Click the Graphic J
LOL! You gotta see this!
Posted on 02/16/2008 3:50:36 PM PST by humblegunner
CORSICANA, TX -- A driver who apparently took her work rules very seriously abandoned a bus full of former prisoners along a highway because her hours for the day were over, police said.
The 40 passengers had been paroled or released from the state prison in Huntsville. Some wore ankle bracelet monitors.
They were aboard a charter bus that was headed Thursday to a terminal in Dallas but wound up 60 miles short.
"In 31 years in law enforcement I've never seen anything like this," Corsicana Police Sgt. Lamoin Lawhon said.
~Snip~
A clerk in the convenience store called police. Officers arrived to find the former prisoners milling around the bus. Dispatchers exchanged several phone calls with Greyhound and prison officials while Lawhon and two other officers stayed with the bus and the passengers.
Just before 7 p.m., a second bus arrived with three drivers -- including the one who had abandoned her passengers in the first place, Lawhon said.
Greyhound spokesman Dustin Clark said company officials were investigating the incident. "It is a very serious matter," he said.
Clark said drivers have to follow strict guidelines on consecutive working hours and rest periods.
Police said there were no incidents involving the passengers while they were stranded.
"Their behavior was exemplary," Officer Travis Wallace said.
Excessive Government Regulation + Terminally Stupid Bus Driver = Stranded Bus full of Parolees.
So uh, how did she leave the scene? Did she call a cab?
Greyhound Buslines isn’t a gov’t entity.
Good question.....the article doesn’t say.
Some how I am not surprised. Some companies will not pay overtime, or will only pay for so many hours worked. So it does not surprise me at all that this woman did this. Workers are not going to do work for time not paid.
Click the Graphic J
LOL! You gotta see this!
Federal DOT rules could have done a lot worse to this driver had she gone over her alloted driving time. No Governnor, sheriff or warden can alter her Federal guidelines. Thats how it is and companies love it and use it often as a punishment tool.
So I say, Good for her! This will bring to light the dilemma all drivers go through with logbook violations & LEOs screaming to drive on.
I would believe the rules only apply to the bus. She’s just following the rules. Nanny State strikes again.
“Sorry, fellas, it’s quitting time!”
You opus teaser~!
Damned false alarms. And I just punched out, too!
"If it moves, tax it. If it continues to move, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it." They are still trying to cripple that sector into a position of government dependency...
I’ll try to do better next time!
“Just before 7 p.m., a second bus arrived with three drivers — including the one who had abandoned her passengers in the first place, Lawhon said.”
at least the parolees had some common sense.
comon there had to be at least one in there that could have hot wired it and brought it home.
You seem to have missed this part: "Clark said drivers have to follow strict guidelines on consecutive working hours and rest periods."
I believe these "guidelines" come from the Federal Government, not from Greyhound.
Union rules is Union rules, eh?
Corsicana is fairly rural (about 25,000 people - too far from Dallas to be a suburb). If she called a cab, it would have come out of Dallas.
And leave the driving to somebody.
The DOT and FRA are govt agencies. Part of their duties is the enforcement of Hours of Service laws. The person who wilfully violates the law is subject to stiff fines.
Now I'm really confused by the first bus driver's actions?
Right out of Atlas Shrugged! Unbelievable!
Yes, but the rules for drivers (and tractor-trailer drivers) are strict and getting more so. A driver found driving over their limit can face serious fines.
Then put her in charge of carrying out the laws against illegal immigration.
Folks as bad as it sounds the driver had a legal obligation to stop when out of hours. Blame the federal government if anyone as they set the maximum alllowed hours of operation in a 7 day period. Had the driver continued? There could have been a ticket waiting for going over hours. Had an accident happened being over hours would have opened the driver for major liability. Greyhound should have been tracking the hours. That is a dispatchers job.
Quittin’ time quittin’ time like a big dollar bill a waitin’ on a little thin dime
Quittin’ time quittin’ time wanna find my baby by the docks at quittin’ time
Well I don’t mind workin’ I gotta make a dollar to spend
Yeah I’ll sure enough to spend it then I’ll have to make a dollar again
Don’t wanna make a fortune that I’ll only have to leave behind
Wanna make an honest livin’ drop my trailer off at quittin’ time
Quittin’ time quittin’ time...
[ guitar ]
Yeah the highway’s wet and I’m a little bit afraid tonight
Afraid if I ever get a break I’ll fold like a switchblade knife
Oh my eyes are heavy but I see the city limit sign
Well Lady Luck is with me cause I’m home and it’s quittin’ time
Quittin’ time quittin’ time...
Wanna see my baby at the docks at quittin’ time
Wanna find my baby by the docks at quittin’ time
Gonna see my baby at the docks at quittin’ time
What’s that bus driver doing in the private sector? The Federal government needs people like this!!!
Not only that, there’s probably laws on the books for them to stop at a certain time just like truck drivers.
Trying to make an honest living legally perhaps?
The Federal government needs people like this!!!
The federal government was the reason the driver was BY LAW required to stop. There are commercial vehicle laws that both bus drivers and truck drivers have to operate by. Limits on hours allowed to drive in a 7 day period is among the top of the list of such laws the fed sets.
((psst! that was sarcasm. don’t tell anybody.))
Yes. I had a friend who was working for CSX for a time. They would acutally stop a train and call a taxi for anyone who had reached their allotted time on a run.
LOL sorry bout that. Seriously though a lot of people don’t know about those laws. Driving the vehicle is a piece of cake. Keeping your tail out of jail while making a living at it is another matter. From one who has driven for days out of hours before :>}
>>Now I’m really confused by the first bus driver’s actions?<<
Not confusing at all. The original driver was mandated to stop driving after a certain number of hours. Period. No excuses.
However, what that driver **does** after stopping isn’t monitored or regulated. So the driver could have pulled over, gone to a phone at the convenience store and called dispatch, telling them the situation. The driver then could go buy a Twinkie & Slurpee, sit and wait while reading a newspaper, until the replacement driver arrived. It’s no skin off the first drivers nose. The only thing that driver was **required** to do was stop driving.
When the replacement driver shows up - in a bus - that first driver can **ride** the bus, or call a cab, or do what ever, as long as it isn’t **driving**.
The driver did what was required by the absurdity of the Fed “roolz”. As long as the driver **stopped driving**, everything’s OK- as far as the driver’s concerned. It’s not the driver’s problem to make sure that the parolees stayed on the bus, or walked off or whatever. But *stopping driving* was required. Riding another bus home or back to base probably wasn’t covered under the “roolz”, so the driver got a ride back, after doing what was required by the “roolz”.
It’s simple. Just realize that once the driver’s time was up for driving, anything else could be done, but not any more driving. One size fits all goobermint Roolz rarely make sense and exact very strong penalties for breaking them.
Understand now?
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree.
Having worked in the trucking industry (regulatory compliance) for many years, I’m not surprised. The driver ran up against her hours of service limit and pulled over.
It’s amazing to me that the trucking industry can even survive under the current regulatory burden. And to think I used to complain about aviation regs. They’re a cakewalk compared to what truckers/CDL drivers have to go through.
heheheee!
I was honest and called in and got Henry the the grouch dispatcher. He proceeded to give me down the road and I told him to either shut up or he could come and get the truck. I was still angry over the layover they caused. Well he kept screaming and I said the keys are at the fuel desk I'm catching a ride to Knoxville. Low pay, poor working conditions, and trying to keep two sets of logs for the man. I found a better job in a nursing home and was home every day that paid a lot more.
I have plenty of respect for most drivers as most are simply trying to make a living. Some are jerks and we've all heard them. They're the ones yacking 90120 words a minute on the CB swearing at everything in their way and wired on speed. I use coffee that was about it to keep me going.
But this is a Greyhound was under a government charter.
There are government regs restricting how many hours commercial drivers can work a given day, or a given week -- a perfectly reasonable rule, I think, because drivers who are falling asleep or hopped p on meth to stay awake are a menace.
There might also have been union or corporate restrictions. Someone should have figured out that the driver couldn't have finished the run before she began it, and assigned another driver, or authorized overtime.
If all that failed, she should have finished the run, and then lodged a complaint with the inion, or the labor department, or someone. Her conduct was outrageous.
If the Feds checked her logs and it didn't match the mileage and speed limits thats a ticket for her to pay. Not to mention possible other actions. There were guards on the bus so it was their problem. The fact it took three hours for a relief driver to show up says there was a major communications screw up with the company. BTW the driver by law did not have to return either as the driver must have uninterrupted rest. No laws were broken by her. I think if you understood the possible legal liabilities of the driver you would have done the same thing. That was a government trip and you can bet a lot of people were gonna see the trip logs etc. I would have parked it also.
I have the other side of the story. My personal belongings were being moved back to our home state in preprations for my husband to go overseas. On the trip, the driver decided to quit. After weeks of looking for our belongings they were found parked on the side of the road in North Carolina. Since it was during a hot, damp period, all our stuff was molded and mildewed. The government said they weren’t responsible, and the trucking company said it wasn’t theirs either. I have had personal insurance on our belongings ever since.
They need to take care of their drivers. For example my company before Christmas of 1984 asked me to go on a run to Texas and back up to Missouri with another driver. It was about five days from Christmas and I was expecting a run home like everyone else. The company gave me their word they'd route me home afterward. I made the run and came back to the company. They had no runs and I was stuck in Missouri with the company shut down for a week. The rest of the drivers got home via company trucks. One person {an office worker} gave me a ride to a truck stop and I had to bum a ride home about 750 miles away with a whacked out driving team.
Overall leaving the truck secured at a truck stop and telling the company exactly where it was IMO fulfilled any obligations to them. It was more consideration than they deserved.
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