Where is everyone #5

Good one.

 

Ha! Yeah I reckon I did.

 

You guys are on fire. Good one.

 

Thank you. The man was caught, convicted, and serving his sentence. Now he gets judged by the One that matters.

My take away from this newsflash is: Patrick was in his 40's and died in his truck. He was a hard working driver and did the job well. He was also morbidly obese. He was making some changes to improve his health, but obviously not enough, or promptly enough. If you think you need to make some changes in your diet or health, you don't get to pick when you're gonna drop dead from not doing it.

Me? I'm 53 and this is the second driver I've personally met in the 8 yrs I've been doing this, who dropped dead of a heart attack. Instead of all the hand wringing about his criminal activities when still alive, how about look in the mirror and get serious today about not getting dead like him.

Replying generally, not specific to you. I have been falsely accused. Back when I was young, dumb, and full off ___, I worked at a small building supply. An "older" woman in her 20's worked there as a bookkeeper. She stole a few thousand dollars and concocted an elaborate setup to point the blame at me. In the end it worked out and the truth prevailed. On the other hand, it takes a lot of energy and time to defend oneself in such circumstances, not to mention the consequential job loss and trying to find another one with that episode hanging over your head. I'm not defending the subject of why you posted this, but just pointing out that it does happen.

Sound hypocritical, but I disagree with this. It's been proven time and again by accident investigators and used to most peoples' detriment by insurance actuaries.

The specific infractions are not consequential on their own merit. What they can tend to point toward is careless operation. Ever read any aircraft disaster analysis? Accidents don't happen in a vacuum. There's always a chain of events leading to the crash. If any one of those links in that chain are broken/avoided, the disaster doesn't happen.

Not defending the current state of highway equipment inspections, but the theory is a good one. People with blatant violations like lighting and whatnot are probably likely to be careless in other aspects of operating a CMV. It's why several states have moved toward doing more inspections roadside versus lining them up in a weigh station. They usually go for the driver that's following too close or speeding, and more often than not, find other equipment or hours violations once they dig in.

Moral of the story? It pays to be the low blade of grass when the DOT is out cuttin the lawn.

 

I can't get much done with this lummox laying on me...

 

Meant to reply to this and got distracted a minute.

Tell the truth, I'm surprised you stuck it out this long. If you're seeing them do this much wrong, can you honestly expect that trend to change much soon enough?

I've run with my own authority for 8 yrs now. There have been one or two insurance hiccups along the way. Nothing that took more than a hot phone call, or a stack of money, to fix in minutes.

I also get where you're coming from regarding the current employer. Despite the trouble, I'm sure they're good people. It's hard to walk away from someone like that when they're down.

At the end of the day, you need to look out for #1 because nobody else is. I think you should be pursuing a better situation yesterday. If the current boss gets their stuff together in time, you can always stay if that seems to be the right thing to do. Otherwise, you get the wheels in motion to better your situation in the mean time.

 

Moriarty... splashed the tanks.

Thinking Bloomington if not a Ute.

 

Only way I eat onions is if they cooked... can't eat em raw, but will tuck in on some onion rings!

 

Don’t think ya need it but....
Good luck sir

 

Well last night was entertaining to say the least.

DOT red lights me and tells me the usually over the speaker. Pull over into the inspection area, come inside"

This large and slow inspector comes lumbering out heading my way with a creeper in tow.
Tells me im getting a lvl 1 get back into my truck. Im thinking,. Sure this ride could use a new sticker, it's a 2017 just served by dealer a week ago.
We go Thru the fun and I do as I'm told.... Lights,. Brakes -. Hold it down then he comes up to driver door.

"You have a crack in a brake line going to the left brake chamber. It's not bad enough for out of service but I'll warn you about it now. "

He heads back to building cause he's to proud to ask me for a pen since his is out of ink.
I jump out and crawl under truck. Looking and feeling the brake line. It's brand new brass colored ends and white paper label hanging off it.
I look over at passenger also,. Same result as driver side.

Wtf???

I crawl out and get back in ride, I wait like 20 min. How long does it take to get an ink pen?

He comes back and gives me a sticker then hands me the paperwork.

"I ask was it the "schrader valve" of the brake line that is in question?"
He says : ya that's it. Sign here and you can go.

Does this guy know " schrader valve" is a valve stem on a tire?

Is this job security????? Or just filling in his quota of inspections???

I'm still going over this in my head. Tell me they don't have allot of guys like this?