should i find a new job?

take some pics of the trucks if you can, I wouldnt mind seeing them too if they are in such horrible condition.

 

I would make a paper trail keep all documents copies and not drive then when you get fired you can get whistle blower protection and get paid safety first my friend protect big oil don't care natural gas es same some frac cries need a wake up call b 4 people die

 

You asking me? I got fired as you know.It was a wrongful termination.I sued the company.My lawyers and I received a nice settlement.They settled out of court because they didn't want the fear of losing the company.But they changed names and DOT number.Company tried numourous times to get the case dropped on grounds I didn't have enough evidence.But the dept of transportation in Washington DC and the judge in the case felt differently denied his request every time.A week before I was to go to trial is when the boss settled out of court.He was suppose to give a summary of what happened and on the judges desk no lter then a certain date and time company failed to do so.It was a long 2 yr battle but I wasn't about to cave.Im stuboorn that way.

 

Its really not that difficult going after an unsafe company.All you have to do is call the state DOT,explain everything to him and ask him to inspect the company.Also give him the DOT number of your company so they can look up their safety rating.Thats what I did first before pursuing legal action.I did that while still employed with this company and park at a receiver waiting to get unloaded.

 

no one has mentioned a very important factor in all this.

if you have a wreck and kill someone ,YOU GO TO PRISON!!!!

involuntary man slaughter.

it will be your fault for driving unsafe equipment, no amount of explanation of ,"well I wrote it up" will work.

YOU WILL GO TO JAIL.

seen it happen with just a log book violation.

imagine how fast the trial will be if you had bad brakes?

 

Yep your problems quickly turn from whether to drive the truck to should I pick up that bar of soap with Bubba eyeballing me!

 

Actually, if you read my post (Post #11) I did talk about going to prison, tho I used the slang words "the big house".
Post 11 excerpt: "I'd rather sit home looking for some other employment than be sitting in the big house for no telling how many years, because I ended up killing a family of four that were innocently rolling down the road."

But it's good you also state & reinforce that point, as it easily could be the most likely & "life changing" result in a fatal accident, aside from the #1 result which would be having to live with yourself knowing you killed an innocent person(s) and put their surviving family thru endless grieving. Even if it didn't result in a fatality,, a negligent injury charge could also be quite devastating.

 

sorry read the thread earlier and then came back , forgot it was there.

that's the thing that has put me on the road to legal driving 15 yrs ago.

I just say no and the company can kiss my butt.

 

oney1,, sorry I came off as "pretty flustered" about your actions before.
The point here is... anytime you drive a truck with serious & significant DOT violations you're "signing with your approval" what can potentially be anything ranging from tickets & serious violations against your CDL all the way up to "signing" the paperwork for a possible prison sentence for vehicular manslaughter.

I can understand it's not easy being newer to trucking and dealing with the pressure of outfits that run shoddy unsafe neglected equipment.
In my early stages, I also drove trucks on occasion that had significant unsafe DOT violations. I would always write them up in my DVIR each day and "give" the company reasonable time to fix it, instead of just refusing to drive the truck. As it later turned out, you could give them a year and many things still wouldn't get fixed.
I almost learned the hard way, tho.

I had written up a truck with a defective pop-out valve assembly (red/yellow knob unit) and several bad auto-slack adjusters.
I tried to adjust the brakes as a temporary measure, but after a few stops, they wouldn't hold adjustment.
No need to get into the story, but suffice it to say I lost all brakes when I exited the highway and came upon stopped traffic in a curve.
That nearly cost me a bad wreck with likely serious injury or even a fatality. Seeing faces filled with horror from those in a car's back seat isn't easily forgotten.

From that day on, I have solidly refused to drive any truck with serious safety issues. Period!

What you also need to know is... how to determine what's defects are serious enough to refuse to drive, versus minor defects that may be a violation, but don't constitute a serious safety hazard. But nearly all of the ones you listed were very serious/significant and solid grounds for refusing to drive.
As others stated before, if they fire you for refusing to drive, you are protected by the STAA Act (Surface Transportation Assistance Act).

I suggest you read and get familiar with STAA and all DOT regulations.
It will help you to know at what point you have valid, solid grounds to take action.

Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA)
49 U.S.C. §31105