Failed First DOT Inspection. Now what?

I had the same thing happen to me the clasp on extinguisher was pointing up and would get pointed out halfway unlocked and and wrote up for it. My safety department puged me a C note and when I passed the next 4 inspections l felt better with the 4 hundred extra bucks they gave me, l put a zip tie around it louse enough to unlock it with no problem and it passed every time?

 

Seems like a whole lot of panic over nothing. They cannot eat you nor will they take your birthday away. I understand that you have to have insurance to be in this business but ask yourself if it’s really that serious is this a business I want to be in? Like it or not crap happens and you can’t/won’t win them all.

 

One item, get ready for a in house DOT audit soon. I got in an inspection, only had taken off 9 hours instead of ten, here comes the auditors, went through the last six months of my logs. Only mistake I made.

 

Don't you feel bad now, like getting bit by a dog. CB radio, we knew all about it, and took evasive actions, aka, go around the scale. Unless a complete surprise, like getting pulled over, THEN an inspection, I can't remember ever going through an inspection at a scale.

 

Ok.
I played the card.
Fix it, send report in signed showing repair.

 

I would be quite happy if they did take my birthday away. I am already #### old enough

 

I started counting backwards try it sometime I feel younger already

 

I'm 64 I just reverse the numbers so now I'm 46

 

CSA affects premiums in two possible ways, not including crashes. Weighted point total and out of service violations. You'd have to ask Progressive to be sure about their policies. A long time ago I believe it was the second OOS that would trigger an increase, and points over 150 or so.

What you need to worry about is that logbook violation is one of the "deadly sins" for a new entrant audit. That is, they may fail you on that because of that violation. Your best bet will be to make sure everything else is high and tight for the audit, and be prepared to explain the logbook violation and what you have done to make sure it never happens again. A write up in your DQ file, and a written log book process for the company, are only going to help show you learned something. Ultimately the outcome will come down to how the auditor feels that day. Do what you can to not make that "sad" or "angry."

 

Post script on my last post, after having some memory come back, reinforcing that it's not a sure failure on the audit since it turns out I been there done that already.

Before my new entrant audit 10+ years ago (pre-ELD), my son pulled three logbook violations with one being an OOS, plus a sketchy equipment violation that was relatively minor. He was running down a to the minute schedule and failed to account for a time zone change, so was guilty on all counts. That was compounded by it being PennDOT on a bad day, probably with a hemorrhoid flare up going on too. Officer was looking for a victim and my son fell for it. Had him so ruffled he didn't notice the officer left with his drivers license, which resulted in a round trip plane ride from Philadelphia to come home and get a duplicate after the load was completed. Probably didn't need to do that, but I didn't want to take the chance, and he needed some time out for the lesson to sink into his wallet some more.

This was before they were doing these audits remotely. A time was scheduled and I had to appear at the Georgia MCCD office in Atlanta with my files. The officer doing the audit was a woman that had been there for decades, and you could just tell wasn't about to fall for any sketchy truck driver stories. The audit itself took a little over an hour, and we spent almost half that time talking about the PA violations. I explained it all in detail, and had the write up and process documents ready. She even mentioned that the equipment violation was incorrect, that they had used a code relevant to frame damage when it was really just a loose part and not as critical (or as many points). Everything else was all there. She was satisfied with events surrounding the violation and it did not result in a fail. Just a stern warning about "next time." Supposedly she sent a request to PennDOT for review on the equipment violation, but I never heard anything of it. Eventually 3 years passed and it vanished into the history books.

Somewhat related, this was one of a few lessons my son learned on his path to being a more mature, responsible driver. A lot of drivers who've only been company drivers seem to believe that being an owner operator, or driving for one, is more like a Smokey and the Bandit movie where you get to do all the things company drivers aren't allowed to do and just get away with it. At least that's what he thought too, apparently. We had the come to Jesus talk when he came back to get his license. The main theme was: you have to be even more careful than a company driver with our little one (at the time) truck outfit. Big company driver screws up and it's a single point among many, many others. You screw up and it's all alone and stands out like a big turd on a manicured lawn. Consequences are vastly greater in proportion for the same things.