4 ms·

In short: JimBob, the driver in the story, is about to hit the end of his Hours of Service where he'd have to park the truck and go take a federally mandated b

In short: JimBob, the driver in the story, is about to hit the end of his Hours of Service where he'd have to park the truck and go take a federally mandated break. JimBob calls the e-logging vendor, who logs him out of his e-log system, creates a fake driver profile, attaches it to the truck, and assigns all his driving over to the fake ghost driver. To the DOT, all they can see at this point is that Someone Else was driving the truck this last week. Someone Else doesn't have to be in the truck at all, when JimBob gets stopped for a truck inspection, he can merely say "Oh, Someone Else was dropped off at the Loves five miles back and I took over this truck from him" as a bullshit lie as to why he has a fresh log on the road. The ELD vendor and JimBob in this story are both quite flagrantly guilty of abusing the e-log.

latchkey 4y ago
Why even have any registered drivers then? Seems like all trucks could be driven by 'Someone Else', all the time.
- banana_giraffe 4y ago
  Then "Someone Else" would need to take a break at some point, so the driver would have to log back in (or call and have a "Another Someone Else" logged in)
- LorenPechtel 4y ago
  If the truck is pulled over for whatever reason the listed driver needs to be in the driver's seat. Thus the change has to be done in the past. Why do I suspect the database has no audit records?
Waterluvian 4y ago
So a bunch of wrong incentives put pressure on drivers to commit fraud and make the roads more dangerous for all the other adults and children on the roads. My understanding is that in many regions, driving when exhausted is treated as being just about the same as driving drunk. So they're basically cheating their exhaustion breathalyzer. I imagine a lot of financial pressure is placed on them through the usual methods: giving unreasonable quotas or paying them by the job/mile so they're indirectly incentivized to cut corners.
- zeta0134 4y ago
  I have driven while probably more buzzed than I should have been (a stupid decision I will not repeat), and I have driven in the middle of the night, exhausted and more fatigued than I realized. I'd say fatigue is the worse option frankly, because it will creep up on you unaware. All it takes is a tiny, tiny lapse in judgement at high speed to create a big problem. While driving at night, high speed on an unlit country road, I didn't even realize I was drifting and managed to clip the grass and nearly lose control of the vehicle. Thank the heavens I was able to recover and avoid a crash, but it was also a massive wake-up call. Like, "oh, crap, I really can't focus right now. When did that happen?" I slowed down, found the next rest area and napped before continuing. Since then, I take breaks much more seriously on long trips and try to avoid driving for long periods after dark. I don't understand where these long haul truckers find their stamina.
  - genocidicbunny 4y ago
    > I don't understand where these long haul truckers find their stamina. I've spent quite a lot of time driving on I5 in the western US which has a very high volume of truck traffic. I can pretty confidently say that a lot of these truck drivers do not have the stamina you think they have. Many of them are driving just as fatigued and unfocused as you describe yourself being. I make it a point to avoid going over either the south California mountain passes, or the north California ones, after dark, for that very reason.
  - jcadam 4y ago
    Newer vehicles with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping can get you into trouble w/ dozing off (the vehicle can keep going for a while before veering off the side of the road). My '21 F-150 complains if I take my hands off the wheel while in cruise - which is annoying when I'm just trying to hold the wheel loosely on a long trip. It also politely suggests I take a break after X hours of uninterrupted driving.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
    I feel you. I've had the same thing happen except it was dawn on I95 in one of the Carolinas. Scared the crap out of me and like you, stopped at the next rest stop for a nap.
LegitShady 4y ago
Sounds like a bunch of people need to go to jail

latchkey 4y ago

Why even have any registered drivers then? Seems like all trucks could be driven by 'Someone Else', all the time.

banana_giraffe 4y ago
Then "Someone Else" would need to take a break at some point, so the driver would have to log back in (or call and have a "Another Someone Else" logged in)
LorenPechtel 4y ago
If the truck is pulled over for whatever reason the listed driver needs to be in the driver's seat. Thus the change has to be done in the past. Why do I suspect the database has no audit records?

Waterluvian 4y ago

So a bunch of wrong incentives put pressure on drivers to commit fraud and make the roads more dangerous for all the other adults and children on the roads. My understanding is that in many regions, driving when exhausted is treated as being just about the same as driving drunk. So they're basically cheating their exhaustion breathalyzer. I imagine a lot of financial pressure is placed on them through the usual methods: giving unreasonable quotas or paying them by the job/mile so they're indirectly incentivized to cut corners.

zeta0134 4y ago
I have driven while probably more buzzed than I should have been (a stupid decision I will not repeat), and I have driven in the middle of the night, exhausted and more fatigued than I realized. I'd say fatigue is the worse option frankly, because it will creep up on you unaware. All it takes is a tiny, tiny lapse in judgement at high speed to create a big problem. While driving at night, high speed on an unlit country road, I didn't even realize I was drifting and managed to clip the grass and nearly lose control of the vehicle. Thank the heavens I was able to recover and avoid a crash, but it was also a massive wake-up call. Like, "oh, crap, I really can't focus right now. When did that happen?" I slowed down, found the next rest area and napped before continuing. Since then, I take breaks much more seriously on long trips and try to avoid driving for long periods after dark. I don't understand where these long haul truckers find their stamina.
- genocidicbunny 4y ago
  > I don't understand where these long haul truckers find their stamina. I've spent quite a lot of time driving on I5 in the western US which has a very high volume of truck traffic. I can pretty confidently say that a lot of these truck drivers do not have the stamina you think they have. Many of them are driving just as fatigued and unfocused as you describe yourself being. I make it a point to avoid going over either the south California mountain passes, or the north California ones, after dark, for that very reason.
- jcadam 4y ago
  Newer vehicles with adaptive cruise control and lane keeping can get you into trouble w/ dozing off (the vehicle can keep going for a while before veering off the side of the road). My '21 F-150 complains if I take my hands off the wheel while in cruise - which is annoying when I'm just trying to hold the wheel loosely on a long trip. It also politely suggests I take a break after X hours of uninterrupted driving.
- HeyLaughingBoy 4y ago
  I feel you. I've had the same thing happen except it was dawn on I95 in one of the Carolinas. Scared the crap out of me and like you, stopped at the next rest stop for a nap.

LegitShady 4y ago

Sounds like a bunch of people need to go to jail