Re: CTA - truck crash
- From: "~Tony~" <alprovaNS@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:48:05 -0500
richard <i.do.not@xxxxx> wrote in
news:9n96141leak30ee1gt4hph1dkeqduq7m3i@xxxxxxx:
The overall score won't put them out of business. It just means they
are more likely to be inspected.
Knowing how your mind works, and due to the way I presented the info,
I'll not beat you up over that comment. I'm fully aware that the ISS-D
number is the tool used to determine the need to scrutinize a truck and
it's driver by road level inspectors.
With 21 injuries and at least one death involved, I meant to infer that
the lawsuits will put them out of business....not the FMCSA.
The FMCSA has only revoked operating authority in a handful of cases for
safety issues throughout the history of their reign over the industry,
which is a travesty in my opinion.
If the FMCSA would put more companies out of business, when they
obviously are not honoring the rules and regulations, accidents like
this might not ever happen.
Whatever the case, this company, it's officals, and all of it's drivers
are in for a treat. The Feds are going to crawl up their asses with a
ten foot microscope, and heads will roll.
The driver in this accident has most certainly been cut loose and is now
on his own to defend himself to charges that most certainly will be
forthcoming, the denials are being planned in advance by company
officials, who will claim no knowledge of any rules violations that will
be likely found.
WARNING!!! - It's sermon time...
I've wrangled with people over the years, who laugh at me when I tell
them that all it takes to go from being a cowboy trucker, high on the
hog with all the extra money they make to pay for the luxuries of life
while thumbing their noses at those rules, to that of a jobless trucker
with a miserable future consisting of years of fighting to overcome a
penniless existence, is one stupid mistake.
One hour. The FMCSA gives a driver one hour, on one side or the other on
every entry you make in a logbook, when verifed, in order for that entry
to be considered accurate. Any verified entry that steps so much as one
hour and one minute outside of that entry, and you are toast.
Try as one might, they cannot hide the tracks they leave in the course
of operating that truck. You can pay cash for all of your fuel, and a
field inspector can still trace the purchase to a specific time and
place. They can visit the shippers and consignees to retrieve the times
you were on premises at those locations. They can subpoenae land line
and cell phone records from both your personal and company phones to
match up locations, personal credit card statements, and practically
anything else that will prove you were not where your logbook states you
were.
How many drivers throw away their toll receipts, thinking that by doing
this, they are safe if they cannot log the times they were on a toll
road? Most toll booth locations are equipped with cameras that record
all traffic over 24 hour periods, and these recordings are now kept on
file for months at a time. If you cross a major bridge in the United
States, ditto...because most of these have similar recording systems to
monitor traffic and any other unusual activity.
To those who think that the rules and regulations are nothing more than
a game, think again. It's a game you can lose without even moving your
game piece.
I've cited in the past that I know two people personally that lost
everything they owned, due to falsified logbook entries. One of those
was snug in his bed asleep in his own home, when a drunk slammed into
the rear of his truck, parked in his driveway. The DOT was called in
because the accident was fatal, and a commercial vehicle was involved.
His last logbook entry stated he was asleep in the sleeper berth some
500 miles away, with him not being able to resume driving until about
two hours after that drunk hit his truck. He was WAY ahead of the game
on that one. He lost his paid off home, which he had to sell for the
legal bills to defend himself against the lawsuit and to attempt to keep
himself out of prison.
The second driver I know simply dropped the miles and time it took to
deliver a load a hundred miles beyond the time and place when and where
he reached his 70 hour limit, but made the delivery anyway, even though
it could have been turned over to a local driver. He was attempting to
keep the revenue that it would cost to deliver it by the company. To
make a long story short, after his delivery, he rounded a right hand
curve in a very dark area of an industrial complex, where a passed out
or possibly already deceased man laid in the gutter of the road, totally
unknown to the driver, and the trailer flattened the man. A witness saw
it happen and got the name off the trailer. When he rolled into the
yard, the State Patrol and Carrier Enforcement Division cars followed
within seconds. This poor sap even lost his wife and kids, when she
moved them to another state because she couldn't take the pressure any
longer, after a year of legal battle.
Is a few extra dollars worth this kind of risk? I don't see how any
reasonable person could think so.
Now I don't know what happened in this case. Did the driver nod off? It
appears to be the case. Is it because he had been running to hard?
Maybe. But the one thing I know, is that by this time a few weeks from
now, the Illinois State Police will know what the skinny is regarding
this driver and his company. They will have verified every last entry
this man made in his logbook, and if so much as one of those entries is
off-mark by as much as one hour and one minute, this man will be facing
some serious prison time.
He got up that morning, presumably, without any thought that on this
day, his life would be changed forever. Nothing gave him any pause to
consider that he would be facing handcuffs around his wrists, and that
he would be paraded in front of the press. He had a job. He probably has
a family. He was just trying to make a living.
Today though, now all of that is in serious jeopardy. If he made one
false entry in his logbook on that day, of on any of the previous seven
days prior to the accident, it's more than certain that he's going to
lose his freedom for a substantial length of time before it is all over.
My prayer is that one person reads this, who has always looked at the
hours of service rules as a joke, who may for the first time in his or
her life, reconsider that view. It's not a game. It's not a joke. And it
certainly isn't funny. The rules are not perfect, but as frustrating as
it may be, if you honor them, no one can touch you. If you don't, the
touch can be worse than rape. It will be the equivilent of having a
telephone pole rammed in one end, and coming out the other.
It's not worth it. Don't play games out there on these roads. We have a
job to do, and an obligation to the public to be safe at all times. And
even if you are not concerned with others, think about yourself. Is YOUR
life worth it? Maybe you will nod off one day and just run off the road
into a tree and a branch will pierce your chest.
Will it have been worth it then? I sure hope not.
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
.
- References:
- CTA - truck crash
- From: Laurence Sheldon
- Re: CTA - truck crash
- From: Laurence Sheldon
- Re: CTA - truck crash
- From: ~Tony~
- Re: CTA - truck crash
- From: richard
- CTA - truck crash
- Prev by Date: Re: Missed 2 tornados today
- Next by Date: Re: For Truckers that use Verizon
- Previous by thread: Re: CTA - truck crash
- Next by thread: Re: CTA - truck crash
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
