Legalities Of Having A Rider

My company will start allowing me to take a passenger with me in the truck. For me it will be one of my kids a 16 year old boy or 17 year old girl. There policy is if a non CDL passenger is along we need paperwork showing relationship to passenger and where they will by riding to and from. No open ended paperwork so they can ride sometimes and not others. If passenger is a CDL holder the law assumes them to be a team or co driver. I understand this is for dealing with the problems associated with human trafficking and am OK just seems to be a pain to have to redo paperwork every time out as I am home every weekend and most of the time not gone more than 2 nights in a row. The paperwork I need to carry has to also have a signed copy at the office so if I am stopped they can check with office or else they are to take the passenger with them until positive identification is obtained. This seems overkill to me as if I am in my pickup I can have a load of kids going to a game no problem but my son or daughter supposedly could be pulled out of my truck if the paperwork does not meet specs. I believe they would have a hard time separating us if it got right down to it as they are my kids and my responsibility not the state or feds.

Hmmm. Quite a bit going on in this post, I am going to go out on a limb and say this is all company/insurance requirements. My company also just started a rider program that allows us to take a family member age 12 or older with us on 1 dispatched trip between May and October (avoid snowstorms) up to 6 times a year. We need to turn the form in atleast 3 days in advance for approval. All our form does is release the carrier of liability in the event of something happening. We only need to keep the form with us so security can document that I had someone with me and the proper paperwork. I'll be taking my 12 year old niece in about 2 weeks.

Nothing was ever mentioned about trafficking......were you specifically told that? Most companies need new paperwork documenting when you will have someone with you for insurance purposes.

Joseph of all the things we are required to legally comply with and deal with; a rider policy with set boundaries is relatively easy, especially when considering the opportunity to have your children on-board with you.

I’d just accept it for what it is and be thankful.

I will check but they made is sound like more of a regulation than for insurance waiver reasons.

I will check but they made is sound like more of a regulation than for insurance waiver reasons.

I can guarantee you there is an additional liability policy put in place while you have a rider.

Please, whatever you do if you ask for an explanation do not share with your employer what you posted here.

Pick your spots to stand your ground. This isn’t one of those “spots”.

Enjoy having your kids on the truck!

I do not know why I would not share my thoughts with my employer. I will reread what I posted but do not believe I stated anything out of line nor anything my employer would disagree with.

Different companies have different rules regarding passengers. For example my company allows any passenger 18 or over at any time of year. They have to know who the passenger is and safety authorizes them to ride in a company vehicle between the dates the driver requests. Safety provides a letter of authorization for the named individual to be on the truck to show to DOT if questioned. Both the passenger and driver sign an affidavit stating the passenger will do no work or operate the vehocle.. includes opening trailer doors.. anything. The driver also has to pay for liability insurance for the rider so if they fall out of a truck or get injured in an accident, they are covered. We pay for the insurance through payroll deduction and it runs about $20 a week.

Any directly related children (they must be your child or grandchild) 12 and up can be authorized as a rider during summer months when school is not in session.

Its pretty lenient and liberal in my opinion. Once they actually "broke the rules" for me when I was teaming with my bf, and they allowed my youngest daughter to ride with us to Columbus GA for Christmas to see his mother. They routed us by my home in Kentucky to pick her up and then straight there, which is about one drive shift. The only guarantee to get her home afterwards was they would route us through any part of Kentucky so I could have my oldest daughter meet us to get her home. They broke their rule about kids in winter and also a 3rd person in the truck. I was really grateful because essentially they paid us to go visit family at Christmas. How cool is that.. that and the fact she would be on the truck less than 12 hours each way.

Of course authorized passengers are required to use seat belts at all times unless in a bunk and then the safety net is mandatory for them.

Following the company rules seems like it should be really easy to do.

They could just have a policy of no riders at any time, period.

We do have a stringent no rider policy as well as no pets. Period and end of discussion. It is due to what we haul and where we go.

I do not know why I would not share my thoughts with my employer. I will reread what I posted but do not believe I stated anything out of line nor anything my employer would disagree with.

Don’t waste the time of a driver leader, dispatcher or planner with this. That was my point. It’s policy.