Time's up, I'm gone!

[Sierra]

http://www.azcentral.com/offbeat/art...bus15-odd.html

CORSICANA, Texas - 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.

Police said the bus was chartered from Greyhound Bus Lines Inc. The driver pulled over in front of a convenience store around 4 p.m. and told the passengers her allotted driving time was up and another driver was on the way.

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.

[ngcsubutterbar]

Well 'leaving' is one bad thing, but she'd be fined herself for driving while out of hours.

[mcsap]

As a person operating a CMV transporting passengers, she has a strict limit on the number of hours she can drive before she MUST stop for a substantial break OR get another driver.

If she drove beyond her allowed hours here, she would have gotten a $500 fine and been made to stop anyway.

THIS , could have been easily prevented had she made sure her dispatcher knew how many hours she had left to drive.

[ngcsubutterbar]

THIS , could have been easily prevented had she made sure her dispatcher knew how many hours she had left to drive.

Letting the 'bosses' know don't always fix things though hehehe ;)
Damn 500, for even a measly 15 minutes? :D Thanks for the reminder.

[mcsap]

The $500 fine applies to any hours of service vio that results in an out-of-service condition.

This includes the 14 hr rule and the 60/70 hr rule. All time spent on duty not driving or in the co-driver seat is bad time for the 14 hr rule.

[narius]

Wow, that just proves that there's always two sides to a story. Funny how the article says nothing about that, making the employee solely the cause of the problem.

[mcsap]

Wow, that just proves that there's always two sides to a story. Funny how the article says nothing about that, making the employee solely the cause of the problem.

No different than ANY call we get sent to , there are almost always TWO sides ( if not 3 ) to every situation. You need to listen to everyone before making a decision that may later be regretted. ( such as the media making this driver to be a BAD person because she was at the end of her day).

BUT , she is partially to blame. She KNEW how many hours she had left and unless they stopped on too many breaks along the way, she had to have known she couidn't have made it.

[ngcsubutterbar]

she is partially to blame. She KNEW how many hours she had left and unless they stopped on too many breaks along the way, she had to have known she couidn't have made it.

+1.

[Valor55]

Had she stopped and made some effort to secure a replacement and take care of the passengers that's one thing. The article made it sound like she parked it and walked off, that was stupid.

[MDEMT280]

This includes the 14 hr rule and the 60/70 hr rule. All time spent on duty not driving or in the co-driver seat is bad time for the 14 hr rule.

So even if she had stopped the vehicle but remained with it to ensure security of the vehicle and its passengers, that would have counted against her "on duty" time and she would have been in violation?

[Roger Dat]

If she stayed with the vehicle and explained she could no longer operate it then that would have been a different story. Also she is responsible for knowing how long she can and has been operating the vehicle and was definitely keeping close track.

This smells of a way for her to stick it to her boss or company.

[mcsap]

So even if she had stopped the vehicle but remained with it to ensure security of the vehicle and its passengers, that would have counted against her "on duty" time and she would have been in violation?

No. There is no limit on how much " on duty not driving " time you can accumulate. There however is a restriction on whether or not you can DRIVE after being on duty so many hours.

So if she had any repsonsibility to the load or the vehicle , then she could not have gone off duty and started to accumulate the required rest break.

The idea behind this is so people dont work 8 hrs a day in the shop sweeping the floor ( on duty not driving) and then are asked to jump in the big truck and drive for 10 hrs straight. The max he could then drive would be 6 hrs.

Any paid employment not involving driving a CMV is on duty not driving. If a person works part-time at a 7-11 , those hours count against the 14 hr rule. So is any vehicle maint ( such as washing the big truck in your own driveway.)

The rules for passenger carrying drivers are more strict then property carrying drivers.

Simple mathematical calculations with her KNOWN # of hours as she left the terminal would have EASILY prevented this from happening. If she had 4 hrs left, she should have figured 200-220 miles allowing for traffic.

[MDEMT280]

Thanks for the clarification, mcsap.

[BP348]

The driver should have better informed the company that she was that close to her time limit.

I've also seen this with trains.