Is it my imagination or does it seem like Minnesota has a high percentage of shady companies?

The English language requirement.

You kinda lost me here. If none of this bothers you then what are you arguing?

If that's all you want I agree with you.

 

Oh, yes you can.

Below is an email I sent to my training manager on Wednesday, July 29, 2015:

Funny story. Not much ha ha funny as it is "if you didn't laugh you'd cry" funny.

We stopped at the Goodyear TCC in Joplin MO this morning. After checking in I let Mohammed head to the restroom in the Flying J while we were waiting our turn. After I pulled the truck in, I headed to the T/S myself, where I met Mohammed coming out. I told him he could wait in the T/S lounge or the TCC lobby. When I got back the mechanics was almost done and Mohammed was no where to be found. Two texts and a phone call later I found him in the Speedco lobby. When I asked why he went there he responded with a shrug and said "is not same place?".

I tell this story because it's indicative of how the weeks gone. We cover something, he says no questions. Ten minutes later ask him about what you just covered and "I don't understand". This afternoon we defined the word 'empty'. It took 10 minutes. He is making progress; slow, torturous, progress.

His hard skills are okay so he should be able to pass the driving part of SQT. I doubt he will be able to plan a trip without major hand holding. Mohammed is also very good at getting me to say the correct answer for him.

If for some inexplicable reason we give him the keys to a truck his logs need to be checked often for accuracy and completion. I would be surprised if Mohammed does not get into trouble (preventable crash kind of trouble) blindly following the GPS or missing a turn because he did not or could not read the road sign.

I will be fair on my assessments but there is precious little I can formally grade him on in the pertinent areas of language and.communication other than in the remarks.
​

So how did Mohammed get a CDL?

The pre-trip test only requires basic rote memorization, not understanding. They're using the same truck they've been practicing on so it's "point and parrot". The Training Group was still using Centurys when I first got put into a Cascadia. It was always amusing to watch Trainees that tried to recite their way through the DD60 pretrip list on a DD15. I warned them it was a different engine, but they'd just go down the list without actually looking at the components. Very often Trainees would forget to turn on either the marker lights, the 4-ways, or the trailer hold switch that illuminated the brake lights. They'd get done with the pre-trip and say "we're good" and I'd respond "you missed something, take another look". And that's when we had a vehicle in good working order - one Trainee thumped a tire that was off the bead and kept moving. I can tell stories like that until Wisconsin runs out of cheese and beer - without including the guys lacking ELP.

The road test instructions are generally "at the stop light turn right" and "take the next on ramp and merge on". It's not hard for someone like Mohammed to fake their way through it - learn some basic phrasing and 'double check' by saying 'turn here, yes?'. He can't actually speak English, but he can fake it. Every CDL tester has 5-8 preset test routes, which usually have a good deal of overlap. Even reputable schools like FVTC run their students over the CDL test routes so the students are familiar with what they need to do. Then they come up to Orientation and fail the first road test because all the visual cues are different. Then you have the schools like HabHab, who only run their students down CDL test routes so the student has them memorized before the test.

Even without any malfeasance someone lacking ELP can pass a CDL test because the CDL test is too easy. There is no reason why anyone with a CDL should fail Schneider's ELP or road skills test, but they do. The fact that Schneider had to create a first day "rules of the road" test which is really an ELP test is ridiculous. The number of CDL holders that fail it is obscene. ELP should be addressed at the licensure stage, not by carriers. The knowledge tests need to be short answer, not multiple guess. A MUTT should be hooked up during the pre-trip test to see if the student is actually looking at lights. After completing the pre-trip the student should be instructed to put hands on three different components and recite what they're looking for. They should also have to look at a bank of 12 tires and identify any that are OOS. Earning a CDL should be a grueling endeavor that prepares the student to drive the truck.

If a road side inspection finds a driver fails ELP, then the driver needs to be OOS until they do a CDL retest. As it stands any carrier can reinstate a driver after an ELP OOS and there is no mechanism to punish the carrier until the driver causes an incident.

Moving on to companies.

I'd like the application to open an authority be more than a rubber stamp. The applicant and his address should be screened for previous authorities (same for the transfer of established authorities to different ownership). If any link is found then the old CSA score should be tied to the new authority. New entry audits should be done on site and be more than paper work compliance reviews. Equipment should be inspected, logs checked against BOLs and fuel receipts, and insurance companies need to inform FMCSA of appropriate coverage.

Power only shippers like Amazon and L/P outfits need to be held 100% liable for the actions of their carriers/contractors. Other shippers/brokers need to have liability exposure to the actions of their carriers. Parent companies need to be responsible for the actions of their subsidiaries.

Weigh Stations need to be open more on nights/weekends. States should be inspecting 10% of their commercial traffic. Any authority that goes more than 24 months since their last inspection should be directed to a weigh station for a mandatory inspection. Any sudden spike in CSA scores should trigger a 'soft review' by FMCSA to see if it's a "one dummy screwed a fire ant hole" or the beginnings of a pattern. If an authority is revoked FMCSA should seize the equipment and auction it off - the owner and the back get 0% of the sale.

Company leadership should be held criminally liable for their driver's actions if their driver is shown to unqualified.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Strictly enforce current regulation and allow liability to follow profit.

 

Can't do that. They can take property, but not without compensation, unless it was acquired illegally somehow.

Or how about just cancelling the CDL's of unqualified drivers?

Liability to follow culpability. We don't want it to become a crime to make a profit.

 

Years back there was a Swift terminal next to a Pilot that was across the hwy from my plant.
I went in for a quick cup of joe and was amazed at a trainer, at least he had a TRAINER vest on, and he was showing his charge how the multi page screen worked so he could purchase a drink.
Yeah..he was driving a rig.
Very humorous.

Same one where a driver( I presume ) had taken a sit down in a urinal.
Now granted it had partitions but in my 51 driving years I've never seen the breakdown of an entire industry as completely as this, especially last 15 yrs or so.
Blame who ya want or make excuses for who you want but I don't believe the industry is better off despite a "increased workforce"

 

I blame automatic transmissions. An Eaton Fuller was a pretty good filter.

 

And the want, not the need.

 

Seizing assets of an illicit operation is entirely legal, albeit highly problematic and often abused. The idea is to expose banks/lenders/lessors to the actions of those they underwrite.

The company can't cancel a driver's CDL, all they can do is not employ them. However it's more profitable to employ unqualified drivers (please see Mohammed from above) than it is to leave a truck without a driver. If the CEOs of the megas knew that they could be criminally charged with accessory before the fact for the actions of their drivers they would be much more discerning in their hiring practices.

Kimberly Clark contracts with Convoy to provide carriers. Most of those carriers are 1099 scam companies. Truck has an incident and the driver is hung out to dry while the carrier shifts their assets to new entities. Carrier/Driver get hit with a $2 million dollar verdict. Insurance pays out the max of $750,000, assuming the carrier/driver actually has valid insurance. Okay, it's not fair, but life isn't fair. But if the carrier why shouldn't Convoy be held joint and severally liable - particularly if the carrier didn't have valid insurance? Taking it a step further, if it can be shown that loads contracted through Convoy have a significantly higher incident rate than their contracts with JB Hunt and Schneider, why shouldn't KC be held liable for their choices?

It's not about making profitability criminal. It's punishing criminal actions to boost profits.

 

Shouldn't FMCSA show some concern when 20 or 30 companies have the same address when applying for authority?

 

They’re just learing how to investigate shady companies

 

Just a reminder - the whole point of CSA 2010 was to provide the tools to investigate chameleon carriers, carriers with the same address, and carriers that were repeat offenders.

The database search to find chameleon carriers has only been used once to check out chameleon bus carriers.

Getting rid of these shady businesses is only a click away, yet it never happens.