Driver Fatigue

[ups1990]

We had a driver here in So Cal, who dozed off for just a few seconds and struck farming equipment and flipped the UPS truck and rolled. Fortunately, He walked away, albeit with injuries. Driver fatigue, is what caused the accident, according to UPS and I assume the driver said the same. I've never heard of such a thing, but we can say, that drivers make mental mistakes because of feeling fatigued that lead to him or her to have an accident, either bodily injury or a vehicle accident while on route.
Besides UPS, telling a person to get rest and take proper nutrition, what else can they possibly tell a driver. The subsequent ride-along, could not possibly train a person to avoid fatigue. Some days, we feel better than other, we might have more energy and a higher level of alertness, thou we got the same amount of sleep as the previous night. Has anyone been charged with an accident because of fatigue?

 

[helenofcalifornia]

Are you saying that UPS said driver fatigue was the cause of the accident? I would never expect them to admit that drivers get tired as a result of their workload. Avoidable? What has he been charged with? Scary accident.

 

[rod]

I had a few days where you could say I was driving around fatiigued but it wasn't because of my work load-----------it had something to do with all the partying I had done the previous night.

 

[Blizzard]

We had a driver here in So Cal, who dozed off for just a few seconds and struck farming equipment and flipped the UPS truck and rolled. Fortunately, He walked away, albeit with injuries. Driver fatigue, is what caused the accident, according to UPS and I assume the driver said the same. I've never heard of such a thing, but we can say, that drivers make mental mistakes because of feeling fatigued that lead to him or her to have an accident, either bodily injury or a vehicle accident while on route.
Besides UPS, telling a person to get rest and take proper nutrition, what else can they possibly tell a driver. The subsequent ride-along, could not possibly train a person to avoid fatigue. Some days, we feel better than other, we might have more energy and a higher level of alertness, thou we got the same amount of sleep as the previous night. Has anyone been charged with an accident because of fatigue?

any snoring / sleep apnea issues? falling asleep like that is a classic sign.

 

[UPSGUY72]

We had a driver here in So Cal, who dozed off for just a few seconds and struck farming equipment and flipped the UPS truck and rolled. Fortunately, He walked away, albeit with injuries. Driver fatigue, is what caused the accident, according to UPS and I assume the driver said the same. I've never heard of such a thing, but we can say, that drivers make mental mistakes because of feeling fatigued that lead to him or her to have an accident, either bodily injury or a vehicle accident while on route.
Besides UPS, telling a person to get rest and take proper nutrition, what else can they possibly tell a driver. The subsequent ride-along, could not possibly train a person to avoid fatigue. Some days, we feel better than other, we might have more energy and a higher level of alertness, thou we got the same amount of sleep as the previous night. Has anyone been charged with an accident because of fatigue?

What time of day was this accident ? Driver fatigue is BS unless your drive long distances without stopping (ie truckers ) which is why there are time limits .

How do you doze off driving a UPS package car when you keep getting in and out and use your 5 seeing habits and ten point commentary all day???????

If you get a good night sleep don't get drunk or do drugs and eat you shouldn't have a problem unless there are other health issues?

There has to be more to this story.

 

[scratch]

The driver might have a spouse thats snores like crazy.......................not that that happens in my house a lot.

 

[Re-Raise]

Maybe he played cards too late the night before? Hard to leave when the fish still have money... I'm just saying..

 

[ups1990]

Are you saying that UPS said driver fatigue was the cause of the accident? I would never expect them to admit that drivers get tired as a result of their workload. Avoidable? What has he been charged with? Scary accident.

We've been told it was driver fatigue as the main contributing factor. It happened somewhere in the desert, along a long stretch of road. I could easily see how a person could fall asleep for just a few seconds because I've driven through our So Cal deserts. Don't have the details as to what UPS will do to this driver.

 

[SouthCal]

The accident occurred in the middle of the day quite literally out in the middle of BF Egypt between San Diego and the AZ border on a stretch of the 8 and it's nothing but desert for what seems like an eternity. I saw the pictures from the accident the day it happened. The package car was totaled, the plower was demolished. The driver is exceptionally lucky he walked away. From what I understand, the driver still in the hospital and he's admitted that he fell asleep at the wheel. We can tell you guys to get plenty of rest and get your minimum 8, but we can't tuck you into bed at night.

I'll check with the boss and see what's doing for the poor driver and see if I can find out what kind of discipline they're thinking about. I feel bad for the center manager out there though. I've known him since I started working for UPS and he's only been a center manager for about a year and a half or so and never had to deal with this kind of accident, I guess now is as good a time as any. I'd hate to be the one to report it to the District and Division manager.

 

[over9five]

We can tell you guys to get plenty of rest and get your minimum 8, but we can't tuck you into bed at night.

You can also work us 12 hours a day, but that doesn't cause fatigue, right? Maybe instead of his 8 hours of sleep, he wanted to visit with his wife for a while when he dragged himself home from another over-dispatched day at 10 pm.

Sorry, I don't like your condescending attitude.

 

[grgrcr88]

Was this accident before or after lunch? Did he take a lunch when required. For his sake I hope so. Glad to hear he is ok, but this is why everyone needs to take their required lunch and breaks. To rest and replenish the body and mind. Good luck to the driver involved hope they don't fire him.

 

[cachsux]

You can also work us 12 hours a day, but that doesn't cause fatigue, right? Maybe instead of his 8 hours of sleep, he wanted to visit with his wife for a while when he dragged himself home from another over-dispatched day at 10 pm.

Sorry, I don't like your condescending attitude.

Bingo. Beat me to it. It`s easy to toss out another dispatch to a driver from an air conditioned office the whole time knowing you`ll be leaving after 8 hrs while the driver works 13.

Also fatigue can be accumulative. Someone may not be up all in one night. All it takes is lack of rest,for whatever reason,over a handful of days to cause someone to not operate at their best.

 

[SouthCal]

It was not my intention to offend, I was trying to interject a little humor into a tough subject. My apologies. I take strong pride in making sure that my drivers don't work 12 or 13 hour days. My center is one of the few that runs just about scratch in our district. Yes, some of them may have a 10.5 or 11 hour day planned, and sometimes I can't help them the way they want and/or need. Yes, the work load is heavy right now and yes there are a lot of contributing factors to fatigue, but you can't pin it all solely on the workloads.

I'd much rather be out of the office than sitting in it. Unfortunately, there's a hiring freeze. But one thing I've noticed is that sometimes you guys think we have it made. I agonise over the decisions the upper management makes. I don't always enjoy sitting in the office while the drivers bust their asses in 100 degree heat. My job may seem cushy, but I have to deal with upper management just like you do and just because I'm low-man on the totem pole doesn't mean I'm always going to agree with the upper management and that I won't fight for my drivers when management is in the wrong.

 

[toonertoo]

Bingo. Beat me to it. It`s easy to toss out another dispatch to a driver from an air conditioned office the whole time knowing you`ll be leaving after 8 hrs while the driver works 13.

Also fatigue can be accumulative. Someone may not be up all in one night. All it takes is lack of rest,for whatever reason,over a handful of days to cause someone to not operate at their best.

+1,
by friday fatigue settles in especially during extreme heat, or cold. Especially after 9 hrs, but I hear there is a fatigue factor figured in to time studies. Nonetheless, fatigue is fatigue, and does not always have to be anyones fault.

 

[Re-Raise]

Yes, some of them may have a 10.5 or 11 hour day planned, and sometimes I can't help them the way they want and/or need.

Why not ? This may be crazy talk , but I have heard that some companys hire more employees rather than require their existing employees to work 11 hour days.

They cut my route yesterday and I ran a combined route. I clocked out at 8 45 p.m. with an 8 a.m start time. I am sure I ran under my dispatch.

Why does UPS think this makes sense ? As a center we probably averaged 2.5 hours of overtime each yesterday. So much for being cost oriented now.

Some clown who couldn't even find our center pulls some stop per car number out of his ass, and our center team follows it like little sheep.

 

[dilligaf]

What time of day was this accident ? Driver fatigue is BS unless your drive long distances without stopping (ie truckers ) which is why there are time limits .

How do you doze off driving a UPS package car when you keep getting in and out and use your 5 seeing habits and ten point commentary all day???????

If you get a good night sleep don't get drunk or do drugs and eat you shouldn't have a problem unless there are other health issues?

There has to be more to this story.

You're full of BS.

 

[UPSGUY72]

You're full of BS.

Maybe you need to google driver fatigue.

 

[over9five]

Why would a driver need to Google driver fatigue?

She lives it. Do you really think Google knows more than us about driver issues?

 

[tieguy]

I don't know if something is different these days but when I delivered my body would have been too charged up to fall asleep. someone raised the sleep apnea issue , probably worth looking into.

 

[toonertoo]

I don't know if something is different these days but when I delivered my body would have been too charged up to fall asleep. someone raised the sleep apnea issue , probably worth looking into.

Yeah I dont think I could fall asleep, but I sure get tired. The apnea issue is a thought. I guess its always been there but seems these days anyone who snores is diagnosed with it, kind of like the fibromyalgia thing. If they cant find anything wrong its fibromyalgia.