Just some of the stupid things I see

And the points that go along with it. This is where I have my problem with it. And I am talking about a blown, hole in the sidewall tire, not a low half flat tire.
Doing the right thing and getting to a safe place to change it and you'll still take it in the shorts.

 

That is the only points on me for a flat that was not all the way down in Hamilton, OH. It had a screw in the tire and I had not stopped since Chicago, so I had no clue it was low. The screw had not been in there long since air was still in the tire.

It happened in December 08. But I got the points. Hardly fair since the rest of the inspection was okay.

 

Isn't that what's commonly known as "flagging" it?

 

I thought this whole flagging load checks thing went away in 07.

 

No, it's still around. Mainly for hazmat, but refrigerated companies and flatbed companies may require those flags as well. CRE requires you to flag a Reefer Check "RC" every 4ish hours (for example). Mainy because the EOBR doesn't log line changes less than 5 minutes in duration, and it only takes a minute to check the trailer temp and alarm codes, which is why you can flag it on line 1.

 

Haven't you learned yet it's not about safety? It's about revenue and the public image that it's about safety.

 

Scalemaster beat me to it, but the FMCSA is vague on their definition of safe haven. If there's a truck parking area off the side of the highway, there's a safe haven. 9 times out of 10, a coop counts as a safe haven. Looking for a safe haven doesn't mean bypass the coop and parking area to locate your favorite truck stop. It means stop as soon as practical. This is why many truckers get violations for using extensions secluded to safe haven parking. If you ask the scalemaster if you can park at the coop to wait for repairs, they might forget about the tire. Be honest and up front. Telling them your situation is better than them finding out about it.

 

Well put.

I cannot speak for all scalemasters, but if a driver pops a tire right before the scale, pulls over in the scale lot before crossing the scale and comes in and tells me what happened and asks if he can wait there to get it fixed, no problem. I will not let him go down the road with a flat but I will not DOT his truck, write him tickets, or put points on his CSA score just for that tire. I will not penalize a guy who is trying to do the right thing for unforseen things that just happened.

Batman has it right, be honest and up front. That goes a long way around here.