Appropriate discipline

tieguy · 03-01-2008, 11:35 PM

that clip was filmed in spartenburg SC. We have milage drivers operating out of a building in spartenburg.

I emailed the station and told them both the driver and reporter should be fired for playing games on the highway.

moreluck · 03-02-2008, 05:41 AM

"In California (where you can have 5 and 6 lanes going the same direction!) 3 or more axle vehicles can only travel in the two right hand thru-traffic lanes at 55 MPH."

Lifer,
That may be the law, but my experience on the I-5 south leaving Orange County.......I have to go 75-80 just to pass some of these semis.
Of course I'm usually heading to a casino in that direction, so I'm in a hurry too.

That video was too close to reality of what happened near Mission Viejo where a semi plowed into a mini van, killing 3 toddlers who were all in their car seats. That UPS feeder driver has a huge responsibility with that "monster" he drives. He blew it !!

UpstateNYUPSer · 03-02-2008, 05:53 AM

When I first began to write this reply, I was going to say that I thought termination in this situation was a bit much and that a written warning with a 3-5 day unpaid vacation would suffice. But, as I thought about it, I began to wonder if this was an isolated incident which happened to be caught on tape (local, but I wonder how long will it remain that way) or if this was a trend for this driver and, if so, perhaps this guy may need a refresher course in driver safety (4-6 < 30, 6-8 > 30). There have been many threads concerning the implementation of various new technologies by UPS, to include GPS, seatbelt monitors, e-brake monitors, etc., but after viewing this video, I would like to suggest one more, a dashboard camera similar to the ones used by law enforcement. I'm sorry, I just cannot find any excuse for his behavior. I will tell you that I agree with one poster above in that if I were the vehicle in front of that feeder I would have slowed right down, taken down the plate and/or vehicle number (as my hands were trembling from having some knucklehead inches from my bumper), and, after a few miles of this, made my way to the right so that he could encounter his next "victim". To the posters above who said the reporter should have made his way to the right immediately, why? He was at speed limit, centered in his lane and had the appropriate following distance established. He was not wrong.

Imagine the different turn this thread may have taken had the situation progressed (regressed?) to the point where there was an accident or the reporter felt that he had no choice but to get out of this guys way and moved to the right without being 100% sure he had room to do so.

over9five · 03-02-2008, 06:56 AM

This video was playing in my feeder dept when I got to work the other day. My sup told me the driver was fired.

The reporter did nothing (legally) wrong. This video was 2 in a 3 part series. In one segment, they quoted the driving laws. Basicly, the speed limit is THE LIMIT in any lane. Yes, it does say slower traffic stays right, BUT in no lane can you exceed the speed limit. It also said trucks are restricted to the 2 right lanes.

I would have fired him too. But I wonder if they fired him BECAUSE of the bad publicity instead of perhaps progressive discipline. (Remember when the reporter said, "What can Brown do for you?" as the truck was against his bumper?)

Obviously the reporter went out HOPING to get into this exact situation, and I like Ties post that the reporter should get fired too! BUT....the reporter did nothing wrong (legally!), and our driver was a moron.

So, anyone from SC know the driver?

over9five · 03-02-2008, 06:59 AM

Just looked at the poll results after I added my termination vote.

20 of 28 respondents think he should have got a written warning. That's pretty huge. Now that we know he was fired, what do you think of his chances at getting his job back?

It will certainly be hard with that kind of evidence!

dannyboy · 03-02-2008, 07:30 AM

Quote:

PASSING-TRAVEL-SLOW

Not when some of the lanes are restricted.

The center lane is a passing lane for the larger vehicles that are prohibited from the left lane, therefor you have passing, passing, travel/slow.

Notice that the driver did have to pass the reporter on the right side???

d

HazMatMan · 03-02-2008, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

Yeppers he sure did, and even showed the speedometer doing 60.

But

1 How are we to know when the shots of the speedometer were taken and were not inserted just for the story. It would not be the first time that has happened just to make a story.

And that brings me to

#2. The law does not state that if you are going to do the speed limit, you can stay in the passing lanes. it states that unless you are passing someone, you need to move back into the right lane. Or in the case of the van, he also could have moved into the far left lane. But to block the center lane which is the only lane the truck has to pass is very inconsiderate, and against the law. A ticketable offence, but rarely done.

d

And warrants the truck to get 1/2 a car length behind him, hi-beam him to death and then finally pass him and THEN cuts him off by moving back to the middle lane about 7 feet from the reporter. Sounds like road rage to me..

HazMatMan · 03-02-2008, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

Not when some of the lanes are restricted.

The center lane is a passing lane for the larger vehicles that are prohibited from the left lane, therefor you have passing, passing, travel/slow.

Notice that the driver did have to pass the reporter on the right side???

d

You are stating the lanes were passing/passing/travel slow, the reporter was doing the speed limit in the center lane, should he have moved to the right because some people would consider him moving slow, although he was doing the posted speed limit??

HazMatMan · 03-02-2008, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PassYouBy

Do you mean slower than the posted speed limit traffic keep right?? or traffic going slower than the speedsters (the ones going over the speed limit and basically breaking the law) keep to the right.

Cementups · 03-02-2008, 08:40 AM

I'm not really sure how to reply to this post. In PA it is illegal to be in the passing lane unlesss you are passing. This is a ticketable offense and would be enforced if you traveled in teh passing lane for 2 miles or more without passing another a vehicle. It is also illegal to get over into the passing lane when traffic is entering the highway on an onramp. You are impeding the progress of traffic and potentially causing a very dangerous situation. It is not your job to make sure people can enter the highwy safely and you shouldn't ake this responsibility in to your hands.

As for this newsman, he should have gotten over into the right lane. By holding up the progress of traffic he was putting him self and others, potentially, in harms way. Instead he chose it as his personal mission to show the world how irresponsible and dangerous UPS drivers are. What an ass! An incident like this could cos t him his life.

moreluck · 03-02-2008, 08:47 AM

Cementups.......you should see how folks enter the freeway in CA. !! They don't know the definition of yield. They just put on their blinker and you'd better make room for them because they are coming over !!

Coming from Ohio, I was totally shocked by this practice, but I'm used to it now and I always expect it and I watch out now.

The sad part is, if you ask a 'native', they don't even know they are suppose to yield.

HazMatMan · 03-02-2008, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Cementups.......you should see how folks enter the freeway in CA. !! They don't know the definition of yield. They just put on their blinker and you'd better make room for them because they are coming over !!

Coming from Ohio, I was totally shocked by this practice, but I'm used to it now and I always expect it and I watch out now.

The sad part is, if you ask a 'native', they don't even know they are suppose to yield.

Oh, it's like that in New York also. New Jersey too.

Cementups · 03-02-2008, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Cementups.......you should see how folks enter the freeway in CA. !! They don't know the definition of yield. They just put on their blinker and you'd better make room for them because they are coming over !!

That's how yielding is done.

This

does NOT equal this

when entering the highway you should accelerate to the speed of oncoming traffic and then merge at the appropriate speed.
Then of course you run into the idiots that speed up so that you can not merge and get in front of them.

03-02-2008, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by over9five

What kind of discipline should this driver get?

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/sp...t-2/1130755542

Absolutely he should be fired for endangering the public and recklessly using his employer’s equipment and creating bad exposure for the company that provides his livelihood.

That said, I’m happy to bookmark the link because it’ll be useful in the future – particularly in instances where people like Hoffa try and decry Mexican truckers as being untrained and hazardous to Americans.

I’ll let you in on something the Teamsters and UPS don’t want Americans to know – more Americans have been maimed and killed by “professional,” overpaid, Teamster-represented slugs at UPS alone than have been killed and maimed by any group of Mexican drivers.

This clip just one more example to file away.

UPS Lifer · 03-02-2008, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by over9five

This video was playing in my feeder dept when I got to work the other day. My sup told me the driver was fired.

The reporter did nothing (legally) wrong. This video was 2 in a 3 part series. In one segment, they quoted the driving laws. Basicly, the speed limit is THE LIMIT in any lane. Yes, it does say slower traffic stays right, BUT in no lane can you exceed the speed limit. It also said trucks are restricted to the 2 right lanes.

I would have fired him too. But I wonder if they fired him BECAUSE of the bad publicity instead of perhaps progressive discipline. (Remember when the reporter said, "What can Brown do for you?" as the truck was against his bumper?)

Obviously the reporter went out HOPING to get into this exact situation, and I like Ties post that the reporter should get fired too! BUT....the reporter did nothing wrong (legally!), and our driver was a moron.

So, anyone from SC know the driver?

If you look at this from a pure safety concern - I have to agree with you and tie.

I think a bigger point that you make is the type of discipline that UPS insists upon when dirty laundry is exposed. The discipline level always seems to be to take the highest degree of discipline that the company can get away with. In some cases, fire the employee and then take the employee back what ever it takes to make a point. I have seen this in the case of accidents and any type of regional or corporate audit. When the company gets embarrassed because someone makes a mistake they want the employee's head on a platter to show everyone.

I have always felt that discipline should be consistent (all things being equal). I think it would be extremely hard to prove gross negligence based on the tape I saw.

I don't think there are grounds for termination. How do you think you can make a termination stick? What am I missing? There was no result of an injury or accident.

UPS Lifer · 03-02-2008, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Lifer,
That may be the law, but my experience on the I-5 south leaving Orange County.......I have to go 75-80 just to pass some of these semis.

That UPS feeder driver has a huge responsibility with that "monster" he drives. He blew it !! [/color]

I have seen it also...most semis seem to travel with the traffic flow. What has scared me the most is to watch the tractor-trailer traffic in AZ, on the I-10 and I-17. These guys are going 85 MPH in any lane they choose. I just don't think anything over 70 for a tractor is safe. But I will yield to what one of our feeder drivers thinks is a safe speed for tractors. They are more of an expert than I am.

HazMatMan · 03-02-2008, 11:28 AM

Surprised nobody brought up the word "road rage" you could say the reporter was wrong if you want but what the trucker did was unappropriate. Driving too close is dangerous enough let alone a big truck, then high beaming the reporter, then the worst action of them all, moving back into the middle lane so quickly as if to say what I have is bigger than what you got, giving total disregard for anybodies safety. Now I have no idea about this particular route and never traveled it myself, but I can see an unsafe act when I see one, and someone traveling the middle lane doing the speed limit gives no one else the right to do what the UPS trailer did..Just my opinion and probably close to everyone elses also...

satellitedriver · 03-02-2008, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

Sat

I have no issue with your post as a whole, except that you do not recognize the law when you see it.

The law states (notice it says nothing about speed limits) that you are to stay in the right lane except to pass. Then and only then are you to venture into the other lanes.

All driving manuals state the same thing. So even a new driver knows where he is suposed to be unless passing.

In this case, they were looking for a story, and unfortunatly, the UPS driver played right into their hands.

I have seen too many drivers trying to impose thier "green" outlook on life by driving 50-55 in a 65, and blocking all those that would try and get around.

Those people are 1, breaking the law, 2 creating a situation where accidents will happen. And that is my point with these two knuckleheads.

They made a story, and got Gomer to play the part, and he did not disapoint.

d

Dan,
I also do not have an issue with the majority your posts,except, when you say that it is an offense of law to not yield the right of way, for someone who is breaking the law.
The officer will ticket me, but not the speeder/tailgater?
If that isn't a screwed up way to enforce the laws of the road, well I don't know what to say.
To me, that is like arresting a bank teller for not giving the robber the money fast enough, because, they were endangering everyone else in the bank by keeping the armed robber there longer.

dannyboy · 03-02-2008, 05:50 PM

Quote:

when you say that it is an offense of law to not yield the right of way, for someone who is breaking the law.

In our country, we are suposedly a group of law abiding citizens. We conduct ourselves in accourdance with that theme. When someone breaks the law, does that make it alright for us to break it as well. No it does not.

In the case of the cyclist and the UPS truck, the fact that the driver did not see the cyclist has no bearing on the issue. There was traffic approaching the intersection that should have been seen and reacted to. Pure and simple. And they had the right of way.

Now, the fact that the cyclist was speeding, does that then remove his right to the right of way? No it does not. He has the right of way. Period. And the fact that we did not see him does not relieve the driver from that fact.

Now, they did not charge him with that accident (the police) and that was well and good. But the fact remains that he was hit by a vehicle in an intersection that had the right of way through that intersection. and I would like to think that had he seen the cyclist, he would have given him that right of way. If not, that would be negligent homicide.

d