DOT now checking Qualcomm?

I know.
It just seems so different to when I started driving. Back in 1999, the DOT was at a Texas scale. Stopped and went to hand the logbook to him as requested. He asked if it was current and I replied that it was. The company, myself, required it. He never even opened it.

Now, it just seems that we are a source of revenue. I had 3 level 1 inspections in a year. That is 3 more than I had in 9 years.

They happened in various states. Wyoming, Ohio, and Kentucky.

 

It's not so much the DOT you have to worry about, it's the lawsuit. The lawyers will find everything that is there, from road cams on up. You will lose everything you have, plus when the lawsuit happens, the DOT is more likely to investigate deeper. Many people have lost everything, and ended up doing time.

The reasoning, if you were running legal, you wouldn't be at the scene of the accident, whether you were at fault or not.

A company mis-loaded a truck. The load shifted entering an on ramp. The truck turned over, killing the driver. The DOT said the driver was going too fast on the ramp. They judged by the tire skid marks. The skid marks in reality were caused when the load shifted and lifted the weight off the trailer, causing the trailer tires to slide, as the driver was actually applying brakes at the time instead of accelerating.

Driver was deemed to be at fault. DOT never persued any further. The family did not sue because the took the DOT's word.

The truth is, the company that loaded the product was at fault. It was a new product, heavy, high, on plastic racks, loaded down each side, with about a three feet opening down the middle between racks. Driver picked up the trailer pre-loaded, and did not know this.

First sharp turn the plastic racks all slid across the trailer floor, causing the trailer to flip, slamming the cab down on drivers side, killing driver instantly.

If the family had sued, then everything would have came out, including the shipping companies records, which were some of the most non-compliant known to man. No one sued, DOT was happy with their conclusion, and so was the company.

The depth of investigations all depends on what circumstances you happen to get into at the time.

 

that is EXACTLY the reason i posted the thread about the 70 hr rule being dangerous. (seems to be GONE!? the quote is on google but NO thread??????)

 

70 hr rule dangerous? maybe for you, but not for me. Actually, I would be happy if they tossed the entire HOS regs into the garbage can.

I can begin my day at 6AM and work til 11PM and do fine. Maybe that is not for everyone, but I can easily do it. Workers in the Oil Field are allowed to do it (yes, even truck drivers), drivers in Iraq are able to do it. So should I. It is my business. People drive cars that could reach 180MPH on the roads. They are allowed to drive them. I should be able to work as hard as I like. That is me, but I really do not need the DOT to tell me when to go to sleep, my body tells me when. When I get tired, I sleep. Not really rocket science here.

 

unfortunately there are ppl out there that have to be told when to sleep

 

Another thing... rules should be graduated. After a certain amount of safe years, your status as a driver is raised, to a new set of rules. Why does a rookie have the same rules as me.

The bottom line is that there is a difference. The rooks are in the right lane going 60-65 mph. The vets are in the hammer and letting it fly... because we know how to do it. The DOT boys know we do it. The log book is just a game, either you play exactly by the rules (and go broke) or you know how to play.

 

Exactly what I have been saying, I see a couple of people that actually understand. We know our limitations and we don't need the government or anyone else telling us when we need to sleep or when to drive. Unfortunately there are idiots that do need to be told when to sleep and when to drive, but if that is the case you shouldn't even be driving a truck or a car for that fact. and that passing the blame on the company saying their forcing me or pushing me to run when I am tired, well all I got to say is god gave you a mouth and a choice, do you need someone to tell the company no for you, do you need some to stick up for you because you cannot do it yourself, if so you need to get the hell out of trucking. Because trucking is not for little boys and girls, its for men and women.

 

what about the black boxes they want to install on trucks

 

the reason i say it is...
say you usually start at 6AM well if you run out of hours (70)
you may have to stop at say 10AM
that means (sometimes) you have to GOTO BED during the DAY
so you can be UP AT MIDNIGHT when you regain hours to make delivery ontime that is what i feel is unsafe about it.

 

all scales aren't doing that.maybe some but it isn't all of them.