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palidian · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 14

While I have never been pulled in for inspection here there have been a few drivers at my terminal who have been pulled in. The latest incident, the driver was going threw the empty line, and was flagged in for inspection. During the inspection the driver was asked for the log book, and it was noted that the driver logged 15 minutes for pretrips. The inspector then said you log 15 minutes for pretrips, I want to see you do that, and got out a stopwatch and said you may not use a check list, and if you miss one thing or cannot do it in 15 minutes you'll get 7 tickets for false logs. Needless to say the driver did not pass, however the inspector said ill just give you a warning.

I have several issues with this, first I can do a pretrip every day with a check list, and preforming under pressure is unreasonable. DOT says 15 minutes is good for a pretrip and even if it went 20 minutes you may still log 15.

If I was there I would more then likely just say, wright me the tickets and we can go talk to a judge, about this. Can one be expected to preform under the additional stress? I can find where a DOT officer can ask you to do the 7 point break test, however preforming a full pretrip I cannot find.

I drive threw the Banning scales at least twice a week, and lately they have had there prepass turned off.

What do you all think about this?

doug33 · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 139

A lot of places are turning off the the pre-pass,it is a pain but I guess some staes just really need the money from poor truck drivers .

tfmotors · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 419 Location: Oregon

palidian wrote: While I have never been pulled in for inspection here there have been a few drivers at my terminal who have been pulled in. The latest incident, the driver was going threw the empty line, and was flagged in for inspection. During the inspection the driver was asked for the log book, and it was noted that the driver logged 15 minutes for pretrips. The inspector then said you log 15 minutes for pretrips, I want to see you do that, and got out a stopwatch and said you may not use a check list, and if you miss one thing or cannot do it in 15 minutes you'll get 7 tickets for false logs. Needless to say the driver did not pass, however the inspector said ill just give you a warning.

I have several issues with this, first I can do a pretrip every day with a check list, and preforming under pressure is unreasonable. DOT says 15 minutes is good for a pretrip and even if it went 20 minutes you may still log 15.

If I was there I would more then likely just say, wright me the tickets and we can go talk to a judge, about this. Can one be expected to preform under the additional stress? I can find where a DOT officer can ask you to do the 7 point break test, however preforming a full pretrip I cannot find.

I drive threw the Banning scales at least twice a week, and lately they have had there prepass turned off.

What do you all think about this?

Is this true or a CB story.... I do not buy it. I have been running California for the past 5 years. I have had Level 1,2, and 3 inspections at Dunsmuir, Wheeler Ridge, Fairfield, Banning and some rest areas. I have never been asked to do a pre-trip by a CHP inspector with or without a stopwatch. Whenever I have dealt w/CHP it has been very professional and polite.

I smell :dung:

allan5oh · Posted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: Banning Scale Shenanigans

tfmotors wrote: I smell :dung:

Horse or Bull?

doug33 · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 139

Does it matter,they both stink

BanditsCousin · Joined: 05 Jun 2004 Posts: 3221 Location: Chicago, IL

I could take 30 minutes on a pre-trip if I had to, and probably would to inconvenience the officer 8)

palidian · Joined: 12 Jun 2006 Posts: 14

BanditsCousin wrote: I could take 30 minutes on a pre-trip if I had to, and probably would to inconvenience the officer 8)

Yes however, the driver had been logging 15 min for pretrips, and if the driver cannot do it in that time, the inspector said he would issue false log tickets.

got mud? · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 243

palidian wrote: While I have never been pulled in for inspection here there have been a few drivers at my terminal who have been pulled in. The latest incident, the driver was going threw the empty line, and was flagged in for inspection. During the inspection the driver was asked for the log book, and it was noted that the driver logged 15 minutes for pretrips. The inspector then said you log 15 minutes for pretrips, I want to see you do that, and got out a stopwatch and said you may not use a check list, and if you miss one thing or cannot do it in 15 minutes you'll get 7 tickets for false logs. Needless to say the driver did not pass, however the inspector said ill just give you a warning.

I have several issues with this, first I can do a pretrip every day with a check list, and preforming under pressure is unreasonable. DOT says 15 minutes is good for a pretrip and even if it went 20 minutes you may still log 15.

If I was there I would more then likely just say, wright me the tickets and we can go talk to a judge, about this. Can one be expected to preform under the additional stress? I can find where a DOT officer can ask you to do the 7 point break test, however preforming a full pretrip I cannot find.

I drive threw the Banning scales at least twice a week, and lately they have had there prepass turned off.

What do you all think about this?

good thing the CHP didnt have fuel pumps to time his fueling! I also smell :dung: of the bull kind

Uturn2001 · Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 12:21 am Post subject:

The tickets would not hold up in court. All the regs say about "pretrip" inspections is that the driver is required to ensure the vehicle is in safe operating condition before starting the trip for the day.

aztrucker · Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 52 Location: mesa, arizona

S really getting deep in here.....Better turn your cb off for a while dude..

Fredog · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Posts: 2153 Location: North Georgia

aztrucker wrote: S really getting deep in here.....Better turn your cb off for a while dude..

it's okay, I saw the mother ship come and pick up this d.o.t. guy, he wont be bothering anymore earthlings. funny thing is, the leader made him do a pretrip on the saucer without using a checksheet.

Useless · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 3140 Location: Canyon Lake, Tx.

I would be able to "go through the motions" of a pre-trip in 15 mins., as long as nothing needed to be corrected.

In reality, I could not do a thorough pre-trip in that amount of time, though. Do bear in mind that when it came to checking tire pressure, I was never contented to use a thumper; I always used a pressure guage.

Splitter · Joined: 20 Feb 2006 Posts: 250 Location: Lynnwood, WA.

I fail to see how that DOT inspector could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the driver didn't perform a satisfactory p/t. Or, that the truck was not in a safe operating condition from 7 previous days.
All my dealings with DOT, have been very polite, and courteous.

Useless · Joined: 08 Oct 2005 Posts: 3140 Location: Canyon Lake, Tx.

Splitter wrote: All my dealings with DOT, have been very polite, and courteous. Agree 100%!!

In any event, I always logged a 30min. pre-trip, and with very few exceptions, I would fuel up either before I began driving, or before I shut down.

I never had any trouble with DOT either. My experience was that the DOT guys met you with whatever attitude you brought to them!!

drippy · Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 16

It seems to me...and I am relatively new to this...that your presentation at the scales...e.g. clean dash, seat belt on, passenger window down to hear...etc...bears a bit as to how the scalemasters treat you. If you look as if you know what you're doing, and present the profession well, chances are you will not be accosted.

However...there are those scales that do not abide by rationalism. It's all HOLLYWOOD....ya got to make them believe....

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