Observations from roadside inspections

Already been guilty of that attitude myself at shippers/receivers Bear. Then I used reverse psychology on them. When they would tell me "oh it will be several hours before we can get to you." I'd just say, "no problem, I'll be in the truck." They would sit there looking dumbfounded.

I'd get out to my truck and no more than ten minutes later, I'd get called for a door.

Same with the police. I got pulled over in Washington State for speeding once and the trooper asked for my logbook. I politely told him "I won't lie, I haven't touched it since midnight." He told me to get it caught up while he went back to his car. A couple of minutes later he came up, and handed my stuff back with a WARNING about the speed. He said, "I appreciate your honesty therefore I'll let you slide this time."

Attitude does indeed go a long way...

 

you know, what I really wish would happen is that someone would force inspections on police cars, dot vehicles, highway dept. vehicles and make them live to the same standards as the motoring/trucking public. Not to mention follow the same traffic rules.

I'm not trying to start a fight here, but I'll give a couple of examples, all of which I have seen in the last week.

9/28/09 Commerce City, Colo. police cruiser sitting at a traffic light, only one of three brake lights functioning. It was 2:30am, I happened to roll up on him as he was stopped and I got caught at the same light. I montioned for him to put his window down and told him that he only had one working brake light, his reply: "mind your own business". Hmm, I pay the taxes that pay his salary and bought him that car to use, so it is my business. When I called his Dept. and spoke to the watch commander, I was asked: "do you make a habit of ratting out cops?" I'm still waiting for a call back from his boss, which at that point I will be having a discussion with my City Councilman.

9/28/09, WB on I-70, about 5am, following a Colo. Dept. of Trans. semi with a grader onboard. The grader is oversize, no placards, banners, lights, etc., it's dark (he's not supposed to be moving when it's dark), plus 2 of the taillights on the trailer were burned out. I called CSP and advised them of this, "CDOT does not have to follow the same rules as regular trucks". Really, can someone show me this in a book.

9/30/09, 9am heading down I-25 to Alb., just outside Las Vegas, NM, following a NM state trooper. We both make a stop at the little gas station at US84/I-25. As the trooper exits the highway, I notice that not only does he not signal the right turn, but he has no left brake light. Since we are both stopping at the same place, I told him that he only had one brake light, and then jokingly asked him how he can justify making a traffic stop on someone when he himself didn't bother to signal his turn. He thanked me for telling him about the brake light, then proceeded to say "I forgot", "I forgot", you know, I tried to use that excuse once with a cop when I failed to signal a turn, he still gave me a ticket for failing to signal. So why should he be exempt?

10/1/09, 4am, heading back to Denver, I'm following a CDOT pickup on I-25 that has no working taillights at all. I call CSP to report the vehicle and location, about 2 hrs later I get a call from the CDOT regional supervisor to confirm the information, because the driver claims he never left the shop all not and I must be imagining it. I repeated the vehicle plate, vehicle number, and location to him, he tells me he'll look into it.

 

Um, since you asked, we have had 5 such accidents in Colorado this past summer, and last summer we had a van full of adults heading back to Ks from a church outing. The driver fell asleep, left the highway and rolled, 3 were filled, 2 are in wheelchairs for life, and one spent two months in a coma. In fact I'll go one further, we had one between Genoa and Arriba about a month ago, elderly couple in an F-350 pulling a 36' 5th wheel, 10am, old man falls asleep at the wheel, wife is already dozing in the passengers seat. Runs off the right side of the road, rumble strips jolt him awake, he over corrects to the left, looses control and runs two more vehicles off the road before his 5th wheel breaks loose and flips. Shuts down I-70 EB for more than 2 hrs while they try to clean the mess up.

What professional standard should we hold you to behind the wheel? There has been much discussion and debate about cellphones, yet I regularly see cops holding a cell phone to their ear while driving, hell, I watched a CSP trooper texting while driving last week. He was wandering in the lane so much, that if rolls had been reversed he would have stopped me on suspicion of DUI. Going one step further still, there have been some discussions about the use of a laptop in a semi while in motion, drivers have gotten tickets, there was the case in Az a few months back. Yet on a daily basis I see cops driving around town and on the interstates, with one hand on the wheel and one hand typing (yeah I know what they are doing) away on the laptop mounted in the cruiser. What makes you more of a professional or better trained driver than me? You know what, Denver PD averages two rearend accidents per month of cops running plates/etc. and rearending motorists because they weren't paying attention.

So what make sthose passenger vehicles any safer? Mike, let me call your bluff on something. How many semi's have you stopped in the last 12 mos. because of missing or defective taillights vs. how many 4 wheelers have you stopped for the same violation? I would love to see the actual statistics for the Dept's in your area as a comparison.

I'll give you a prime example of a cop not doing his job, Oct. 9th (IIRC) 2004, the night of a Presidential debate between G.W. Bush and J. Kerry. I was returning to Denver from Cody, Wyo. Just So. of the P.O.E at Ft. Collins, I had a CSP officer pull out in front of me, it was raining, about 8:30pm. As we passed Harmony Rd (heading SB), a passenger car came down the ramp and entered the highway in front of us. We were travelling 75 mph. This car had one working taillight, and even that was only partially working. I thought for sure the trooper would make a traffic stop, but he didn't instead, I followed the trooper, following this car for the next 10 miles until the trooper exited the highway at Longmont. Before he exited, I noted the plate number of the car, date, time, etc.. I then continued to follow the defective 4 wheeler all the way to Denver. I then called CSP and told them I wanted to file a complaint against this officer for not doing his job. The next morning the troop commander for that office called me. I explained to him what happened, he also gave me the troopers name, and said he would look into it. He called me back a couple of days later and said "the officer said he did notice the taillight was out, but it was not a signifcant defect and not worth the stop ". I then filed a written complaint about the issue, along with a copy of a ticket I got in the semi issued to me 6 mos. earlier for having 1 of 9 taillights burned out on a trailer, asking why I was discriminated against. If the officer felt this car was not a defective vehicle, then how could I have been a defective vehicle. I never got a response, well, let me give you the correct answer: Fine for defective vehicle passenger car $50 + 2 pts, Fine for defective vehicle commercial vehicle $75 + 2 pts.

No, but it will push several vehicles.

 

Sounds like someone is a bit bitter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a CDL driver and you should act accordingly. Dont blame 4-wheelers, cops, dot inspectors, RV's and anyone else you can think of. Do your job and do it right. No one can fault you for that.

Some people tend to blame others when the real fault begins with themselves. If you ran according to all laws and treated others with some respect you will most likely be treated the same way. It doesnt always happen but id say it does 99% of the time.

I am not perfect and i dont always do everything right but the last thing i will do is blame someone else for my lack of doing things right.

 

You've got it backwards. No matter how perfectly we do our jobs we are still blamed for everything. I'm about sick of it.

 

Look at the bright side. At least you can drive your 4 wheeler like an idiot and not get in trouble.

However, just wait, the DOT guys might require us to put a sign on the back of the car that states we have a CDL so they can get us there as well.

 

Oh god, don't give them ideas.

 

Why not?

It is clear that they do not feel that a 4 wheeler can possibly be a fault in an accident or be a problem on the road.

Especially those with the lights on top that drive erractically and weave between the lines with no purpose. They should have phone numbers on the back of their cars for us to call and report unsafe driving.

Maybe the 4 wheelers should as well.

 

Ok, king of sarcasm, lol. I've been looking for a certain video of a car hitting a semi on the highway and causing the truck to veer out of control. It illustrates pretty clearly how dumb that comment by mikemd was, but I can't find the #### thing. YouTube is becoming more useless by the day.

 

where am I blaming anyone else? I'm pointing out the faults of other drivers, especially those who are supposedly enforcing the laws and those that they ignore.

ahmen

oh hell no

actually, they do have a phone number. In Colorado, dial *CSP (*277) from your cellphone anywhere in the state and it will connect with CSP dispatch. tell them you want to register a complaint about an officer, jus tbe prepared for them to abuse you.