Fact-o-the-matter is - while a majority of drivers "fudge" on their logs - this guy happened to KILL FIVE PEOPLE and had his logs AUDITED as a result. While I'm pretty damn sure he never intended to slide his rig into a school bus, doing so was the reason he was audited.

"Witch Hunt"? Bet yer azz, and deservedly so. I wonder what line he was SUPPOSED TO actually BE ON, when he mowed down the school bus.

I'm a newb, still in school - so WTF do I know anyway. Our instructor told us he's not going to TEACH US how to cheat the logs - but that he might drop (thinly veiled) hints on how to "log creatively for maximum profit".

There are BLATANT CHEATERS, and there are folks who fudge a little, to get the job done.

In a "perfect world", shippers would load appointments on time, receivers would unload on time, dispatchers would look at your logs/QC and dispatch correctly (factoring in weather, traffic conditions, remaining hours, etc.) and FMCSA would return the spilt provisions so that "reasonable drivers" could take a 2-3 hour nap (instead of a full 8) to avoid rush hour and still move the 14 hour stop time.

The incident above, only gives FMSCA more ammo to require carriers to put in onboard computers and institute Zero Tolerance compliance. Maybe if our hours are TRULY VERIFIABLE, they WILL bring back the pre-05 split conditions. Regardless of us being "Super-Truckers", I BELIEVE THAT working for more than 14 hours (without a nap/rest) creates TIRED DRIVERS - and that Tired Drivers are DANGEROUS DRIVERS.

I've done plenty of long distance driving in a 36K lb. bus (personally owned/no logs), and have been forced to drive INTO EXHAUSTION to get the job done - stopping only when I KNEW I had reached the limits of my ability to continue to drive SAFELY ("Mans got to know his limitations" - Dirty Harry).

Even the "saints" among us can probably not claim 100% perfect logs. I'm no saint myself - but DO plan on running as close to compliant as humanly possible. But, if you're rolling through toll-booths while claiming lines 1 & 2, yer gonna get picked off eventually. If you're driving while in sleep deficit on a regular basis - yer gonna get into an accident eventually. If you nail a school busload of kids, yer gonna get hung out to dry. This guy is lucky a lynch mob doesn't drag him out to the NEAREST TREE. How would you feel if YOUR KIDS were on that bus?

Rick

Look, this guy is going to jail for doing less than most of us (not me, I do everything by the book). Somebody needs to say it.

With maybe hundreds of thousands of 80,000 lb GVW trucks driving billions of miles on the roads each year, people are going to die. That's just how it is.

There was a bad accident, but that wasn't punishment enough. Now he'll likely go to prison. Why? Because he had an accident, not because he was doing anything different than the vast majority of drivers out there not named sporster65.

I read years ago how a car hauler who had been doing something like driving for 24 hours killed some people and went to prison. It's a completely different situation. They didn't say that the guy in the above case was doing anything wrong at the time of the accident, only that 5 times he did what most drivers probably would have done 40 times. I'm not saying me, I do everything by the book, but I've heard of drivers too lazy to draw lines everytime going potty or buying coffee takes more than 15 minutes. These scoundrels won't log it and then at the end just take out the calculators and make everything look right. I think everybody in the trucking industry not named sportster65 should be arrested and put in jail. Just my opinion.

Unless this driver was out on his logs at the time of this accident then it should not have been allowed to be heard by the jury. From what was quoted by the jury foremen it sounded like they convicted him of his past log violations rather than killing 5 people.

While I concede you appear to be a genius, SickRick, I was trying to point out that what he did wrong and who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time are two separate matters. I don't know what he did wrong that particular day, the article doesn't say. I do know that 5 falsifications, if you are counting any discrepancy between the logbook and reality, 5 falsifications in 40 days is probably low for everyone except me and sportster65 who draw everything in exact accordance with our wris****ches. As I said, hundreds of thousands of trucks, billions of miles, people die. What I want to know is what this guy did that different from everyone except me and sportster65.

I just think, based on the evidence we have, that could have been 99% of truckers who aren't so perfect they couldn't have an accident. He did have an accident and he'll likely go to prison. It needs to be said.

Of course, the troopers, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury are all better than that. If they were truckers, they wouldn't be like 99%. They probably wouldn't even keep a calculator around. A wris****ch, that's all they'd need to do their logs, just a wris****ch.

Why not just do your job right according to the book and let the chips fall where they may ?

That is a better option than getting fired or going to jail.

What the hell is wrong with simply being honest, does one have to lie to make it as a trucker ?

Werner is advertising "no more paper logs" on the back of their trailers, I guess they will take over the business like Wal-mart took over retailing since they have the technology on board.

long story short........it easier to get caught with a qualcomm! If u have ever gotten behind the wheel then you have falsified your logs. Some just make a habit of it more than others......Im leased on to a company with a Qualcomm and its harder to do but i still do it, but i ALWAYS have to take a COMPLETE 10 hr break. When i didnt have qualcomm it was easier and i always made any receipts match my logs. BUT,,,,, if i ever had the opportunity, like lowrange said, if i got to a shipper/reciever 7 hours early, and then got unloaded OF COURSE i made it look like ive been sitting there 10 hours. Falsifying is not right but its common knowledge to anyone from dispatchers to DOT that it goes on. Otherwise we would see ALOT more gettin pulled over and checked.

I know you've been on the board for awhile, but do you drive!? See, I don't know what to do with a post like this. You seem sincere.

I buy my own fuel, unless I'm pulling hills I do 57-60 mph. My truck will do something over 70, not sure what it is, but for a couple of reasons I don't need anyone telling me to slow down, I do it on my own. The point, I'm no cowboy.

But, it's like you fill out your logbook with a wris****ch instead of a calculator? Do you? You've never looked at your situation and seen that if you don't make this appointment, you won't make your next pick up and you'll be spending the weekend in Timbuktu instead of the house? You'd really miss a weekend at the house instead of massaging your logbook for a half hour!?

This scenario we keep talking about, arriving at the consignee 7 hours before your appointment. You really would spend 10 hours hanging out the next day until you are good and tired before taking off again, is that right?

So, how much time do you log every week on line four filling out your paperwork?

I have a little secret, I watched one morning, very few drivers are going over a 100 point inspection of their equipment before taking off. I'm sure you do, though.

If you get caught behind an accident and you average 30 mph over a four hour stretch, you do the right thing. I'm proud of you.

So, how often do you call your dispatcher and tell him to move your delivery time because you can't make it? I mean, like when you are 45 miles away from your destination, but because the consignee knocked on your door at 6:00am to have you back up to a dock, you're already at your 14 hours even though you haven't driven all that much. Do you find yourself changing everything your load planners and dispatcher have set up because they don't quite fit in with the HOS rules- even those situations that have nothing to do with you being tired?

Really, I want to know the answers. See, there's something I've found out, sometimes the self-righteous finger pointers who claim to be perfectly legal have their own ways of cheating because they think their cheating is moderate and undetectable. Please, what is your particular story?

Accident where I used to work involved 5 fatalities ... 1 driver and a family of 4...

fire destroyed anything and everything in the crash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They did not need the dead drivers logs to find out he had been running over 21 hours.

Qualcomm cannot tell a lie :)