How to fix the trucking industry, quickly

Now I know what your first reaction is going to be when you read my idea on how to correct the trucking industry rather quickly. Because most of us try to avoid “big brother” but they need to be brought in and they need to be brought in in full force.

I drive this country coast to coast each week and every week that I’m out here on the road, I can see the declining environment happening right before my eyes. It gets worse every week…People entering this industry, breaking every law, breaking every regulation, breaking every rule, not maintaining their equipment….. I get out and I go for walks around the truck stops. Every day… I see equipment illegal, falling apart, duct, tapped together, broken bumpers, bald tires, air hissing out from underneath the truck, Four people piled into one cab, none of them speaking English, bumpers getting ripped off, people smashing into things, and then leaving the scene, you name it. It’s getting really bad!

The rates have crashed, because there’s a flood of people entering the trucking industry that have no intention of following the rules, and they’ve been allowed to get away with it. The way to end the problem is to get DOT and state troopers throughout this country to start a massive campaign of inspections. And to announce they’re going to do it. and to be ruthless about it. Just the announcement alone probably you would see about 5 to 8% of scrupulous operators Remove themselves from the industry because right now they bank on chance. The chance that they won’t get caught. Meanwhile you’re out here having to compete while following the rules, maintaining your equipment and so forth, while these idiots who Are trying to get away with as much as they can and run as cheap as they can. You can’t compete with this anymore because there’s just too many of them. They are flooding the markets and they are now EVERYWHERE. It needs to stop!

enforcement, implementing fines, putting them out of service, would remedy this situation rather quickly because I am telling you most of these operators that I see pouring into this country are not operating legally, and they do not maintain their equipment. Their objective is to as cheaply as possible get the freight from point A to point B. And they’re undercutting everyone by breaking the rules to do it.

Every truck out here at least once a month needs to be ran through a full inspection and every driver checked out from head to toe and you would see this problem go away real quick.

This may not be popular because most drivers don’t wanna be harassed and inspected regularly, but I’m telling you this is the problem. These guys are not following the rules that you are and there’s just too many of them now.

 

When the rates were crazy high for years everyone bought a truck or got into trucking to make the big money. Remember when the couple not make truck or even trailer fast enough. Now the rates have dropped back down because people are buying less. Now there more trucks then loads. It comes down to who can run the cheapest and still make a profit or stay in business the longest till everyone else goes out of business and less trucks so the rates will come back up. The economy could improve and people start buying more stuff also.

My company tell use they are losing a little money every quarter but expect it to turn around. They say they are making money but having to spend money for accidents and stuff. They asking drivers to be more cautious

 

OP is singing to the choir!

When I worked for the US arm of a Canadian carrier one of our mid-west owner operators one was stopped at Sarnia on his way back towards Chicago.

They put the tractor in a fenced impound and gave the owner 24 hours to have repairs made.

After the 24 hours period IF no repairs; they will remove the registration plate and return it to the issuing DMV.

The problem in the US is the failure to make an example of the bad units when found instead of accumulating the laundry list that is the SMS system.

 

There should be a 3 paragraph limit, because that's the limit of my attention span. But you are correct.

 

I've got a better idea.......
Give people at weigh stations random english quizzes
If they don't pass, put them and the truck out of service.
Then go back to whoever passed them for a CDL, and lock them up. As I understand it, it's 5 years and $250,000 per license.
There would be a pattern of fraudulent CDL licenses, and sooner or later, they'd get the message.

 

I don't think we need to worry about the scrupulous drivers.

 

Unfortunately states like California allow you to take the cdl test in whichever language you choose.. that is where alot of these guys are coming from

 

We have many running Mexican CDL's in Texas. And live here.

 

I congratulate you for thinking about a solution to the problems you correctly describe. The people that run big cities where it looks like Calcutta on a bad day are NOT in the business of enforcing rules on anyone except wealthy taxpayers. There are at least 2 broad philosophies battling in this culture. One is "follow the rules and we can make everyone comfortable" and the other is "take what the rich have and we can make our people better off." It's not a matter of having both sides agree to do anything.

Arsonists and Carpenters cannot share the same lumber yard. For Carpenters, there is no acceptable level of arson in the lumber yard and there is no acceptable level of unburned lumber for Arsonists.

 

Getting a “CDL” in Mexico is not easy. Takes quite a bit of time. The training and medical are all done at government offices. They require a psychological exam as well as the medical exam and drug testing. To renew a license, it is required to do all of the this, except the 40 hours basic training course, again. If memory serves me, they only do 2 year licenses for a “CDL”