BRIDGE LAWS , Tandem holes HELP!!!

She is giving out advice that she is not qualified to give out. This creates a liability issue. The safest thing she can do is advise them to check thier axle weights, past that the driver need to call his company should they have any questions. As far as DOT is concerned the buck stops with the driver, but in the case of an accident or injury liabilty continues to carry to whom ever has the depest pockects.

Weight distribution is not just bridge laws it also affect the braking and handling of the rig.

 

I agree with everything you've stated except I don't agree that there's a direct correlation between her giving out advice and her being liable if something should go wrong. It is the driver who set the tandems wrong, it's his responsibility. The fact that she IS unqualified releases her from any liability. As long as she states that it is "advice" and not "official" I'm sure she would be fine. That would clear up any misunderstanding and the driver would be reminded that it's HIS responsibility 100%. Besides, she's going to check with her supervisor to see if this is OK first, right? Yes, if she's smart. If he states that it's OK then it would be OK, because HE has checked to make sure that it would be OK.

The only reason why I state all this is, I hate hearing "it's not my job". Well maybe officially it ain't. But "it's not my job" is a really piss poor attitude and one of the reasons why this country is messed up like it is. She's got the right attitude as far as I'm concerned, whether or not she decides to follow through with this is her decision. And now she knows the whole story.

 

When you give out advice on safety issues you can be held liable, if your unqualified then you should simply tell them I do not know. As far as her attitude that is not in question, she has a great attitude but the drivers maybe better served to be refered back to the ones that should have made sure they know how to do there jobs to start wit.

I am all for assisting those whom need it, but there again this is something every driver should know already.

 

Isn't that the Clubhouse at the golf course?

My latest position with KLLM is delivering to and pulling from the rail yards in Chicago. When we bring a load in, it is a requirement that it is scaled, no matter where it is going in the country.

Our trailers also have the 40' line painted on them. Dispatch does not always know what is right either. A load was brought up from Indianapolis to our drop yard for me to take to the rail yard. It was scaled legal, barely, for ILLINOIS which 42.5'!!! I scaled it at Cali legal and it is 36,500 on the tandems!!! Don't ask how that was resolved...

Also, on Utility brand trailers, there is one hole up front then the second hole is filled with a stop plug. You start counting behind the stop plug. Some don't know that. So don't count holes.

Buy a tape measure and if the driver doesn't know where the legal length is for tandems on his/her trailer then rent it out for a modest fee. A rock or brick can hold the front end at the kingpin.

Mikeeee

 

If that is true I cannot argue. Where is TTR lawyer to make a determination on this, when you need one? LOL.

Have a good one, friend.

 

I applaud the young lady for trying to learn more about her job, and trying to help others. She will soon learn how complicated our interstate weight rules are:smt017, and how frustrating some drivers can be to deal with:smt096. If you drive a truck, you should know the weight limits, and how to load your trailer. Seems to me like perhaps the fork lift operators could be given a load plan, which, after conferring with the driver,make for a more uniform system. Nearly every where I have loaded palletized freight of a known weight, an experienced loader could get me pretty close.
Thank you for trying to help us, young lady:smt049.

 

Back in my first month as a single seat driver I picked up a load in PA and brought it to our terminal in Portage Indiana for a transfer to another driver.

The big boss called my into his office to say hi. During the brief conversation he asked, "the trailer is CA legal, right?"

I answered bluntly, "No"

He gives me a shocked look that turned into a "it is quite a distance to go back to the shipper to adjust it.... Am I going to have to reprimand you for this error?" type look.

Quickly I reminded him that it had a stop before the final destination in CA and 5,000 pounds was coming off the tail! Hehheee


Mikeeee

 

This is the federal bridge formula:
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/sw/brdgcalc/calc_page.htm
It is not a law. The word bridge pertains to bridges. It doesn't mean what we call kingpin
distance, which is the distance from the trailer kingpin to the center of the rearmost tandem axle (in some states) or to a point between the two axles (in some states).

These are state-by-state maximum kingpin settings:
http://inter-inc.com/index_files/Page733.htm
But ... they refer to KP distance as a bridge, a common mistake. The kingpin distance is not a bridge.

What, exactly, are you telling drivers when you say " ... California Bridge Law"? It's not a bridge "law" (again, it's not about bridges). It's about the maximum allowable kingpin distance in CA for certain trailers. Many drivers have no need to know about California's maximum setting; it's not that they're ignorant.

Now -- forget about holes. Forget. About. Holes. DOT doesn't care about holes. How much weight is shifted per hole is a function of the weight of the load and how it's distributed in a trailer. If you shift a few holes on an empty trailer, there won't be any appreciable change in weight distribution. Do it on a heavily loaded box and you'll see a change.

Bear in mind that it's possible to be ok on a KP setting but over on axles. Or ok on axles but over on the kp setting.

It's nice to help and all, but if your job is to check paperwork, put seals on trailers, and get two scale tickets from each inbound driver, why are you doing this? I don't mean to be argumentative, I'd just like to know.

 

In addition to a tape measure, they'll need a calculator, that Road Atlas (or the list you turned into a word document) and a copy of this link:
http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/brdg_frm_wghts/index.htm

This is their job. The shipper, however is required to properly load the type of trailer for the destination(s) it will be going through/to. The driver's job is to hold the shipper/carrier to that requirement since the driver/carrier are responsible. i.e. if the load is legal, he can take it. Usually that means using the company's scale and/or finding the nearest scale to verify that gross, axle and bridge formula weight requirements are being adhered to. (I never completely trust company scales, CAT scales will pay if they're wrong).

The problem with most drivers who don't know better is that they rely on this section to save them, and although it does help to spread the responsibility it does not absolve them of it, as one part of the interpretation states:

-------http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu...fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=392.9&guidence=Y

Padlocking, and then putting on a carrier or company seal afterward relieves your protection under this section. If it's already sealed, then you have some protection after you then slap a lock on....but making the situation clear on your BOL with words to this effect "loaded and sealed by shipper, seal#_____" should make it clear you had no opportunity to review the loading and/or count of the vehicle. Then you need to drive it like everything inside of it is loose.

So contrary to the one statement made, it is also the shipper's job to make sure that container is loaded properly with regards to the weights and regulations. The shipper and carrier is supposed to have made that clear to each other in their arrangement and act accordingly. This however doesn't relieve the driver of responsibility to know how to do the job. If a driver slaps a lock on a load the shipper didn't seal, then it's the same as if he loaded it himself. Just a caveat to all the BFI drivers that don't know better. This is why sometimes you hear a shipper refuse to allow you to write SLSC (shipper load, shipper count) on the bill, even though they did both. (Yes, I've refused to drive loads they weren't willing to allow those initials on the BOL.) If I didn't load and count, then someone else did and I refuse to take the responsibility if they can't count right.

So I congratulate you and thank you for taking an active interest in helping and understanding the job better to help those that don't.

Hope this helps.

 

tandems to the rear is just for safe loading by the forklifts we move them again before we leave
and if your in Hampton a driver who can't figure it out tell him to take a left after the first tunnel
on the chesapeake bridge tunnel you won't have to deal with him again