I need to get some Roadside inspections

Gopher my equipment is in good shape, but hos is suffering. My driver is the eyes and ears on the road if anything is wrong with the truck, but if something is wrong I pull them over immediately at the nearest town to fix the problem. I have lasted a good while in this business, but CSA rules are all new to me because until now we never had a problem. When all the new rules went into affect I started new rules for hiring. My company did suffer because since then I have not been able to keep my trucks filled. Even my aunts company has that problem and they are big enough to offer excellent benefits. I would even say they are the top company to work for in my town (a town with a ton of trucking companies). So I never felt like I was necessarily being to strict. My rules before were otr experience, tarp experience, clean 3 year MVR, 2 years cdl exp, and 26 yrs or older. Before that I would allow one small ticket and 24 or older. The other rules were the same. I am now going to start paying for the service that checks driver scores (which I just learned about thru research). And I am going to start sending all drivers out with my one driver which we really cannot afford to do or not to do. I tried that before, but it did not turn out well as the drivers were quitting when they came back from training. But I guess the company shutting down due to going broke is better than the gov't slamming the hammer down. I hope it does not come to that, but everything points that way. I wish I could pay to have the best drivers in the world, but small companies do not make enough to pay that much. If better pay was in the cards, I wouldn't be having this conversation I am sure. Also I wish vehicle maintenance was my problem. I wish I could solely blame me and laziness, because that would be an easier fix.

 

vigillo.com has a free PSP screening service that you can use. Takes a few days to get it set up, and it's not 100% accurate, but it is a decent screening tool. PSP scores aren't worth much, FWIW.

 

Just wanted to let you friendly helpful people know that my driver was able to get a good inspection in TN. We are so happy, not that one will help much but it is a start. My driver is just a little past Memphis heading to the east coast. He was straight up with the officer. He said "sir we hired a driver with 15 yrs of experience and a perfect record. That driver got us 5 write-ups and 3 being HOS. Can you please give me an inspection as I am trying to save our company?" The dot officer said "sure I will give you an inspection." And on a side note, as of yesterday my driver is no longer scared of scales. Trying so hard to get a dot might have made his driver experience a much better one for the long haul. I am still scared of the situation so I am starting another company, not trucking related. This is something I have considered for a couple years just because trucking is so stressful (compared to all other fields I have managed or worked in). I do want this company to still make it but hopefully now I will have a safety net. I chose a field with minimum gov't regulation just because I know with less regulation my trucking company would have been twice as financially productive. I am not saying trucking doesn't need regulated, but that the regulations cut way into profit. Thanks again for all of your input and I will continue to update with progress of our situation just for curiosity sake and to help others who go thru this.

 

I have not verified this, but I will pass it on and if it true, perhaps it will help you out.

I was told that Utah will do one inspection per month if the driver goes in and asks. I do not know if this is true.

 

FMCSA sent a memo out a year or so ago to all their inspectors as well as state inspectors that clearly states no inspector is to do an inspection on request just for this reason. You run a bad log/equipment get caught so many times, ups your CSA so what do you do fix your logs/equipment request inspections, down goes your CSA, and then as soon as your CSA is lowered you go back to running bad logs/equipment. Like I said this was sent a while back from the FMCSA and have seen the actual papers for it in UT but of course you still have a few officers out there (CA especially) that will do one if you ask or they think even though you asked you will still have violations.

 

There's a few glaring problems with CSA. Most of which I won't get into.

However, if the intent of CSA is to single out the bad companies and put them out of business, the act of closing their authority just bumps everyone's percentile number up slightly. There will always be the '20% worst companies' in each range. No matter how many you put out of business. Unless CSA keeps all those shuttered companies on the roles to ensure a true gauge for the currently active companies, someone will always be worst.

No different than vehicle safety for cars. Do something to reduce injuries or death, and still something will be the 'most likely way to die in a car'.

If 30% of crashes are caused by A, and we can reduce that in half, now suddenly there's fewer deaths, but the percentages of everything else will actually go up. They didn't get worse. They just make up more of the pool.