What Chance? What Hope?

Today's Thoughts By Jeff Head 8/9/12 What Hope? What Chance?

So I am flipping through the July 2012 issue of Land Line Magazine and I come across this article about a driver down in Texas that was fired from his job because he refused to haul a load that was unsafe and illegal to run with. In short, it seems that the Texas DOT had given him tickets on the safety violations and after reporting the safety issues to the company, he was still ordered to drive the truck the next day without repairs but he stood his ground and refused to do so. The final straw came soon after when he returned with a load that had shifted and after going up through the chain of command about the safety and legality of the load, he was told to either drive the truck or go home. He went home and found himself fired for refusing to drive an unsafe truck with an improperly secured load.

Of course, we all know in the trucking industry it was not long before they found a driver that was willing to get the job done and off that truck with its load went. Just to have the load fall off the truck and land on top of another eighteen-wheeler, go figure. Next, comes the court actions, which end with the state of Texas Supreme Court reversing a two hundred thousand dollar award to the fired driver saying that the company could fire him for refusing to drive that unsafe truck because they did so without malice.

Without malice or looking it up, the intention or desire to cause harm or pain to somebody. So let me get this straight, any driver can be fired for not driving a truck when ordered to do so by a company even though the truck and or load is unsafe or illegal to drive. Is that what you got out of all this? I am having a bit of a problem with this. I mean what hope, what chance does any driver have that demands to run both safe and legal after a court decision like this, absolutely none.

This Texas court just told every trucking company in America that it is ok to take out safe and legal drivers and replace them with every renegade driver that they can find. I have long said that if you want safe and legal drivers, you have to protect them from those that would do them harm. It seems now that we need protection from the court system as well. We have no hope or chance at all if even after standing our ground to do this right, the courts side with the companies that tell us do it or else.

Kudos to this driver and I can only pray that he has found other means to feed his family and keep his life together. He is truly a highway hero in my book for he did that which was right and as often happens, he paid the price. I think it was a very sad day for the trucking industry and all of us drivers that fight every day to keep our nation's highway safe the day that Texas made this judgment. Perhaps this case will find its way to higher courts with a little more common sense and knowledge about safety in the trucking world.

I hope that the FMCSA sees just how futile it is for a driver to demand to follow the rules. That no matter how many new regulations they come up with, us drivers or stuck with the do it or else companies. The only chance we have in reality for surviving is ……. ???

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