inspection by someone other than the driver

It all kind of depends on if you are interstate, or intrastate.

Intrastate you are exempt and can inspect them however you wish, and are exempt from the mirroring of all FMCSA regs by the state of Alabama. If just one of you trucks is plated to run intersate and crosses a state line you fall under FMCSA regulations about maintenance records and the drivers crossing the line fall under as well.

And if something should happen to get on FMCSA's radar( like an accident in another state) they will want those records for an audit.


The FMCSA requires a DVIR from every driver for every vehicle they operate.



Over kill with slip seating but I know of no exemption to it except being intrastate.

 

Don't you want each driver to check over the truck? I know I wouldn't drive it unless I did an inspection. It's for my safety and I'm not going to trust anyone else with it.

 

Sure, they can and should check the truck, you just don't have to have formal documentation (for the DOT) if the truck is driven intrastate only.

Doing a similar thing with a Volvo daycab and 4 car trailer...in state only - in fact, all within 100 mile radius.

 

Personally, I wouldn't rely on another drivers inspection, just saying,,,,,,

 

you can have someone else inspect the trucks then put the dvir on the drivers seat or on his clipboard.....but.....what if something stops working light a plain ordinary stop light, from the time it was inspected, to the time the driver takes it....or what if the person doing the inspection does not see a wheel seal leak, and the driver takes off and a short time later the wheel falls off..??

now yes, any thing can happen at any time....

and this is what i am alluding to. how can any driver be 100% certain that someone else did as good or BETTER then himself..??? what if the person doing the inspections has a grudge against the driver, or just down and out hates him, you think he's going to find any problems...??

 

pre-trips or post trips are NOT optional, they are required. they MUST be on the log of the driver doing them.....i think what will happen is if someone else does the inspections, then the actual driver will NOT have it on his log, he WILL BE liable for any ticket/CSA points HE GETS....

you may do as you wish, they are your trucks...but any "riff" among the drivers and you can bet your bottom dollar something is going to get "missed".....


i just know i wouldn't want someone else doing it for me...i trust NO ONE...

 

Part of the pre-trip is reviewing the post-trip from the previous shift, then doing your own inspection. takes away all of those "I thought he covered it" excuses.

 

It is not just doing an inspection. It is documenting it if she ever faces an audit.

Yeah a driver should look over his vehicle, and yes the odds of anyone ever requesting that documentation are low. But if they do and you can not produce it the fines I assure you are quite high. Up to $11,000 per offense last time I looked.

If this is such a head ache, and really I am just asking if it would make it simpler, can one driver stay with one truck through the day? If it is not possible in your business model I understand. It may straighten out a lot of your questions by reducing the number of drivers in each vehicle daily.