Truck Crash in Chinatown
This happened Monday, June 23, 2008 in the Chinatown section of Manhattan.
A dump truck coming down the off-ramp from the Manhattan Bridge lost control, and slammed into the back of a parked bus, which was loading passengers at the time. The truck driver said the brakes failed. One person was killed, and 3 injured.
The truck was operated by CPQ Freight Systems from South Kearny, NJ. A look at their Safestat records shows they have had 6 trucks placed Out of Service (OOS) for maintenance defects out of 12 checked in the past 30 months. That is a 50% OOS rate, which is pretty poor. In addition to the brakes failing, investigators observed that the truck may have been over-loaded.
That’s the thing about heavy truck brakes which are not properly adjusted. The truck may stop just fine while its empty. It may even stop while loaded. But you couple an overloaded truck, going too fast, with brakes in less-satisfactory condition…. well, it’s not going to stop. Not in time, anyway. It is important that motor carriers make sure the brakes on their trucks are adjusted on a regular basis. If the truck undergoes heavy loads, with lots of stop-start driving, that means once a week, or even more often. The fact is, trucks are required to be in proper working condition at all times, to prevent this type of wreck.
Good News! 2nd Amendment Lives!
Today, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the 2nd Amendment, and struck down the handgun ban in the District Columbia. For you wannabe lawyers, the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller is HERE.
Well, that’s kind of scary there are 4 Communist judges on the Supreme Court who can read a simple clause in the Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms, and think it means that I can’t own a gun for my own protection. If I can’t own a gun, then why is the 2nd Amendment there? Well 5-4, 9-0, whatever, it doesn’t matter, the good guys won.
If anyone is keeping score, the DC gun ban is 32 years old, and DC has some of the worst crime in the country. So clearly, the criminals have no problem owning guns…. they’re criminals!!! Violating the gun ban? Just add it to the laundry list of other laws they’re breaking. Well, finally some common-sense allowing the citizens to arm themselves, too. Maybe this will put the brakes on some of the gun-grabbing idiocy in this country. Gun laws do absolutely nothing to restrict crime. Nothing. The only thing they restrict is freedom. So score one for freedom today.
New Rulemaking on Drug and Alcohol Testing
The DOT has issued a rulemaking, which affects the way drug and alcohol testing is conducted. Go here to review the changes.
Most of it is inside baseball, which has no bearing on motor carriers or nearly all drivers. However, there is one significant change. Starting 8/25/08, all return-to-duty tests and follow-up tests must be done under direct observation. Return-to-duty tests, and follow-up tests must be done after a driver fails a drug test. If a driver has to do these tests, the collector will now stand in the bathroom with him, and watch him urinate. Directly.
Direct observation used to be required only if there had been evidence of an alterated sample, but this ups the ante. This confirms what I’ve thought about the SAP procedure and return to duty process for some time now. The process is less about education, and more about punishment. Basically, DOT is going to make it so painful for a driver if he flunks a drug test, that he’ll think twice about doing it again. Not totally unlike the DUI procedures in this country. Casual drug users may change their behavior, largely because the process to get back in the good graces of the government is such a giant pain in the rear.
DOT makes you take a number of weeks off while you go to treatment. They make you take numerous follow-up tests, all of which the driver is probably paying for. Now, they are going to humiliate and embarrass the driver, as well. Bottomline is, if you’re a CDL driver, just say no. Or DOT is going to make it hurt.
How Many Miles Can I Legally Log?
This is a popular question in safety classes. Drivers want to know how far they can show themselves driving on their logs, without it being questioned. The short answer is, you are supposed to log it as you drove it. In other words, if you left Carlisle, PA at 8:45am, and arrived in Columbus, OH at 3:00pm, then that’s what you put on your log. If you log it as you do it, you don’t have to worry about miles driven, etc.
However, to answer the question, the DOT will generally allow you to log 5 mph below the speed limits in whatever states you’ve driven in. For example, if you are driving in states where the limit is 65, you can have 60 x however many hours you’ve driven, without arousing too much suspicion. Many drivers try to cheat an extra hour here and there by driving 12 hours, but logging 10.5 or 11. This is common practice, but just remember, if you are involved in a big wreck, the police and the district attorney are going to go over your logs with a fine tooth comb.
Truck Hits House
This happened early in June, 2008. It’s really your run-of-the-mill accident, no injuries, but what I found interesting from the article is the box-van driver was 19. The Federal regulations require that vehicles with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of over 10,000 lbs. be at least 21. However, nearly all States allow drivers to drive commercial vehicles within their States at 18. I think I would be pretty cautious in putting an 18 or 19 year old in any type of truck, law or no law.
Americans Driving Less
US Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters reported that Americans are driving less in 2008 than in 2007. In fact, over the past 6 months, the amount of mileage has declined every month as compared to its 2007 counterpart. This just goes to show that the laws of supply and demand do work. Prices goes sky high, demand drops. I know I’m driving less. I have cut way back on my out-of-town travel, largely due to expense. I combine trips when running errands. I have the Fedex and UPS men come to me, rather than dropping off packages at the store. And, I have just replaced my faithful PT Cruiser (which sucks up more gas than you would think), with a nifty hybrid Prius. Well, almost replaced, as I’m on a 3 month waiting list, which should tell you something right there.
Gas prices will not continue skyward, I predict. I think a bunch of people on Wall Street are bidding up the price of oil, far beyond what it’s truly worth. Sooner or later, the bubble is going to burst just like it did in the early 80′s, or like it did for the dot-com stocks in the late 90′s. Prices may not go all the way back down to $2 a gallon, but I doubt we will see $6 gas any time soon. Then, what do I know?
Back to article, Secretary Peters is using the falling mileage to call for newer fees and taxes. Her reasoning is Americans are buying less gas, therefore, the government is getting less in taxes. Well, we can’t have that, can we? Seems everybody else is having to do more with less, the government should too. Of course government people don’t think that way……..
Crete Driver Gets 7 Years in Jail
Last week, a former driver for Crete Carrier Corp., of Crete, NE was sentenced to 7 years in jail for crashing his tractor-trailer into a car and school bus, killing 7. This wreck occurred on January 25, 2006.
This has been one of the worst truck wrecks in terms of casualties in the past few years. There has been much speculation and rumor about the cause of the crash. It appears somewhat settled now that the driver fell asleep, causing him to rear-end a car at highway speed loaded with children. The driver entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors. As part of that agreement, the driver described to them how he had been awake for 34 hours prior to the accident.
Prosecutors have stated that they are not finished with this case. The implication is that, with the help of the driver, they will attempt to bring actions against the motor carrier, Crete Carrier Corp. This probably won’t happen. Prosecutors always imply that justice will be served before the cameras, but then when their evidence doesn’t take them where they want to go, they quietly drop the case. That will probably happen in this case.
Nevertheless, this incident illustrates why the safety regulations exist. Every safety class I give, I go into my fatigue spiel, and I see eyes roll, and people tune out…. but I’m telling you, driving when you’re sleepy can be worse than driving drunk. You lose control of your truck at highway speeds, and you’ll be lucky to walk away. Of course, if you’re unlucky, and kill somebody else, like this poor guy in handcuffs, you’ll wish you were dead.
I don’t know this driver from Adam, but I would imagine he is just your normal, everyday, good guy truck driver, who used bad judgment, and paid the price. How many of you drivers reading this have done the same thing and gotten away with it? Learn from this guy’s misfortune!
Street Racer Gets Conditional Sentence After Killing Truck Driver
Here’s a story from Canada. In June, 2007, a truck driver was killed when 3 idiots drag racing on the highway ran him off the road. Yesterday, one of them was sentenced to two years house arrest, and a lifetime ban on driving. The story is below. Seems like truck drivers’ lives are pretty cheap nowadays, eh judge? Two year suspended sentence and a ‘ban’ on driving. Then, when they catch this guy driving on his revoked license, they can give him another suspended sentence.
If you want to read more about this sad story, go to Debbie Virgoe’s website.
TORONTO-Ontario “After 26 years of accident-free driving under his belt, David Virgoe suddenly found himself barreling towards several immobile cars on Highway 400 last June.
The vehicles belonged to three street racers who had lost control and crashed on the busy highway and Virgoe was forced to make a crucial decision. He could keep going and crash into them, risking their lives, or he could swerve his big rig off the road and put his own life in jeopardy.
He chose the latter and was killed after his truck overturned in a ditch. Virgoe was a father or three.
On Tuesday his family reacted with shock when a judge handed one of the men involved in the racing a slap on the wrist. Twenty-year-old Nauman Nusrat received a 2-year-conditional sentence to be served at home and a lifetime ban on driving.
Virgoe’s widowed wife Debbie stood outside the courthouse holding a photo of her deceased husband.
“He died protecting people…and today they didn’t protect us. They didn’t protect us from those people. Today they let those people back out on the highways.” “That’s what I have, that’s what I get to go home to at night-time,” she added, clutching the photo. “And he doesn’t talk back to me. I don’t have anybody to tell me where to go or what to do or how to look after things. I don’t have anybody to guide me anymore.”
Virgoe’s daugther Bobbi believes the sentence was an insult to her father’s life, and his last heroic act.
“I remember asking that my dad not be forgotten and today he was forgotten and he died for nothing,” she said before breaking down.
Preliminary hearings for the two other men accused of racing are expected to begin in June. ”
Trucking Company Owner Goes to Jail for Log Falsification
This press release was issued recently by the Department of Justice. It illustrates that the government does take criminal action occasionally for safety violations.
FRESNO, Calif.—United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced today that SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR, 42, of Madera, Calif., owner of Nijar Brothers Trucking and NB Trucking, Inc., was sentenced to one year in prison by United States District Judge Anthony Ishii for making false statements to a government agency. He pleaded guilty on September 22, 2006.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General.
According Assistant United States Attorneys Mark E. Cullers and Marlon Cobar, who prosecuted the case, NIJJAR and other employees of Nijar Brothers Trucking and NB Trucking falsified the Drivers Daily Logs of their truck drivers. These daily logs were supplied to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration, the federal agency authorized to ensure truck drivers do not exceed the daily maximum number of hours driving allowable. By falsifying the logs and allowing the falsification to take place, Judge Ishii found that NIJJAR “created a conscious risk of death or serious bodily injury” to drivers using the roads and put the safety of the public at risk. In addition to serving a year in federal prison, NIJJAR was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.
