Weight station

With today's computer technology and capabilities I assume everything is connected.
And I assume I am always on camera.

 

Thanks for the tag M. To answer the OPs question, it depends. Some share limited data but most do not. That said, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread the contents of the inspection report are part of your DOT SMS data so any Officer in the system can see what you have been violated for.

It is illegal to dispatch a vehicle that has had defects marked on the report until they are fixed. You don't have the choice to pick and chose which defects get fixed, once written up by a motor carrier enforcement officer everything on the inspection report must be corrected within 15 days OR BEFORE the truck is dispatched on another trip.

Where this is a grey area is continuing the current trip. Obviously out of service defects must be repaired before the vehicle can move at all but it could be argued that the non-OOS defects can wait until the completion of the current trip. I wouldn't count on the officers seeing it that way and they can write you up again for the same defect plus cite you for failure to repair as required. This is a double whammy and a big deal.

 

Should you be involved in an accident where someone is injured or worse, even if you were not initially at fault, you can bet the law enforcement agencies will find out about those defects that were not repaired...
If they determine that the vehicle was knowingly unsafe to operate, you could be looking at serious charges as the responsible party.
Not to mention the possibility of civil courts coming after you.

 

There is no grey area, even if all the oos defects are repaired, all the defects will have to be corrected to satisfy the oos order.

This is also a serious problem, as I posted above, all the defects will have to be corrected to remove the possible liability from the driver and company but they could still be on the hook for litigation if the lawyer suing is aggressive.

 

Absolutely not, only the actual out of service defects must be corrected to satisfy the out of service order. The rest must be corrected within 15 days or before dispatch on the next trip, whichever is sooner. A motor carrier can only be placed out of service for defects or conditions identified as such, the others are considered minor in nature and the vehicle is allowed to proceed no different than if a non-OOS violation was discovered during the inspection. See excerpt below from the current CVSA Operational Policy 5, page 10. Bold/underline emphasis added for clarity.

REQUIRED REPAIRS FOR OUT-OF-SERVICE NOTICES

The following shall be the policy regarding required repairs for out-of-service notices: No motor carrier shall require nor shall any person operate nor any inspector release any commercial motor vehicle declared out of service until all repairs required by the out-of-service notice have been satisfactorily completed to where the violation(s) no longer exists. When a vehicle is declared out of service for a condition resulting from an accumulation of violations, all violations that contributed to the specific out-of-service condition must be repaired (e.g., a vehicle or vehicles in combination declared out of service for 20% defective brake violations must have all the 20% defective brake violations repaired prior to being released; or, a vehicle declared out of service for two tires at less than 1/32 inch (0.8 millimeter) tread depth must have both tire violations repaired prior to the vehicle being released, etc.). Once all of the contributing out-of-service violations have been repaired on any vehicle in a combination, that specific vehicle in the combination is no longer considered to be out of service.​

Now, from a liability point of view you are correct. Plaintiff attorneys would have a field day with a serious injury resulting after a vehicle had been inspected and defects were identified but not repaired, especially if they could link those defects as part of the cause for the injury. This holds true regardless of the out of service criteria or the legally allowed time frame to make repairs. Gotta love trial lawyers!

 

I always get the green light there but their sign says I must exit. I follow what prepass indicates. Hope it doesn't bite me I the ### but I thought that was what we were supposed to do?

 

My problem was I...Didn't get green or red light or Any light at all and sign was Always Truck Must Exit. LOL

 

My favorite part is how they always pull everyone in, but they never seem to actually be at the window watching trucks pull through. Every time I go through, it’s just one guy sitting in the back office, not paying any attention.

 

As you probably know, a lot of times there are readers and cameras on the highway before the scale, thermal cameras at the entrance to the scale and more readers and cameras at the scale.

One trip through (can't remember if it was a scale in Montana or Colorado) I had time and the scale master was bored, so he showed me how their system works. I was watching as the screens scrolled as trucks were either bypassed or directed into the scale. There is a lot of information coming across their screens for each truck, even the ones that get a bypass. Some trucks are flagged by the system, some by him (he told me how he selects trucks). Trust me, "they" are paying attention most of the time.

Technology is absolutely at the point they *could* track every truck pretty much all the time (e.g., time between scales), but there are still issues like connectivity, platform interoperability, bandwidth, etc. The day will come though...