Sorry, I'm out of hours!

[Dreamer]

When she ran out of hours, a bus driver stopped her load of ex-prisoners 60 miles short of their destination, called for another driver, went off duty, and left the bus.

It would be interesting to see how this one plays out. I'm wondering if more drivers stuck to their guns, what would happen. Granted, this probably wasn't the best thing to do, but she sure made her point!

From Fox news....

Citing Work Rules, Driver Abandons Busload of Former Prisoners in Front of Store

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.

FOXNews.com - Citing Work Rules, Driver Abandons Busload of Former Prisoners in Front of Store - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

 

[terryandrene]

I hope she was by the book and couldn't forecast the lack of time needed to complete the run legally and informed the supervisor accordingly. This will be a good case study for the FMCSA but will probably be buried after the driver is let go.

 

[Lawrence]

Interesting...

But what I find most interesting is the behavior of the convicts. They "milled around the bus" - the state troopers that showed up said their behavior was outstanding.

Go figure.

 

[arrbsthw]

ex convicts..former prisoners

 

[Tennesseahawk]

My guess is that when she went to OFF DUTY, she was in derilction of duty. She could've stayed ON DUTY and just waited for another driver.

 

[BillChaffey]

It was my understanding the passengers were Parolee's being taken some where to be let out on their own. Also the first report said she stoppped because it was the end of her shift, and she returned with the extra Bus that was sent out for the Parolee's.

 

[Turtle]

There was simply too little information in the article to really figure out what happened. I read another article that gave a little more information, but not much. The passengers were headed to a Greyhound terminal in Dallas where some were to meet with parole officers (like the ones who were wearing electrical ankle collars), and others were to board other buses for other destinations, and others were being picked up by family or whoever. They were all released prisoners heading home.

The Greyhound spokesman indicated it was a serious problem, but didn't say the problem was with the driver. He said (in another article) there are very strict rules regarding driving hours tht the drivers must abide by. The driver got to to the convenience store and told the passengers that she was out of hours for the day, they could only drive a specific number of consecutive hours, and that another driver was already on the way and was to meet them at the convenience store. With that, she departed the bus, immediately got on another Greyhound bus, which took her back in the same direction from which they came.

Three hours later another Greyhound bus arrived, which contained three drivers, one of which was the original driver who had run out of hours. The original driver then accompanied the passengers to Dallas.

Everything else is speculation, but it sure seemed like she knew that another driver was supposed to have already been on the way, as if that had already been taken care of before she headed out for Dallas, and someone else dropped the ball. If Greyhound has very strict rules, then there might not have been any dereliction of duty at all, as her responsibilities ended when she ran out of hours. When she later arrived as a passenger and then headed to Dallas, was she doing so to get her required rest in and then start another shift, or was she headed to corporate offices to get chewed out? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.

 

[nightcreacher]

was she out of her 14 hours, or her driving time.Driving time,she should have waited for her relief driver,14 hours she should of had some to meet her as she new in advance she would run out

 

[rdtrpn]

leave it up to governments creation of laws and regulation to create an assinine situation like this. if only i could put off paying my debt like the government and keep spending.

 

[Kurn]

Bus drivers operate under the old rules-!0 hrs driving.no restart,etc.The press is treating this like "work rules" or "union rules".Nowhere has anyone said it's FEDERAL rules,so naturally the public stays uninformed,and blames the driver or union for this.Maybe she should not have left the bus,but a strict interpretation of the law meant she couldn't have any care or control.Possibly she was over on the 15 hrs as it takes a lot of time to go in and out of prisons.