Idiling...a Criminal Offence

Not to mention that the California EPA has, again, changed their standards mid-stream, making all the research dollars spent by the engine manufacturers obsolete and wasted before it even got off the drawing board.

Cat is threatening to get out of the road diesel engine manufacturing all together as a result, and just concentrating on their marine and construction/mining division.

It's not a simple matter of just installing an APU. Especially with the low freight rates and economy tanking. A Big truck truckin' company with 4,000 to 5,000 Big trucks at $4,000 to $6,000 a pop? Where does the money for that come from?

This COULD be accomplished over time, but to expect it over night is crazy thinking. Especially when the rules change at the whim of the EPA. Can't trust those folks any farther than y'all can throw a grand piano.

 

It will come from the savings in fuel sooner than you´d believe.
It´s the ATTITUDE with the big company COE´s that need to be changed.
And some politicians... no Wonder CAT is throwing the towel..they had to with the C18 already over here too as it didn´t meet emissions.

 

I see your point, Micky --- but.......................
would YOU be willing to shell out thousands of dollars for an APU -- only to have states like California outlaw the unit you purchased?

You're back where you started, except for a few thousand dollars in debt. Hard to justify that. But it WOULD give one something to think about as they lay awake on those hot nights, sweating in a sleeper -- not idling ANY engine. How healthy is that for the Big truck truck drivers?

 

Honestly...you guys can´t have laws like that ?
The non idling laws affects the use of the APU´s too ?
I mean can´t the legislators see the problem there ?
Guys Bring up the SAFETY ISSUE ABOVE ELSE.. Not the Safety of the trucker but those that get hit by a truck and it´s load if the Truckers life ain´t worth a second thought as is seems.
Hell ban any offroad vehicles too starting from Boats....
No idling even if the boat is sinking!


I guess the use of The Reefers APU´s are allowed to protect the Cargo ?
If not do not supply any fresh stuff to those states...just simply drive slow and let it rot.

No Wonder "no-one" wants to be a trucker in the long run and freeze or sweat themselves to exhaustion in a truck while supposed to REST...Beejeesus....

Hell Even I start to forget all about the USA trucking alltogether..just go and buy a soon to be VERY CHEAP US truck, customize and tune it and play around with it over here...

I mean honestly You guys can´t get Any professional and safe truckers over there anymore the way the business is going.

I guess you guys should vote Ron Paul for president...He at least is a doctor so he knows a thing or two of how the human body and mind works...

 

YeAH!
That's what we keep telling ourselves. But, sadly,...............
It's twue!
It's twue!

YuP!
All but ONE APU manufacturer are deemed illegal in California, and I hear Dallas has adopted similar laws recently.
On the plus side, there seems to be a flood of cheap units -- that can't be used. But they sure look good hangin' there.

Better question might be are they even LOOKING? Knee-jerk reactions to special interest groups. Counter-productive? You might ask. And I'd probably answer, absolutely.

It DOES seem that way at first glance. And second glance. And third glance. But, if one looks at the BIG picture, it leaves little to no doubt about it.

Uhhhhh, ...... Mickey,....... would you believe they already ARE trying?
The only exception to the no idling if the boat is sinking is if one of those legislators are aboard. THEN it's MANDATORY to idle EVERY engine.

Well,..... for today anyway.
Who knows what the EPA will say tomorrow?

HeY now!
That'll just anger the desk drivers.
What they're doin' now is PROTECTING us (from ourselves). Imagine what they'd do if they were MAD at us?
I shutter at the thought.

I'm glad to hear the perspective from a foreign driver. I was beginning to think it was just the crazy thinking of the American drivers, whining about nothin'.

Meet me at the docks.

There are those who think the answer to the problem that was created in order to solve, will come from south of the border. Si, amigo! Juan to the wesque.

Ron WHO?!
I think he's out of the running.

ALL of the politicians know how the human body and mind works --- and they use that knowledge against us to get elected. That's ALL that's really necessary -- to get elected.

I mean, who in their right mind would spend hundreds of millions of dollars -- to be elected to a job that pays in the thousands of dollars?

Well, except for Big truck truck drivers, it seems. Now-a-daze, it seems they're expected to PAY for the loads and transportation thereof.
Who knows?
It may be training for the next batch of politicians.
Ya reckon.

 

The problem still seems to be that they(read beauracRATS) are sticking it to the DRIVER, not the owner of the truck. If you are right Mickey, and I don't doubt it, it's the CEO's of companies that need to feel the pain, not the driver. If Mr. CEO had to explain to his board of directors why there were so many "environmental" fines maybe things would change. That still leaves the problem of the constantly changing standards. How do we, who don't live in CA change their minds? Make them see how unfair the rules are? I seriously hope that it doesn't take some horrible accident to bring this maddnes to a stop, but i'm not going to hold my breath. The answer usually thrown out is to just stop going there, that works if you can. But with all the Mexican tucks ready to come over the boarder..... Makes one start to believe in black helicopter theories.

 

Let's make it illegal for the politicians and police to sleep with the heat or A/C on. Bet that would get their attention. Better yet, let's turn off the heat or A/C in their nice officies!

 

Well if all of this is true then the work of several engineers that I know for the past 12 months was for nothing. How much money did cummins spend developing the APU system to run through the trucks emissions filtration unit just to have commifornia say no to it? I could tell you that if I had the money that they spent I would be set for life. Now I do know that we have a certain calibration for engines that commifornia says is OK for idleing. You of course need a sticker applyed to your vehicle to be "offical" and your engines data plaque needs to say california ok. The sticker says Clean Air Idle OK. But all of this comes back to the begining. The exhaust coming out of these engines are cleaner than the air in some of the large cities in commifornia. This sucks for all of you. I hope something is done to correct al of this.

 

If a cop woke me up for some stupid #### like that and wrote me a ticket I would toss it right back out the door slamming it and going back to bed. #### these super trooper's. All they are for is revenue. Money hungry greedy ########. Stick a note on the door stating, "If you wake me, I will step out and cap your ###!"

See he ask's these question's and I understand why. This day in age you guy's #### near have it better than we do. I don't see why people are so eager to come here because it's not anything like it used to be.

Me, I want out of this god forsaken #### hole of a country that is going completely to ####. The sad part about this is no matter where you go, the U.S government will still tax your ### and you still have to pay. You can't escape it so it's really pointless to leave. I'll have to find the artical on the IRS that I read several day's ago. I didn't know they could do that but apparently they can and do.

 

Sounds pretty drastic on your part Skunk_Truck --- how long have you been IN the Big truck truckin' industry now?

If the NO Idle citation is ignored and unpaid, that vehicle will NOT be allowed to be registered --- meaning it would be illegal to operate it on the highways.

Threatening to "cap" someone, might just bring a S.W.A.T. team to your 10-20, with weapons locked and loaded.
Oh, and you can expect the media to be there, too.
Better dress your best.