getting csa points removed

Ok this happened to me last month. My employer mainly hauls pipe to and from rigs and from our pipe yard to other pipe yards. sometimes they try and get us other loads so we don't come back empty. one of the other things they do is since the pipe yard is getting more pipe in via rail they are expanding and hauling in rock to build up the ground for the pipe racks. instead of having a construction company haul it in, the owner bought a belly dump and when the rigs are covered, someone gets picked to drive the rock truck. I got picked for this the other day. Well, they told me to use my truck because the usual one was having electrical problems. No biggie I had ran it with mine before. I ran three loads that day no problem, on my fourth load, the gates on the dump opened up and I lost the entire load. I couldn't get off the road safely (no shoulder) so all I could do was slow down and unfortunately when I managed to get off the road, I had traveled about 1/4 mile. So anyway, I got an unsecure/load shifting ticket. got the truck back into the shop and mechanics discovered there was a short in the pigtail that caused the switch in cab to short out into the open position. company paid the ticket but I still get the points. another driver told me that you can appeal the points if it is determined that you had no control over it (in this case mechanical failure that I had no control over) He claimed that he had gotten a ticket for improper securing of a load because his top layer of pipe wasn't a full layer and should have been stripped instead of pyramid style. (apparently Texas likes to enforce this from what I have heard) he said company paid his ticket but he got the points removed after appealing on the grounds that the pipe yard loaded him that way and he showed the paperwork where the shipper had specified pyramid only. in my case, nobody was injured there was no property damage other than the road had to be swept off. My ticket got paid as well. I know that points are determined based on the offense severity and stay on for a certain amount of time, but like I was asking, if you had no control over what happened or knowledge, is it possible to get those points removed through an appeal process. I called the local FMSCA district office they said something about a dataq link on their site but I can't find it.

 

How many points did you receive?

 

I just went to the FMSCA site at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/, searched for dataq in the search box at the upper right. It gave one result that went to a FAQ page at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/faq/if-int...ep-or-motor-carrier-has-questions-or-concerns and that had a link to DataQ’s system that takes you to https://dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov/Default.aspx?enc=4orUr4VSakAlYsjxOmHrCeQ158IknHedB20QvqZJtcw=.

 

Can you do it? I don't think you can, the way I understood it. And that's the major problem with CSA. There's no recourse. That's why its better to receive a ticket than a warning. You can fight the ticket.

 

Probably too late for this ticket but look into legal shield for commercial drivers, and always have a lawyer ready to go. Also, where you charged federally (FMCSA) or state? If state it should be much easier to beat. I got am unsafe load ticket years ago (state) and in court went on about that particular load not needed to be covered because of blah blah blah (made crap up) and they dropped it, that was 2pts that was MA though, I've heard TX is always out for blood.

 

Were you driving when your load spilled out onto the road or not? If so, I doubt you will be able to successfully appeal and have the points removed. What is the difference between that short in the pigtail vs. one that knocks out some or all of your trailer lights? One gets you cited for inoperable lights, the other for unsecured load. Neither ticket is going to be tossed because it was an electrical short causing the malfunction...and neither will the CSA points. Be glad the company paid the ticket and don't waste your time with the rest. You can't claim the load was actually secured (as your buddy with his pipe) because your load ended up on the road (unlike your buddy's pipe load). If it had been secured, it wouldn't have spilled onto the road. At the end of the day, the mess on the road is all that is needed to prove you had an unsecured load.

 

yeah i was driving and they did pay the ticket so there is that. I am going to find out how many points it got me. Before this I only had one point from an accident in 2012 when another driver rear ended my trailer. I received no ticket over that but the way the report read it showed accident with injury citation issued. Obviously had i received the citation it would have been on my driving record (was not) report didn't go into detail that the trooper gave the guy a ticket because he had lied about texting on his phone. That was only one point i received and it had fell off by this year when my current employer ran my CSA for employment. So a little over two years on that one. And to the other above question, it was an Oklahoma Highway Patrol who issued the ticket.

 

You can fight it through Data Q, but be forewarned you probably won't win. It doesn't cost you anything to contest it, but be aware that it will go back to the police district that wrote you the ticket. If they say that it was a just ticket, then you are stuck with it. But it doesn't hurt to have your say either!

 

First of all, your ticket and his are 2 different ones, for different loads. You really do not know all of his details. From what I have read in the past, regarding CSA points,you can appeal the points, but you have to do so at the agency that wrote it up. There is a procedure to follow, do go to the website and read it fully. If Texas is adamant about these tickets, as they get federal monies for doing so, it will be tough to beat.

You will have x number of points, multiplied by 3 then each year points come off till the original points before they were multiplied, for your remaining year. Be careful, even though your company paid the ticket, it is YOU AND THEM that still have the points. I think they have those points for 2 years, YOU will have them for 3 years. What you need to watch for is ANY MORE POINTS that you get. Some companies have a limit as to how many they will tolerate a driver accumulates before they hit the "eject button" on you.

The company may have told you to do something, as the driver, you accepted it. Good, bad or ugly.

From what I have just found, load securement *392.9*, it is 1 CSA point, which means you have 3 points against you. Hardly anything worth being too worried about.

 

CSA points count for nothing unless you're applying for a new job with a company that actually cares about your CSA score.