The reason for CSA

Tracking of the failures is not required, as what WAS in place already tracked serious failures.

Guess what, sometimes living life is dangerous... Any type of pre-emptive enoforcement will never make everyone absolutely safe. That is, unless they NEVER choose to drive any vehicle go anywhere do anything... but that doesn't even insure absolute safety, as the location that the person resides in, could play a factor in their safety, Tornados, Hurricanes, Volcanoes...etc etc etc

The point is that there will NEVER be perfect safety. Nor will ANY pre-emptive enforcement protocol change this fact. What was previously in place... WAS in fact, working. It's like this, say you had a car that needed a new intake manifold, so you replace the manifold then drove the car for 60,000 more miles, without a single problem. Then, just to be sure the car owner repalced the whole car engine, even though the repaced manifold obviously was working and corrected the problem.

CSA defies logic... period.

 

It matters not...I'm now an O/O...If I blink...It's on my CSA score....That's life....

Tell you what...I can tell you stories about the construction and maintenance industry that would make your skin crawl....And that industry has been regulated a very long time....

Put it this way...You company and lease drivers think you have it bad....Try working in pipeline jobs on a leak....You work 18 hours straight without a break....

Or better yet...Work in the Underground "Dry" utilities like power and phone....There's a dirty secret in that segment of the industry, even in union shops, referred to as "Donation"... You work 12 and get paid for 8....And don't beyatch or otherwise, it's "Down the road"....

Every job has it's sucky moments...But driving a truck with heat or air, is better than busting your azzhat exposed to the elements as a ditch digger....

 

Didn't think they was anyone left who knew what white crosses were? No I don't think we need rid of the FMSCA or any of the other names it lived under. What we need is for the people to take the goverenment back from those who only want to cause discourse among all of us who aren't the choosen few. Discourse is the only tool they have to use in this I mean
race,ethnicity, orientation and class(money). Me being a history fan like the French revolution as a way to deal with them. Doesn't matter dem., Rep. Con. or Lib. their ,main agenda is to control every aspect of our lives!
Now you can think you "walk less now" Thats a fatal mistake history has proven that before. Look back to Germany 1939 the Jews didn't worry or say anything about all that the nazis done till they came for THEM, Then there was no one to stand up for them. With that said six monthes fom now you could be the one typing instead of me. I would rather walk now and later, cause my truck is maintaned properly. I just want rid of the unfair, illogical and unconctitutional parts...

 

That's why there was and NEVER has been a need for CSA. I'm not compalining about my job at all or how hard I work. I still LOVE the fact that many of us still get to work HOS exempt for harvest season, much to the dismay of the DOT.

I've also done utility work in the past, as well as construction work. I like my job currently and wouldn't go back to the others I've had... With that said, none of the other jobs I've had in constuction or utility work have been AS regulated as trucking... or even close.

 

Let's not turn this into a Political discussion....

DOT are not NAZI Storm Troopers....By any comparison.....So the Politics end here....

 

If you go get your March 2012 copy of Popular Mechanics, there is an article in there called Unacceptable Risk- Cheap Buses, Fatal Rides.
Bottom line, like it or not CSA is going to save lives. FMCSA had cited Sky Express bus services just for fatigue, 48 times in 2 years preceding a bus crash in Virgina that sent 58 people to hospitals and killed 4. The driver's log book had not been updated for 2 whole days. The driver could not speak English. The company had plenty of violations for unsafe driving, vehicle maintenance, and HOS. They had 4 previous crashes and th single worst score of any American bus company in the Driver Fitness category and still FMCSA hadn't taken them off the road. Under the old way, a single satisfactory rating in any category, you can still do business. Under CSA, they have been rightfully shut down as imminent hazard carrier.
Within the week Sky Express was operating again with a new DOT number, same management team and same buses.

One carrier was found to be stashing passengers in t cargo hold of the bus last spring when the FMCSA decided to do 3000 unannounced inspections, they too were shut down. Another carrier was requiring their driver to log sleeper berth time in the cargo hold.

It is only a $2000 fine for operating a bus without DOT numbers or authority. A company could operate for years under the radar and only receive a virtual slap on the wrist before. If it got too bad, they just changed their name and kept going.
Law enforcement had been reluctant to pull these guys over for inspections or even speeding. That's changing now with CSA.

Guys, this stuff isn't personal, no one is out to 'get' you, or take your rights away for some nasty agenda, they are trying to save lives plain and simple. The reality is, they gave people the term "professional driver" and some of them squandered it by pushing the limits beyond the law and/or giving in to company's demands they do so.
CSA is a professional driver's friend believe it or not.

 

I beg to differ....

Every construction worker by law is required to wear PPE on every job by federal law....How many drivers are required to wear PPE on the job?

Most contractors are required to have at least one member of a crew to be certified in First-aid and CPR...How many truck drivers have to be certified as such by law? How many drivers even know what CPR is?

Contractors that do any type of excavation must have certified people trained in excavation safety....That is...Certified in Soil Sustainability...Knowing the differences between the three types of soils...Certified in Shoring and cribbing....

Most of these companies are also required to have HazMat certifications...And so on...

My point however....Was that industry was highly regulated long ago...

Regulations are a part of every industry....Not just trucking...

Perhaps we as drivers might think because we fill out logs daily, that we're the only ones?
Even a "Burger Rotation Engineer's" from McD's job is controlled by regulations...Health..Safety...Hours....

The real problem is...How much is too much?
Without workplace regs...Many workers would wind up like workers prior to workplace regs...Overworked....Injured....Underpaid...And unlikely to live long enough to see a retirement....

Over-regulation ties the worker's hands and the company's hands....Less production and more revenue lost....

So how little is too little and how much is too much?

 

You mustn't run accross a couple, I had a couple times.
One in Ms. ressembled Goering and one in oh looked like himmler.
You have missed the point any way. You may not walk today but you will at some point in time. Then if you are like most: your tune will change.
Most people are only self serving and concerned about here and now. with no thought of any farther than today and it's all about me,me and me.
You put on this facsade of this great thinker, then look at the big picture and think how it has been going for sometime now?

 

I "walk" mainly for two reasons....
1) CDOT can't look down far enough to see the "CO VIN XXXXXXXX" on the sleeper...Yep I went way out of my way to show them the VIN....and...
2) I do a lot of OD/OS loads that require my face in the coop....

 

You miss the whole big picture. The rules already existed to have done something about that particular bus company. They were just lazy and didn't do their job to begin with. The goverment is always trying to "reinvent the wheel" to cover up for their incompentance. These new rules are only more damaging to those who try operate right with virtually no avenue of recourse.
No matter how many times you make a wheel in order for it to roll it has to be round and the CSA is sqaure. What needs to happen is the officers and agencies that enforce these rules need to be held accountable as drivers are.
Out of all the Level one inspections I had done only 1 officer got it right that my trailer had hyd. brakes and not elec.. Meaning they never LOOKED, me being the nice guy I am I gave the officers a break and let them correct their reports since they weren't breaking my balls.

When I brought this up as a reason for dismissal of a violation in ohio they said they were ohio and they could do what they wanted.
Then when I carried it to trail they initially lied and then they said they had been doing it wrong over twenty years and retrained officers and etc.
I even asked to have officer arrested, then I sued them.
In the end the court ruled it was a criminal matter and the statute of limitations had run out. I did get the violation removed, reversal of fine and removal from safestat but not the 125,000 I asked for.

So in my opinion if you want to have a system as you all ballywho as for safety? It should be fair , done properly and have avenues to correct errors.
Sending something back to POS officer for dataq's is about a joke and they know that. Once they fill up all the ficticous stats they want they will come up with more riules to put on us. I call these stats ficticous cause I have never seen but one do their inspection job properly so all results are tainted in my view and unreliable.