Introducing the Future
Well, 'they' always say write what you know. I'm a truck driver, have been for years. My real name is Melanie Freeman, but everyone calls me Hella Mel. And not because I drive like Hell on Wheels.
I'm a Ghost Driver, one of the Trucking Industry's elite guild of specialized drivers. We are brought in to make sure Solo drivers can complete their deliveries on time.
To get Ghost Driver status, a truck driver has to be absolutely righteous. We have to follow all the Regs as if our lives depend on it. Well, our job does, anyway. Getting busted down to Solo is as bad as losing our wheels altogether.
See, by 2025 the Trucking Industry has been regulated so tightly that Solo drivers are often unable to deliver loads on time. There's lower speed limits, strict Hours of Service limitations, and technological ‘leashes’ that have made cheating on logbooks impossible.
The total number of drivers has been reduced dramatically by citizenship requirements and aggressive, almost invasive drug testing policies routinely carried out in mobile Random UA clinics (think SWAT-type trucks rolling into truck stops and corralling drivers) and monthly blood draw requirements.
Log Book Regulations restrict driving times to 10 hours per on duty day, and 14 hours on duty limits, with two ½ hour breaks required in that 10 hours.
Technology includes driver cams outfitted with facial recognition that verify who is operating the truck, and a card reader that must be swiped with the driver’s license; if the face in the camera and the face on the card don’t match, the truck won’t move. And get this, that 'license' is a chip that the Fed embeds in the back of your right hand. The things we endure to bring you your groceries.
More technology: ‘Fatigue Monitors’ measure how tired a driver is at certain points during our shift, usually before we leave a rest area or truck stop, and they are triggered by upcoming rest stops on the highway. If we are deemed too fatigued, we get put Out of Service, and the truck engine dies down to minimal performance, just enough to get the truck into the rest stop.
Electronic logbook recorders that cannot be manipulated are mounted in the dash, and automatically record stop and start times, breaks, etc. If a driver fails to stop at required intervals, the truck rolls to a stop and will not move again until DOT enforcement can come to reset the unit, or 24 hours pass, whichever comes first.
So you see how difficult it can be to bring freight across the country to keep consumers everywhere happy. The Industry was a real wreck for a couple years after the Regs of 2018 unmanned it, until The Companies came in a set it all right again.
The Companies. A kind of super group of six major trucking companies, the only ones left standing after the Regs of 2018. The only ones with the money and the in-pocket politicians able to accommodate the tough new Regs.
In order to overcome the limitations without assigning teams to every truck, The Companies created a cadre of Floating Co-Drivers who jump from truck to truck helping other drivers make their deliveries on time.
That's where I and others like me come in.
The Industry quickly fell to calling us Ghost Drivers, after the old practice of keeping a second logbook on the truck as a means of cheating.
Why are we elite? Ghost Drivers are bonded, insured, and highly trained. We are closely monitored by the Companies who run us, and the USDOT. Any time a Ghost Driver swipes into a truck, a flag goes off, and our driving status is checked before the vehicle is allowed to start.
The Companies know where we are at all times, so they can be sure who we can be assigned to. We usually only work for one company due to insurance requirements, and the guarantee of getting paid. We often dream of going independent, but the same questions of insurance and pay keep us tied down.
We are viewed by some Solo drivers as angels come to help them make delivery times. Other Solo drivers think of us as a necessary evil, and try to avoid needing us.
Because we often spend our required off duty hours in truck stops, we are seen as Truck Stop Cowboys, or Lot Lizards, and we are looked down upon as such.
But Ghost Drivers know the real reason the Solos don't like us.
Next week: Ghost Driver's Guild
© 2013 Kristi Cramer
I'm a Ghost Driver, one of the Trucking Industry's elite guild of specialized drivers. We are brought in to make sure Solo drivers can complete their deliveries on time.
To get Ghost Driver status, a truck driver has to be absolutely righteous. We have to follow all the Regs as if our lives depend on it. Well, our job does, anyway. Getting busted down to Solo is as bad as losing our wheels altogether.
See, by 2025 the Trucking Industry has been regulated so tightly that Solo drivers are often unable to deliver loads on time. There's lower speed limits, strict Hours of Service limitations, and technological ‘leashes’ that have made cheating on logbooks impossible.
The total number of drivers has been reduced dramatically by citizenship requirements and aggressive, almost invasive drug testing policies routinely carried out in mobile Random UA clinics (think SWAT-type trucks rolling into truck stops and corralling drivers) and monthly blood draw requirements.
Log Book Regulations restrict driving times to 10 hours per on duty day, and 14 hours on duty limits, with two ½ hour breaks required in that 10 hours.
Technology includes driver cams outfitted with facial recognition that verify who is operating the truck, and a card reader that must be swiped with the driver’s license; if the face in the camera and the face on the card don’t match, the truck won’t move. And get this, that 'license' is a chip that the Fed embeds in the back of your right hand. The things we endure to bring you your groceries.
More technology: ‘Fatigue Monitors’ measure how tired a driver is at certain points during our shift, usually before we leave a rest area or truck stop, and they are triggered by upcoming rest stops on the highway. If we are deemed too fatigued, we get put Out of Service, and the truck engine dies down to minimal performance, just enough to get the truck into the rest stop.
Electronic logbook recorders that cannot be manipulated are mounted in the dash, and automatically record stop and start times, breaks, etc. If a driver fails to stop at required intervals, the truck rolls to a stop and will not move again until DOT enforcement can come to reset the unit, or 24 hours pass, whichever comes first.
So you see how difficult it can be to bring freight across the country to keep consumers everywhere happy. The Industry was a real wreck for a couple years after the Regs of 2018 unmanned it, until The Companies came in a set it all right again.
The Companies. A kind of super group of six major trucking companies, the only ones left standing after the Regs of 2018. The only ones with the money and the in-pocket politicians able to accommodate the tough new Regs.
In order to overcome the limitations without assigning teams to every truck, The Companies created a cadre of Floating Co-Drivers who jump from truck to truck helping other drivers make their deliveries on time.
That's where I and others like me come in.
The Industry quickly fell to calling us Ghost Drivers, after the old practice of keeping a second logbook on the truck as a means of cheating.
Why are we elite? Ghost Drivers are bonded, insured, and highly trained. We are closely monitored by the Companies who run us, and the USDOT. Any time a Ghost Driver swipes into a truck, a flag goes off, and our driving status is checked before the vehicle is allowed to start.
The Companies know where we are at all times, so they can be sure who we can be assigned to. We usually only work for one company due to insurance requirements, and the guarantee of getting paid. We often dream of going independent, but the same questions of insurance and pay keep us tied down.
We are viewed by some Solo drivers as angels come to help them make delivery times. Other Solo drivers think of us as a necessary evil, and try to avoid needing us.
Because we often spend our required off duty hours in truck stops, we are seen as Truck Stop Cowboys, or Lot Lizards, and we are looked down upon as such.
But Ghost Drivers know the real reason the Solos don't like us.
Next week: Ghost Driver's Guild
© 2013 Kristi Cramer
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Bounded in a Nutshell
The skinny on Kristi's life, musings, and occasional bits on writing, works in progress, and promotions.
My blog title is from Shakespeare's Hamlet:
Hamlet:
O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and ...more
My blog title is from Shakespeare's Hamlet:
Hamlet:
O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and ...more
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