Questions about inspections

Safety ratings are treated different from ISS values. A current safety rating only means a compliance review was completed at the carrier's place of business within the last 30 months. A satisfactory rating means that the carrier was in compliance with all recordkeeping requirements. The review date factors in to the ISS-D as time passes. After 30 months it maxes out and drops off the Safer radar.

An ISS-D of 94 isn't necessarily a bad thing. Big carriers may have an artifically high value because they have a larger presence on the highways. A minor flaw in their management can have a major impact on highway safety, thus they need to be inspected more often. A smaller, well managed outfit with regional dedicated runs may not get inspected as often which would result in a higher ISS-D score.

If you want a good picture of how a carrier operates, take a close look at Driver and Vehicle SEA values. Compare the Out Of Service rates to the national average. Take a close look at a few individual inspections at SafeStat and check the reasons why they were put out of service. If you detect a pattern, they may be sluffing off on important maintenance items.

The ISS-D score is too general in scope. And it's only an inspection RECOMMENDATION. It doesn't mean conclusively that a carrier is unsafe. But it may be an indication of possible problems.

 

Well let me tell you the way I work it. I'm in a roving crew running up and down the highway looking for trash. Now I don't always find it so I start running DOT #'s randomly as I pull beside a truck. I've been working the same stretch for over 9 years. I can usually tell the trucks before I meet them from recognizing them. I work a major truck route on the east coast. Now I run a ISS query I look at the number rating. The higher the number, usually means one of two things. One, there is a history of violations, two, the company is a new enterant and have none or very few inspections in the SAFER database. I then eyeball the truck and the driver. I then usually stop them and do either a very thorough walk around. This includes going under trailer and checking air lines, brake shoes, brake chambers, leaf springs, anything I can visually see without checking brake measurements. I can eyeball pushrods while I am under there. If they look like they are out of adjustment a Level I will then be done. If not I finish the Level II. I check the log book against all information I have. I check the license in all 50 states to see if the driver is suspended by any State. Would be surprised how many guys are suspended by at least one State, which is OOS and in violation of 391.15a. If I have another inspector with me, anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. This depends if there are violations and how many violations I find. If it is a no violation inspection these are done very quickly. I have had a few exceed 1 hour and 1/2. But again these are a case by case basis. Even trucks with good SafeStat scores I have put OOS and found numerous violations. The ISS just helps pick out previous violators, but I take em all. It's like a box of chocolates. You just don't know until you bite into one.

 

DieselBear, I have a question for you. What would cause an officer to arrest (take to jail) a driver and tow his truck for a log book violation? I have a friend in ID that this just happened to. Driver says the officer searched the truck and found a receipt for a pack of cigarettes and said he didn't note the change of duty on his log. I've never heard of such a thing before.

As far as the ISS-D/SafeStat goes, our operation loves getting inspections! When you run your business correctly, the good ratings just follow. Keep 'em clean, in good repair and run compliant......not too hard to do.

 

Nothing I know of. Now I caution you, you need to get the entire story from your friend. Sometimes "Friends" like to leave out minor details like they had dope, were drinking, license was suspended etc. So without knowing the ins and outs of the case there is no way to truly respond. I've been a Trooper 13 years. I have taken complaints on other troops and local P.D.'s when I've been at the barrack window or answering the phone. Not all, but most stories that are like this one usualy have more information that is not being told.

As far as the second part of your post you are correct. I have guys that seek me out to have inspections done every few months. One fella gets a $50 bonus when he gets a clean inspection. And I can't find anything wrong with this cat. I've looked and looked.

 

Well yes and no. I stop a few that are true professionals. The majority of the driver's I stop are the ones you fellas and ladies see at the truckstops everyday. The old FREIGHTSHAKER that is held together with duct tape, fender is red, door is green, hood is white and the sleeper is blue. Driver's that may touch a log book every few days. Some that speak limited English. Some that have suspended licenses and driving privileges. Ones that have tires that look like the belong on Dale Jr's car rather than a big truck. For some reason I seem to find lots of junk. I would venture to say I have not stopped many that are on this forum. I have asked driver's I stop about this forum and 99.9 % tell me "Never heard of that." or "I don't look at the internet." My opinion is this, and it's really not worth much, that those that are on this forum are professionals. Guys and gals that are regularly on here care a great deal about their industry. Frankly I care about this industry as well. The way I approach what I do is, there are ones that do it the right way. These are the ones that stay on top of the equipment and honestly try to abide by the rules and regulations that are set forth. Then there are those that try and half-a_ _ it. They cut corners and try to get by doing and running their equipment into the ground and have the attitude no one can tell me nothing, I know it all already.

To give you some insight on the things I see daily. I had a guy yesterday morning at 3 a.m. driving at 48 mph all by his lonesome. I eyeball this old FLD Freightshaker and see it looks like a pile of junk. I stop it and the guys log hasn't been touched in 6 days. No IFTA on the truck. Driver had his privilege suspended for failing to pay fines. The truck had a "temporary registration". The temporary registration plate was a photocopy of a cardboard plate. Well when you flipped the photocopy of the supposed cardboard plate, I could see where the Sharpie marker bled through the copy that said it was valid until 4/30/09. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that they had a copy, covered the expiration date with a clear sheet of paper, copied it then took a Sharpie and wrote in whatever date they wanted. The "temporary registration card" was a photocopy that had whiteout all over it, the wrong VIN number, year of vehicle and wrong temp tag number as well. This fella was a one truck owner operator who told me the following: "I'm trying. I'm doing my best. Give me a break I trying to support my family." Oh, and I forgot there was no insurance on the rig either. In my opinion this fella doesn't need to own anything. If you are that bad off that you can't register the vehicle and obtain insurance, you don't deserve to be a O/O/ I also forgot that it had 7 bad tires on the combination. The steering axle tires were down to the steel belts. So if the fella couldn't pay for insurance and tags, how in the heck is he going to keep up on the equipment. He's not. eventually something bad will happen. This guy has a wreck and someone dies or seriously hurt them, then what. No insurance to pay for anything. He'll disappear and whomever he hits is stuck with the bill. It seems I find a few fellas like this gentleman every week. Guys that are flying by the seat of their pants and could care less about anyone else on the road. They care about only themselves and whatever they can get away with. It amazes me that they have the attitude that I should give them a warning for this type of behavior. In my opinion they made a concious decision to do what they did, it was premeditated and they decided to run the risk of trying to get away with it. After they are caught they aplogize and are remorseful. The only reason for this is they now know they are caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And when I find this, I sorry but I have a job to do and my job is to remove trash from the roadways before it kills or injures someone. I

I do see professionals as well. You can tell immediately who they are. You can also tell, well I should say I can tell immdiately when I'm dealing with B.S.er who thinks he's slick. But then again, I grew up around the industry with my old man and uncle who combined drove over 65 years. I saw their tricks of the trade and learned some from their friends as well. The thing driver's have to remember is if they are going to try a B.S. someone, they have to have more B.S. than the person they are attempting to B.S.!

 

I often have cab searches done on my truck when i cross the border. (5 to 10 minutes) I've also had level 1 inspections. Those have been around 45 minutes with another officer going through my logbooks and running every point through PC miler. I always pass with flying colors. I told my boss I refuse to ever drive junk. He also feels the same way. (doesn't want a bad image for his company). I can't emphasize this enough......Drivers should have a good mechanical aptitude to diagnose and identify problems with their truck. There are too many clueless people out there. I like that I can park my truck, throw the boss the keys and tell him what needs to be fixed before I drive it again. He likes it too. Fix the problems before they snowball into bigger problems or before the laundry list gets too big.