Just some of the stupid things I see

As far as the IFTA, I can't see how that's the drivers fault. To me it's the same as insurance, how many company drivers verify the truck they're driving has current insurance and the fuel taxes are paid before they leave?

Are you nuts JJ? Not the drivers fault??? All of that is part of the pre-trip inspection..... only exception would be the carrier was canceled by the ins. co.....

Everything else is on you. Carrier offers you a truck without tags and papers, permits and you take it out....... D.B. needs to throw the book at you. Simple and true.

 

every time i change trucks i always check the permit book and see when everything needs to be updated. And i keep a list in order of when everything expires so i dont forget.


Permits and IFTA stuff is ALL on the Pre-Trip list....



American Trucker

 

That was more directed at anyone with questions about running a local log than it was at you...although you'd be amazed at how many occifers on the side of the road just can't believe a truck driver is telling them he's not required to carry a log book in the truck with him. Had one ask me at LEAST 8 times if I was SURE I didn't have to have a log book....he just had it in his head that truck drivers were supposed to have a log book. I'm pretty sure he was just a state cop, though. He had stopped me for a bare outside rim and tried telling me I couldn't do that. I had blown the tire a few miles back and had singled it out by pulling the blown tire off the rim so it wouldn't come apart and throw chunks of rubber all over the road as I limped to a tire shop on the good inside tire.

After a long conversation on the phone with "his DOT guy" he looked at the other tire (which was good) and told me that he was told I was OK to continue on my way as long as that other tire looked good. He also didn't ask me about the log book anymore.

It would be a LOT easier if EVERYONE (both drivers AND cops) knew the rules....and followed 'em.

 

That was me and I got the ticket and the nice CSA points too.
CSA points are higher for lights than brakes. WTF?
Light came on and blew right in front of the officer, he said, "That light just went out" No sheet? Really? "yeah"
He could have just said, you know that light came on then blew out, you need to get that fixed, but then again he wouldn't be doing his "job" if I didnt get wrote up for it. Common sense...........


Was on I40 Mississippi river bridge east bound, a west bound truck blows a trailer tire, first stop the Arkansas scale house. No chance to get another tire. Wonder if he got wrote up?

Common sense is becoming a lost art in a lot of things.
And I just told blackw900 that just yesterday. I think more and more every day about just quitting this thankless job. With the crap coming out of Washington there no end in sight.
As the old saying goes...I dont hate the player, I hate the game.

I've seen farm kids with more motor skills than a lot of these so called truck drivers on the road today!! When a kid can back a farm wagon loaded with hay into a barn and only have to pull up once I bet he wont have trouble backing a 53 footer in a hole.
For the most part farm kids are head and shoulders above most in the maturity department.

 

Yeah, good thing alot of these guys are on their game! I got put OOS because my coolant sensor kept tripping, despite not being low. Trooper called a wrecker and then put me oos, cause I mighta tried to get back on the road under my own power! Reminds me of the one I read from a few years back in the carolinas (?) Trooper got all excited cause there was a truck with a flat tire waiting on the shoulder for road service.

 

IMO, the driver deserves a write-up for this. You speak of common sense, but common sense should have told the driver to pull over into the shoulder and set up the triangles, then wait for road service. Why on earth would you pull into a coop with a flat tire?

What crap are you referring to? Most of the regs have been around longer than you were driving. The FMCSA has been pushing EOBR's to weed out the truckers that like to run illegal though. Really, the only 'new' thing on plate is CSA 2010, and I emphasize the word 'new' because if you're a safe driver who runs legal and keeps up with truck maintenance, CSA shouldn't bother you. Those CSA points you got for the headlight will diminish over time. CSA points are by no means permanent.

I don't agree with this statement either. I've seen people who can back a 14' trailer on a hitch pratically blindfolded, and couldn't back a 53' trailer to save their life. Driving does come natural to some people, but it doesn't come natural to everyone.

A persons maturity level does relate to their upbringing, so I'll agree with you there.

 

I'd put a boy that grew up driving on the farm in my truck waaaay before I'd put a cdl school graduate in it...

 

Uh...Mr. BatMan? There isn't anywhere to pull over on that narrow bridge. The scale is immediately after it, if I recall. It is the first safe place to stop.

That said, I had a similar thing happen last year in Oregon. My first safe place was an open scale. I went in with my four ways flashing, rolled across the scale and parked. I went inside to ask permission to wait there for the repair guy. The cop was nice about it. Said most drivers don't bother to stop, just try to limp it to the truck stop. When the repair guy showed up to fix it, he asked for my ticket so he could sign it off. He was shocked that I didn't have one.