CNN SLAMS US AGAIN !!!!
 

Did any of you see that CNN broadcast over there in the States about Truckers n todays Trucking Lifestyle ???? I cought it over here in Baghdad on CNN . They stated that we ""ALL"" run shody equipment n bald tires n cheat on the logbook ect ect ect . They had CHP state the fact that they shut down over 25% of the trucks they inspect !!! They filmed it in LA in the Long Beach area and has a mexican OO stateing that he did all of this because he could'nt afford anything for his truck or hisself ec ect ect.. They had filmed those port haulers going in n out of the Long Beach Port hauling containers n such not the rest of us that have a bussiness to run and try to do things in a professional manner. What a dirty slap in the face by CNN !!!!!

I did see that, and that was aimed at the port, and how rates were so low that these drivers have to take so called short-cuts to get by. wasn't aimed at all drivers in general

Re: CNN SLAMS US AGAIN !!!!
 

Don't put too much stock in what the Communist News Network reports...

Good news does not sell ad time or papers....

Well that was'nt the impression it left me with and I imagine the general public will tie all of us to that image that CNN portrayed us as !!!!???

The guy that they interviewed is what's wrong with our industry.

Working for a cheap company, and thinking that they have to cut corners to make money.

They also played it on NBC in Los Angeles. More reason to close the border.

It was a story about California Truckers, the Ports were included, the DOT Inspections in California was included, the lower income, hispanic trucking community was directly related to the person that was being interviewed...his face was not shown-his truck was? This is part of the Dirty Laundry that most news outfits target in order to bring controversial subjects into a spotlight...it's just more sensationalism....Trucking is a misunderstood industry....and will continue to be just that..,,we know this from being musicians until 3 years ago, now we have better understanding of what is really happening in this industry and we are still considering ourselves rookies......We do see that Truckers & Trucking are usually guilty until proven innocent & we usually do not get the benefit of the doubt.....in most cases wrongly misunderstood and not appreciated in general...

I saw it as well. They seem to find the dumbest mother f'rs to do these things. I saw a clip about trucks stuck on the grapevine closure due to snow and they find this moron who didnt know anything other than he was stuck. They asked him if he was loseing money by sitting and he said "I don no maybe something" This my friends is our competition.

and people wonder why freight rates suck.

Re: CNN SLAMS US AGAIN !!!!
 

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!

Sorry, that was not true. If you were following Doghouse you would see the humor in what I said.

I have no idea if mudflaps are required.

Last time I checked I don't think they were required at all. Oh yeah I got it now, blonde moment and I'm not even blonde! :lol:

This an excellent point.

Every legislator that voted to de-regulate the trucking industry should be made to watch this. This is what you get when you elect neo-conservative, free market advocating politicians.

BLONDE MOMENT ?????

From what I remember if you were bobtailing you had to have them on the back of the tractor but if you had a trailer on you did'nt. But the rear of the trailer had to allways have them and they had to be 4in or less from the ground !!! Even a BLONDE could figure that 1 out !!!!!

I meant on the tractor

A tractor is only required to have mudflaps when it is NOT pulling a trailer. If you are "bobtailing"...you are required to have mudflaps. Trailers must always have mudflaps.

All that is right as far as i know. pretty much it means that the tires that are the farthest back need flappers. Tractor if bob tailin'. Trailer if attached.