Not quite sure how accurate this is but you can't be too careful. Apparently, Thurs. is going to be the latex glove treatment from DOT in NY.Any commercial rig is prime meat.
OF COURSE i didnt read this until NOW!!! You aint kidding, along side the road for 2 hrs and a ticket for tie-rod out of spec!!! What the %^&* does that mean!
on the news that Conn is having a drive to - It is how the DOT celebrates Memorial Day - I am sure some of you remember the national drives they use to have- 2 violations for being on the road
They have the weigh stations open and everything down here. Caught a bit of it on the news myself and saw them working on the stations over last weekend. Good luck out there guys.
Come on, Seriously? They hit one of my trucks today, Luckily it was one of my good ones, you know they are really reaching when they have to nag you for something like this,....chafing...phhft..it barely scraped the dirt off.
From what I read in transport topics. From June 2-4 72 hours CVSA, Police Officers including 10,000 federal, state and local inspectors in three nations will take part in Roadchecks. In those 3 days there will be 1,000 check points and roving patrols. Included in the check was UCR compliance.
You guys just need more axles under your trucks. Our DOT doesnt really care for inspecting certain commonly used trailers in Michigan. Lets me honest, to check out a gravel train would take them hours. Most common trucks to get checked by the dot here are single, and tandem axle trucks, usually pulling a tag trailer, Tri axle lowboys, with a tri axle tractor, and then any "normal 18 wheeler." The two pictures I have here are pretty common trailers in Mi, and the DOT doesnt care to inspect them due to all the axles and work that goes with.
You guys must not have many curvy roads with all them tires. Theyd sure be scrubbing.
I flipped on my cb to find out about the inspection at the rest area and went way around it. JJ Keller sent me a email about this and my neighbor the dot cop also told me. digger
I was in New York on Wednesday 6-3 having delivered some electric- powered equipment to Mechanicville in a Hertz rental crew cab super-duty 450. Got stopped in Glen, NY and was informed that any truck over 10,000lb gvw for commercial use was subject to dot and was required to keep a log book, have a dot number on the side, fire extinguisher and safety triangles. I explained to the surprisingly pleasant ARMED female trooper that it was a rental and I did not know why those items were missing. The violations listed were record of duty, no dot numbers posted on doorand no safety devices on board . I don't know whether or not I got fined , guess I'll know when I sign and send in the forms. She also told me that there is a Nationwide push on and all commercial vehicles are fair game on all rules including hours of service . She cut me loose quickly and helped me out with log book pages to cover me at any other stops between there and Cincy . It's gonna get tougher out there.
This sure is one way of upping the funding across the US, I bet the fines are getting more expensive too. Good luck guys....
The feds and states did this last year just about this time. I got caught up in one myself but went thorough clean and got my sticker. Guy next to me got cited for a slightly low tire on his trailer. After that I pulled my signs and didn't stop at anymore checkpoints, and nearly every rest area and wide spot in the road in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York was a checkpoint. Lot's of long lines that week. There is probably a smidgen of safety involved in these stops and inspections, but I really think they are more for the stats that the enforcement agencies can wave at their legislators for more funding and jobs.
I've got nothing against the inspectors going after the slack operators who let their equipment get to the stage where they are really a road hazard but when it is revenue raising or whatever it is a case of harassment.
That means your tie rod end needs to be replaced, it has to much movement in the ball.
Tire Tread? We dont need to stinking tire tread. Our tires do take a beating. That flatbed picture has air raisable tags on it, so you can get a good number of those tires off the ground when you turn. The second dump trailer in our MI trains you see have a dolly, similar to what you see UPS and Yellow Freight run, except its a double axle dolly. You dont see much tire scrub out of them, unless you are backing them up and turning, because you lock the dolly. Most trailer tires here are caps, and they are run as long as they can be run. I caught a trailer at a local asphalt yard a few months ago in this picture. The trailer is in storage, but it is not all that uncommon to see a tire like this on the job sites. But where else can your trucks gross out up to 164,000 lbs. Common material weights is around 50 tons for an aluminum set up, and 45 tons for a steel set up
Turbo, I had the wrecking ball, compactor, forks and the 30" bucket in the back of the dump with the 430 on the trailer, Jim could not figure out were we were going because I told him we were going to the yard drop that stuff off, then go fix a septic field. Were are the pictures of your new baby? Ajax and I want to see who she looks like. digger
I'm totally convinced it's all about raising money.It seems everytime I'm stopped at a latex glove exam,a total junker will slow down by the DOT only to get waived on by because either there's no room left for another rig or the officers dont have the time to inspect everything.If I can see inoperative/broken lights,bald looking tires,being overweight,leaning on 1 side because of broken springs,or whatever,why can't the DOT????Seems to me if they really care about safety,they should give shorter inspections so that they could inspect more rigs---if the truck looks older,is filthy,looks uncared for--then just maybe that should raise a red flag to inspect more items.Then of course there's everything else on the road below 10,000GVW that goes under the radar---20 sheets of plywood on a car's roof held on by baling twine,100 bags of topsoil so heavy the front end pulls a wheelie on a small pothole,and so on that the DOT has no beef with.
Yup, i was pulled around back once when i was out west, asked the officer why and he said that he figured since it was a 2001 tractor and a 2000 trailer he would find something wrong. Pulled out of there with one pissed off DOT officer and a passed Level 2. Would have been a Level 1 but he didnt want to roll his creeper around on the gravle lot!!!
I got it too, overweight on my rear axles, and a box marker light out. It was pretty painless. $285 fine. Oh well...
Sorry to dig up an old post but i agree yet dis-agree with the 10k rule that DOT is pushing now. I understand that there are alot of guys out there flying under the radar with unsafe vehicles but then there is the guy like me who can get nailed just for being overweight. Technically if i were to register my 2500HD's properly it would be over 10k for the weight i haul during the winter. It is not uncommon for my trucks to gross 12.5-13klbs in the winter with the plow on and the sander loaded. Does this mean i have to now have DOT#s and be subjected to a DOT stop when i am taking my family on a trip. One of these trucks is also a passenger vehicle too so what are the laws with that? I have looked at the DOT website and alot of the info is conflicting. Does this mean i have to carry a log book? I do carry a log book for my milage in one truck as it is a tax write so i keep a record of personal and business milage but i dont bother for my other 2500HD. DOT has been cracking down on alot of the smaller trucks such as 1-ton dumps when coming out of the quarry but i tow a dump trailer so i have been left alone so far.
Everyone has to understand that on road tickets are real and in office tickets can be in the tens of thousands if your not in compliance. Help from compliance specialists like us can save anyone out there tons and tons of dollars in fines. We are on your side guys...
if we do use your service and still receive a fine Does this mean if we receive a ticket that you will pay the fine for us?
Good question Dualie.
How often does a failure cause a major accident on a large truck when compared to the number of accidents caused by 4-wheelers texting..... ratio isprobably 1-1,000,000 trucks to texting...way too may mouths looking for food and the trucks are easy targets.....ben hit twice by cell phones...in last two years
what is sad is they say safety is the reason but what it boils down to is MONEY or Revenue the gov gives the states so much money to do this and if they did not then the gov would come back and take money away from the state. I try to run as legal as I can if there is a permit to buy I buy it and yet I see guys that have no signs on doors , no dot#s and they seem to get away with it . Got a notice week before last that I am getting my new carrier audit in Nov so This is my 2nd one the first was for my apportationed tag mileages did good on that one. This other one will be ok just a pain to have to gather all the stuff up and waste a 1/2 a day to go to do it .
Road and Company Compliance Tickets We have tons of knowledge we can share to keep tickets to minimum or none at all. You realize we can train the most interested company and they can go back out of compliance the next day. Just fill out a Drivers Daily Vehicle inspection wrong and there you are. You can take off the next day with a trailer that has brake problems and get stopped and there you are. We train to be as compliant as possible, mostly with your regulated DOT files, make sure you have the DOT number on all regulated vehicles, off non-regulated vehicles, you have the right licenses for the unit you are driving, CDLs where the unit is over 26,000# GVWR. Drug and Alcohol testing where needed. Make sure all have medical cards. We can help to avoid as many tickets as possible with education and knowledge, getting no tickets is still the company's and driver's responsibility, not ours. We won't be paying any tickets because we are not part of each company to make sure that everyday, everything is 100% non-ticketable. You will receive tens of thousands of dollars in violation fines if your company's DOT Regulated files and paperwork are missing, not complete or completed incorrect. Compliance reviews next year will be going up five times to what they are doing this year, so road fines are just a drop in the bucket to the fines in a State or Federal Compliance Review. I hope all out there take the time to understand this, good luck guys.
You are right. it is the Money. Money in everyone else s pocket but the man doing the work. How far does your dollar go? How many does it feed. There are taxes, fees, permits, licenses, & fines. Then there are the ones that that try to get your money by telling you if you don't pay them then the fines are going to be in the bezilions. All of this and not a work about safety. Teach safety not how to avoid fines. If you know how to do things safely then most of the paperwork falls in place and the fines go away. And here we have a co. trying to teach you how to fill out your paper work for the money. and not teaching you anything about safety. More money in someone else s pocket. If it wasn't about the money then the government would make the paperwork understandable and easy to do. and we would not have business centered around threats of big fines to get you to use there services with no accountability. Accountability and the government you don't want me to go there. Sorry i got carried away, I think someone was trying to put there hand in my pocket and we all know how excited we can get when that happens. Dwan
Dwan: Buddy you are completely wrong about us here at Safety Management Systems. If you look at any one of my answers on WebAnswers we have completely answered the question specific to that person's needs, helping them to understand the FMCSR regulations here on WebAnswers.com and have not got into their pocket at all. You would not get up and go to work without compensation. I loose compensation every minute that I set here and try to give very professional answers to many out there in the DOT regulated industry that do not have a clue on what to do. It's not a matter of talking about safety but acting and doing every day what is the safeest way to do everything on the road to BE SAFE. Many companies can drive safely and still be way out of compliance when stopped and ticketed. License Expired, No Med-Card, Registration Expired. You need to think of be Safe and In Compliance to avoid all tickets. Why don't you ask me a specific DOT compliance question and I'll answer it to the best of my professional ability and completely and it won't cost you a dime, but quit bashing me because you think I want into your pocket.
Meanwhile, south of the border.... (NAFTA trucker)
No one has ever accused me of been right all the time. I did not have the attention of singling you or your co. out. It is just that when someone tells me that I am going to get a big fine unless I use there service it just gets me worked up. Especially if that service hints that I don't know what I am doing and only they can save me. I was raised to be independent and not rely on others. "If I want it done right do it myself." So far in my 60+ years that has paid off very well. Seems like when ever I have someone do something for me I always have to go back and correct it or clean up after them or finish there work. In this compliance thing. If I don't understand something I will search it out myself and get it correct. That way I get the right answer. As for me asking you a spicific question, if I ever have on I will know ware to come for an answer. Now for those that are driving with an out of date drivers lic. med card, or improper/missing DOT#s. Do they really need to have you tell them they are out of compliance? If so they should consider another line of work. because they are to dumb to be a professional driver. Please don't take this personal but I get fliers in the mail every week saying I need to take there course or have someone audit my books so I can avoid loosing everything I own to the government because I did not dot a "i" or cross a "t". and like you said even if I had class or audit I could still get a fine and I would still be the one responsible to pay it. If for some reason the government came into my office and wanted to fine me I would weigh the cost against retirement. With over 45 years on the road and never having a reportable accident I feel if DOD wanted me off the road because of a paperwork infraction then so be it. I would make way for a inexperienced operator. I do what I do because I enjoy it and when it becomes a burden I will quit and go fishing. Dwan
Please feel free to come ask me where to search for your answers and you can do it yourself. We just want to help companies know the regulations and get the correct answers to be compliant. I'm glad that you weren't picking on us in particular!
What all is involved in the safety audit? I am the only CDL driver for us right now, I have the med card, drug test card,the handbook, and all of the paperwork in a kit from foley services. I havent gotten all of the paperwork done because I havent taken the time to just sit down and do it. I need to get the daily inspection thing I guess, I am the driver and the mechanic so I need to have multiple copies of everything?? We are a small father/son company, and the fines you speak of would likely put us under so I guess I'd better buckle up and get this stuff done. To tell you the truth, its almost enough to make a guy want to go out and trade his big trucks for a couple little dink trucks and let someone else do the heavy hauling.
www.jjkeller.com has some publications available that should help you nedley05. Click on the "Resources" tab on the homepage. They used to have everything you need from driver's log books to Vehicle Inspection Reports but it appears everything is on CD now. Looks like the world of trucking has changed since I've been involved.
nedly05; You already have the same paperwork from Foley that you'd get from JJ Keller. First of all those companies are printing companies and wish you go back over and over for more paperwork as you bring on more drivers. So, Here's what you do. Take all the Foley forms that have carbon-less pages on the back of the white front pages, tear them off and throw them away, then go copy all the white pages and put the orginal white pages in a master forms file. Now you never have to buy them again. When we supply a company with the forms we also include all the accident folder materials, substance abuse policy and paperwork, driver's substance paperwork, time-reporting paperwork, a maintenance plan specific to your company, and all maintenance paperwork, along with folders all labeled for every part of all these different sections you have to account for. There is so much more to be compliant than just getting a driver's qualification file and blank paperwork and maybe a drug testing setup. Let's go back to the beginning though. If you are a driver for a DOT company other than your own then that company you drive for is responsible for all your files and regulated paperwork. If your an Owner/Operator then you are responsible for all regulated files and paperwork. You are not exempt from being fully qualified with a DQ file including the three years for prior history on drug/alcohol and accidents from your previous employers three prior to the date of application for your company. You can do this within your own company if you were in business for more than three years prior to becoming a DOT regulated company. A secret only us safety auditors and review officers kinda know about. If your an owner/operator, leased on to another carrier, that carrier is responsible for all files and paperwork for compliance. If you still do your own maintenance as a leased on owner/operator, you need to have a maintenance plan along with a maintenance file for all trucks and trailers with a maintenance log. If your subject to a CDL license your subject to 49CFR Part 382 and must have a pre-employment drug test BEFORE starting to drive and be put into a consortium pool for random drug and alcohol testing before the next test cycle is drawn. A DOT safety audit is a free training session from a state or federal official and will go over all you need to setup your files I just went over above. This free safety audit will only be for Interstate Carriers. NOT Intrastate Carriers. Far as I know no budgets have been set aside for helping Intrastate Companies with training knowledge for regulations or files set-up, yet they can receive the same violation fines and tickets that any Interstate carriers can. This is why I just couldn't walk away from the industry when I retired from the MI State Police. Sad but that's the way it is out there.
Thanks saftey mgmt, it was a whole lot more fun before I found out about all of this stuff, just something else to worry about! (alot of worry too!)
im thinking about going pure outlaw. F The DOT. I was born into outlaw trucking i might have to return to where i came. Theres no scale house i cant get round anyhow...
Atta Boy!!!!!:thumbsup
haha ok Josey Wales....you know carbs gonna get ya!!!