Truck Driver Fatigue: Excuse? Or, Real Issue?
by PD McCloud
It is claimed that truck driver fatigue is rampant among truck drivers today. And, some drivers are taking advantage of that and calling everything that ails them a result of fatigue. In the following video, the driver uses the word fatigued several times:
Now, I believe there are varying degrees of fatigue that a driver can experience. However, just being sleepy or tired is not necessarily the only mitigating factor. In this video, the driver claimed he was fatigued, however, what was the reason for his fatigue, and did he relay that information to his company and/or dispatcher? According to him, he went to 2 or 3 different truck stops and couldn't find a parking place after which he chose to park on an on ramp. He didn't claim he was out of hours to drive. He simply threw in the word fatigued thinking this would save him from the inevitable — a parking ticket. He attempted to bait the law enforcement officer into approving that he drive fatigued. It did'nt work. His claim of fatigue was unacceptable t0 the officer, and perhaps justifiably so.
Was his claim of fatigue real? It very well could have been. The question should be, why are drivers like this feeling the need to park in areas that are either unsafe, illegal, or both in order to recover from fatigue. With the ELD mandate now it full swing, the problem is probably going to become a larger one than ever before. Governmental intervention is going to be required to alleviate a problem they've just compounded. In the mean time, it's importnt for us, as professional drivers to become acquainted with the causes of fatigue and what we can do to help lessen the chances that we are caught in similar circumstances as this driver was, or worse, in a major accident.
In the following video's, you will find that there are several factors that can lead to truck driver fatigue and what you can do to lessen the chance that you will succumb to truck driver fatigue. Regardless of the cause, driving a motor vehicle, commercial or otherwise, can result in deadly consequences.
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by PD McCloud
It is claimed that truck driver fatigue is rampant among truck drivers today. And, some drivers are taking advantage of that and calling everything that ails them a result of fatigue. In the following video, the driver uses the word fatigued several times:
Now, I believe there are varying degrees of fatigue that a driver can experience. However, just being sleepy or tired is not necessarily the only mitigating factor. In this video, the driver claimed he was fatigued, however, what was the reason for his fatigue, and did he relay that information to his company and/or dispatcher? According to him, he went to 2 or 3 different truck stops and couldn't find a parking place after which he chose to park on an on ramp. He didn't claim he was out of hours to drive. He simply threw in the word fatigued thinking this would save him from the inevitable — a parking ticket. He attempted to bait the law enforcement officer into approving that he drive fatigued. It did'nt work. His claim of fatigue was unacceptable t0 the officer, and perhaps justifiably so.
Was his claim of fatigue real? It very well could have been. The question should be, why are drivers like this feeling the need to park in areas that are either unsafe, illegal, or both in order to recover from fatigue. With the ELD mandate now it full swing, the problem is probably going to become a larger one than ever before. Governmental intervention is going to be required to alleviate a problem they've just compounded. In the mean time, it's importnt for us, as professional drivers to become acquainted with the causes of fatigue and what we can do to help lessen the chances that we are caught in similar circumstances as this driver was, or worse, in a major accident.
In the following video's, you will find that there are several factors that can lead to truck driver fatigue and what you can do to lessen the chance that you will succumb to truck driver fatigue. Regardless of the cause, driving a motor vehicle, commercial or otherwise, can result in deadly consequences.
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