DOT To Change system!!!!!

This is the first I've heard of this. Could it be your company is getting ready to cut some less than optimal drivers, and using this as an excuse?

Actually, my first thought on this was, "it's not a bad idea. Let's get the dangerous drivers off the road." But then I had a second thought...


Big Brother is Watching Us!

 

This has been pretty much in use for a long time. When they do log audits they look for red flags and that is the drivers they focus on.

 

Yep we have been discussing this new system in our last 2 safety meetings. How it works out will remain to be seen. It basically is the same things they always looked at before but they will track them differently as now it will start to follow the driver if you leave one company for another. In my opinion this is just another step towards pushing for e-logs and such industry wide.

 

Thats it exactly bama. It goes hand-in-hand with there targeting small companies that don't enforce safe driving and legal logs. Who turn a blind eye as long as the driver gets the load there so they can make a big profit. To hell with safety and peoples lives. If something happens then we will just hire another driver with a bad MVR who doesn't mind running out side the law. I for one say it's about time they started shutting down these out law trucking operations and side lining these bad drivers. The only way to clean up the image of trucking is to get ride of the trash. Big companies have there problems. But they do enforce safety rules and legal logging. They love a driver with a good MVR who can run legal and still get the job done.

 

Just because it's legal doesn't make it safe.. I do agree that there need to be HOS regulations to force people (who obviously don't know any better) to pull over and get some rest, but i don't agree with them in their current form.

They should be developed by drivers, who have actually done the job. Not by a deskjockey who has no clue what goes on in the real world. I also believe that people who have made mistakes in the past, as long as they aren't excessive should deserve a second chance, it's wrong to deny them their livelihood if they have made mistakes that weren't severe. Anyone, no matter how good of a driver they are is capable of violating HOS rules, even when being safe, who's to say that some of these "bad drivers" aren't merely people who accidentally drew a line in the wrong spot and got a violation for it? The ruining of mom and pop stores, and trucking companies has been hurting this country for a long time, and this is just another way to eliminate them and let the big corporations take over, and they only want that because it makes things easier for them to control. They don't want indipendant people running around to threaten their position on anything, personally my opinion is that this all revolves around money, and power behind the guise of safety, but that's just me, and that's an issue for another time.

Also, larger companies only enforce the HOS because they can afford to do it, when i started at TMC they would blatantly tell us to run hot, they honestly cared less, and the safety departments policies on HOS changed based on what load you had on your trailer at the time, ie if it was john deere they were going to leave you alone, and let you run regardless, these larger companies are also speaking out against the smaller ones because they screwed themselves by giving the DOT more to catch them with (quallcomm, etc) and are now regretting it, Mr Annett was constantly complaining about how unfair it was that the DOT spanked us and we had to run legal, but the smaller companies don't.

A smaller outfit can't afford their trucks to sit for 12 hours when the load is expected there the next day, they also can't afford a Quallcomm system that charges, what, 3 cents for every letter sent? This goes for single O/O's as well.. Which is why i think "cracking down" does nothing but make life harder on those of us who are trying to do things safely and legally but are forced into a catch 22 where you can run safe, legal, and take your break after waiting around 12 hours to get loaded and not pay your electric bill at home, or your truck payment, but then you are essentially screwing yourself. I can't beleive that more drivers don't have a problem with this "big brother" scenario. Our rights have been constantly violated under the guise of safety for as long as i can remember, the constitution doesn't leave any grey area's, and nowhere does it say "Unless your in a CMV".

And let's not forget how much money will be collected by various governments by constantly thinking of new and creative ways to screw the driver. By getting rid of drivers that may show to be "bad" on paper, you may well be getting rid of very good, experienced, safe drivers, without actually realizing it. And guess what? They're going to be replaced by someone right out of driving school, and he will make mistakes too if not worse. There is no true way to judge if a driver is good, or bad. Driving tests even don't work.. Your habbits will change once you get back out on the road, if you really want to drive like an ### you are going to. What exactly are you going to gauge the driver by? HOS violations, there was a study recently that showed that there were still tons of drivers who weren't quite sure how the HOS rules were supposed to work, and things can change daily without notice, i think it's unfair to judge someones driving ability or safety based on this type of system. You shouldn't judge people that you don't know and neither should the government.