I saw it and was at first offended by it, then thought it might do some good.

A good public outcry may force the "establishment" to crack down and put "out of service" more and more cheaters.

I want this to happen because I am not a cheater and I do not like having to compete against anyone using an unfair/illegal advantage.

If these guys had to "buy" new tires and couldn't cheat their log books, they would have to either start charging more for their services or else close down. Regardless of which, it would translate into a pay raise for me.

Depending on how you extrapolate the statistics this is probably true.

The CHP/all states DOT, do not inspect every truck on the road. They inspect a very small percentage per capita "randomly" of which most are released with "no violations". They use targeted enforcement "red-lighting" suspicious back road trucks or trucks at the scales that are over weight or don't "look right" on the roll thru.

IMO, the targeted vehicles are where the majority of violations are found and this is what skews the "shut-down" statistic to 25% which in reality may be only 2% of the total truck population.

The larger the shortage of trucks the higher the rates will go as shippers are forced to compete with each other to have their freight moved.

Right now there are more trucks than freight, so rates stay low because there is always somebody willing to haul it cheap.

 

I think they should put the burden on the companies to make sure the drivers and their equipment are in compliance. If a driver falls asleep and is over hours and they have proof that the company pushed them then the company should be fined a HUGE amount. Same thing with equipment failure. They are letting the drivers take the fall when I think the company is the most responsible. It would take 10 $100,000 dollar fines for a company to say, holy crapola. The fine should be huge. If a company doesn't push the driver and keeps them in compliance then there isn't any problem.

There is really nothing they can do to prevent tired drivers. If I were to drive non stop I would fall asleep after maybe 8. Myself, I just can't do it and need to take a nap. If a drivers route was planned ahead of time that gave him the required amount of time to drive and rest it may help.

I really don't think there is anything they can do and in the end, the consumer will pay the price one way or another.

 

I 2nd that Steve!

 

Also keep in mind that a truck can be placed OOS from a chaffed air line, one light not working, missing mudflaps, etc...

I'll bet most trucks are "pulled in" due to an audible air leak.

 

I thought you could run a truck without mudflaps?

 

THIS is why I feel fortunate. Either through luck or circumstance or (possibly) my own skills and abilities I work for a company where

a) I don't run illegal
b) I make good money ('07 was slow though- $7K down over '06)
c) I have a good truck. In '06 I drove an '06, '07 an '07 and same for '08.

Our trailers are a little long in the tooth, and frankly some are crap. But I refuse to pull it if it's bad. This will change soon.

I'm not driving a truck because I have to. I drive a truck because I actually like it.

-j.

 

Now that is the reason why I want to drive a truck...Not for the money but because it's something I enjoy doing! 8)

 

I do enjoy trucking but rates are not were they can and should be. again the problem isn't just this guy hauling for a cheep company. He hauls for them probably becuse someone else does. Enough ppl do it and you have one of 2 choices. follow suit or leave the industry. I don't see you all leaving so does that make you the problem??? Probably not, until the situation gets really ugly and rates so cheep that it's not worth it, rates will stay cheep.

 

Nope, that's why Doghouse is stuck in Arizona right now.

 

Thank ya Steve for the info!