DOT Inspection/Pulled out of service

so let me see there is 8 in of snow on ground trailer full of snow packed under on brakes and such and you pull your creeper out to inspect,who you kidding

 

Drivers are not qualified to adjust brakes unless they meet 396.25 which many drivers don't have the experience or appropriate training. You might find plenty of owner operators that can but most company drivers don't even know where to start. Do you want them adjusting your brakes?

 

Manufacturers say self adjusting brakes shouldn't be adjusted anyway . If they are out of adjustment there is a defective component that needs to be replaced .

 

Drivers are not allowed to adjust brakes in CA without a brake certification license. They should know how to check them though, if anything for wear and adjustment just by visual inspection at a minimum. We asked our drivers to once a week, stand on the brakes several times while in a safe parking lot to apply enough pressure for the adjusters to properly function. If you drive all the time and are easy on the brakes, they sometimes won't adjust.

The thought of a driver not doing a good pretrip makes me cringe. It's not about avoiding a DOT violation, it's about having a safe, properly functioning truck when you need it to do what it has to, like stop. I've seen a lot of company drivers just jump in a truck and start rolling as soon as the air is up. Finding drivers that take every aspect of their job serious is a rare thing in my opinion.

 

And points stay assigned to the driver and company at the time they received them. When a driver leaves, the company keeps the points on its records and the driver keeps them on theirs. Nothing goes to the new company. We only had 5 trucks but we had a HireRight PSP account and I pulled every DAC report on every potential hire. You know what, the guys with a lot of points and a million excuses as to why they had them, were the guys that would get points driving for us. It doesn't take long to figure out past performance indicates future potential.

Take your points seriously because it will have a future impact to you.

 

In my "years" of driving; I can count on one hand how many drivers Ive seen actually go under the trailer for a pre-trip, myself included!! Most give a walk around with lights/tires and thats about it!! All these perfect liars, I mean drivers up here make me nauseous..........