DOT and the State Boys have gone Mad!!!!!!!

Yes, I agree. I've been to New York City, but not on business. I had some time so I flew the wife & kids there to watch the Cubs beat the Mets. After all, my 2 favorite teams are the Cubs, and whoever is playing the White Sox. I'd rather have my teeth pulled without pain killers than see the White Sox win.

 

I agree with you, a warning would have sufficed. First and foremost, expired by three days is not that big of violation in my opinion. Now if it gets 30 days, 60 days, 6 months then I believe you deserve one. Same with medical cards and registrations. To let you know how judges handle this where I work it goes like this. If you cite someone for expired anything, i.e. tags, medical card, license and it's three days expired. either guilty and no fine, or Probation and no fine. Now you get 30 or more days that wil not be the case. What I as an enforcement officer look at , is this. How significant of a violation is this? Could someone have overlooked this? Could they possibly not had time to take care of this and will in fact take care of it after I inform them? There are numerous questions like this that I ask myself on a daily basis. Some violations I observe don't get any questions ask and there are cited. But 3 days expired????? I'm not putting my name on that, my reputation goes on everything I cite. Once you get a bad name in front of a judge, or you get the prick name in front of a judge you lose points with them. Everything I do I have to ensure that when the judge looks at it, I am being a fair and reasonable officer. I was trained that way many years ago and when you have a close case that basically could go either way the judges remember the way you treat people. I have had many cases over the years that if the evidence isn't there you let the judge know and do not try to push it through just so you don't lose a case.

I will tell you this, if a driver, carrier, passenger car operator or anyone wants to act like a jack ###, rant and rave and jump up and down and act like the village idiot towards me when I stop them, God help them. I will write till my hand hurts, take a break and write some more. There's only so much crap I'm listening to from anyone. Been in trouble before for speaking my mind and will probably do it again. But when I stop someone, respond to a call and speak with the parties involved they get treated the way they treat me. As PS Anderson said, it's human nature. And as much as it's not suppose to happen, I like every other officer I know will usually subscribes to this philosphy. I can work with someone who is honest and is telling the truth. I've been a cop 13 years and I can tell when someone is lying. Yes we do get that 6th sense. Majority of the people I deal with are lying to me about something. Whether it's a traffic stop, a truck inspection, domestic call, a motor vehicle collision. I am usually lied to at some point. I tell my wife on occasion when she asks what did you have for lunch today? "A steady diet of B.S." She doesn't ask anymore. But from the moment I leave my house until I get home I am feed B.S. Much like brokers feed drivers.

I believe PS Anderson answered your question about the shipper and receivers. I have no experience with this and would have to defer to him.

I also agree with you that the majority of CMV collsions I see is caused by the 4 wheeler. Yes I do cite cars everyday for doing stupid sh^t around trucks. From cutting them off, tailgating them, speeding by them and so on. It does seem to me in what I am seeing on the roads today that the days of the professional driver are counting down. I'm not busting anyone on this forum. Before you blast me a new one, think about this. How many driver's do you see in the truckstops, scales, shippers and receivers that can not speak the English language? How many have there truck held together with duct tape? How many can't back up? How many tear the clutch up? How many take an hour to fill up at the fuel pump and block it while they go in and do god knows what? Again I grew up around trucking. My father and uncle drove over 65 years combined. I know what the professional driver acts like, looks like and drives like. Some of these cats I see today I have no clue where they came from and can't understand them. I see trucks that the front ends are held on with clear tape, bungee cords and zip ties. I see more and more foreigners driving today than you ever saw before. I know I'm not the only one.

It is refreshing to see so many newbies trying to get in the business. Hopefully they will grow and take over as the old guard rides off into retirement. If I was your husband I would take the citation to court and see what the judge says. If you got it in a commonwealth State, I don't know if I would waste my time. They seem to do things totally different than other States. A friend of mine is a Trucker. Actually he is an old trucker that ran with my uncle and father for years. He got stopped a wrote in a commonwealth State. He asked me what the federal regs. stated and I informed him. Even gave him a copy of the CFR. Well when he got to court, judge told him quite frankly that in the commonwealth of _________, that doesn't matter. Well he has the same problem I do with telling someone what I am thinking, except when the judge tells you to shut up, it's a good idea to do just that. When he got done he had $1500 fine and 3 days in jail.

 

Now why do you see this as refreshing ? Why do you see so many when carriers are reducing fleet size ? You see so many because most quit within a year before they get any real skill . It's a constant turnover of inexperienced drivers . All most of them are taking over are trucks abandoned by other newbies that got a reality check .

 

You do have a valid point. But like anything else you have to get experience somewhere. I'm just glad I can understand them.

 

I agree that there has to be a starting place . I just wish the carriers would give them sufficient pay and working conditions to get more of them to stay at it . But the more students sign up for tractor trailer school the more they cut their own throats because the growing surplus of drivers encourages wage cutting and abuse .

 

I agree. When I work nights I see more and more drivers who are over their hours. No news flash there. But more and more drivers I speak to, are telling me, there company is telling them to run at night to get around us. Again no news flash there. Carriers and brokers push the drivers into these violations and then when they are caught and fined they fire them and stick them with the fines. I have started filing more complaints on carriers with FMCSA for audits on companies which I hope will prove successful. I have conducted a few here in my State and had some success. Just last week I filed 7 comlaints on carriers. In my opinion the drivers are stuck period. Carriers know they can put any smuck behind the wheel. So you have you either drive it or someone else will.

 

That's what it will take . Allowing or forcing violations of HOS is a felony . For every driver you catch there are 100 or more being dispatched the same way . If criminal charges were pressed against management as there could be there would be a quick change of attitude .

 

No lie!! It was a van,when he was coming up on me I thought it was a train behind me,and yes about 5 minutes after he passed me he got pulled over by OSP,I wonder what he told the officer??

 

Thank you !!!!!

We need more like you out here.

I don't feel like it does us as drivers any good to complain. As it seems to fall on deaf ears, most of the time.

But knowing we have people out here like you that are willing to step up to the plate helps tremendously, even if the driver got a ticket out of the deal.

I don't have these issues with my current company. But the list of former companies I worked for, is as long as my arm.

My current company says the first violation is your only warning. The second is your termination notice.

 

I was delivering a Brand New Motor home last year through CO, They pulled me in for a random, He went through all my paper work, inspected the Class A Motor home. And then proceeded to tell me that I was the first one he was going to pass that day, Then he stopped and asked to see my Triangles and Fire Ext. They were still in the Sealed box in the back of the motor home, and he wrote me on not having them available. Had to find something wrong!