hate to have to stop all the time to read my messages lol BOL with your trainer

they can be set to be unoperational while the truck is moving. most companies set them that way for a solo driver, but dont for a team so maybe you got an ex team truck and they forgot to set it back

word is mum lol

My Qualcomm is disabled while I am moving so that solves any issues with the Qualcomm. Although, I have been known to send long text messages to my Driver Manager as I was driving.

One day she told me on the Qualcomm that I better answer on the Qualcomm and not a long text message. I proceeded to ask her why since she texts me also. She said, "well you shouldn't be texting that long while you're driving." Darn, I have to have a smart Driver Manager. I text so that I don't have to stop and look at the Qualcomm. I only text when I'm on the open road. Doesn't work well in traffic.

Personally, I would never team drive so if I had someone doing that I'd probably get out of the team situation or get another team driver.

You can do as you like when you drive alone but must use consideration for someone else if you have a partner! :) 8) :roll:

I don't see any real difference from experience between drinking a beverage while driving ,and typing a simple reply macro both require you to take atleast 1 hand from the wheel ,and both require you to take focus off the road to pick up and put the object down ...now maybe if you are typing page long love letters to your DM you might have a point ...but it's a fact drinking or eating while driving is a distraction , so if you do this you really have no room to comment on a person using a qualcom while driving ...listening to the radio is also a distraction that distracts some of your focus to the music being listened to rather than the road similar to using a cell phone while driving . My point is that I bet 99% of us on here do things that take away some of our focus from the road ,and just don't think about our activities ,but are quick to point out the distractions caused by activities we don't participate in .

Tell him that your ass itches every time he touches the qc, and wink while saying it.

Makes me think of my company. At orientation they HEAVILY pressed on us their policy about not talking on cell phones without hands free. We are allowed to have the phones on to allow us to see when we have received a call. They know none of us have hands free, but still I get the most phone calls from who.... you guessed it.. work. Management too.

When I was new, and my first call came in from the driver manager, I thought it was a trick, so I didn't answer. He called back repeatedly until I did. Almost as though he knew why I wasn't answering, and was telling me to go ahead. lol

Well, my FIRST thought was exactly what Fozzy said!! But, that IS a bit drastic, and could get expensive! First time maybe just HOLD it out the window and THREATEN! :lol:

Yes, I have READ, and once or twice cryptically answered, a QC while driving. It was difficult and dangerous! I don't recommend it.

However.... texting on a cellphone (even if you have memorized the locations of every letter, is much more dangerous, probably has nothing to do with WORK, and is a practice I would put a stop to right away if I caught my codriver doing it. Would I bust him? Maybe. (And if it was the DM he was responding to, I'd bust HIM, TOO!)

I don't care if he WAS my trainer, OR my best friend. I'm not putting my life at THAT much risk! (And, yes.... I team drive.)

I don't use texting AT ALL! On my plan, I would get charged extra for it, and I'm allready paying for the minutes! Why would you want to TEXT someone while driving, when it is safer to just make the phone call??? :shock:

As for the crosslegged driver, eating soup on top of his Atlas..... I'd have him SHOT!! He's a case of manslaughter just waiting to happen.

And just a point, someone said they could compare QC times with logbook times to convict? Naw... you don't have to LOG stopping on the side of the road long enough to answer the QC. And, I don't even think the GPS "pings" would show a quick stop.

drive for a company that does not have qualcom...no worries then.

all jokes aside, i don't think i would be a tattle tail on any other driver, at first....i personally would say something to the driver, give he/she a chance to right the wrong. Then I'd move to a higher channel if it continued.

If it bothers you that much just be mature about it ,And hire a HIT-MAN .

our Qualcoms work while we are moving. i am guilty of using it from time to time with no problem. Simple reply macros and stuff, i can pick the thing up, set it in my lap, push a few buttons off of feel and memory without ever actualy taking my eyes away from the road. It always sits in the same place so i can grab it without looking and i have damn near the whole keyboard memorized by now i have use the things so much. Its not somethi9ng I encourage everyone to try and use while driving but i think some people can do certain things while driving without it being distracting that some others cant. If you cant do it safely, then just dont touch it, if you can, do what you gotta do and be safe about it.

:lol: I like that.... lets have a "murder" to save a possible manslaughter :lol:

I used the QC when driving. I freely admit it. But my truck was limited to 68 mph so I rarely needed to change lanes frequently. And it was usually just to check whatever message I got. But I never did it when I was in an urban environment, only rural. I'm a quick typist so any responses were taken care of very quickly.

Just wait until you are driving then say "Hey look, no hands" ...Let go of the steering wheel and make yourself a sandwich but make sure you drop a piece of ham on the floor so you have to rummage around for it. At this point, he will be panicking so it would be a good time to remind him about texting.












Get your next of kin to tell me how my plan worked eh? :wink:

i'll give you my SSN for your life insurance :D

But you better make sure you finish him off for sure ,because the penalty for "ATTEMPTED" murder is stiifer than if you did the job right... :lol: