Questions about inspections

Shaggy · Apr 8, 2009

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GasHauler · Apr 8, 2009

dieselbear said: ↑

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.!
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Thanks for your dedication and hard work. These are the type of people that have changed the drivers images for the general public. I don't care if he had the entire state to support because when he runs into me and they have to dip me into that tank to remove dead burnt skin your mind has nothing to focus on but pain. That is if I live.

I'm proud to say that since drivings tankers in NV I'v been stopped twice and asked if they could use the truck to train some new inspectors. I'd sit over on a bench and have my lunch and they'd always buy me a soda. I also know our company would sent a truck to them with our mechanic to set the truck up and he had a blast all day long. It's always better by far to be right than to cover something up.

So thanks THANKS to both our LEO's.

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Shaggy Road Train Member

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