Fiery Truck Crash in Dallas
This happened last Thursday, April 8, 2010 in Dallas. The story and pictures are courtesy of WFAA.com, of Dallas. A tractor-trailer collided with a slow moving vehicle from the Toll Authority, and immediately caught fire. All drivers involved in the crash survived with minor injuries. In one of the videos, the truck on fire is identified as a tanker, which turned out not to be true. It was a van with 40,000 lbs. of frozen chicken.
There’s really no moral to this story, I just thought I’d post it because at the link, they have a traffic camera showing the accident as it happened, so you can get a good look at a big truck wreck as it happens.
More on Mandatory EOBRs
I know, I’m still wound up about this mandatory EOBR rule, which won’t be effective for another 2 years. Nevertheless, here is an article from a website called Purchasing.com.
In it, the OOIDA estimates the EOBRs will cost $2,000 annually. Annually? I’m not sure of that, I’m sure there will be some type of subscription fees per unit, but $2,000? Then further down the article, the transportation manager at True Value states installing and maintaining the EOBRs for his over 300 unit fleet cost, over 5 years, $1.5 million. So, that’s around $5,000 per truck, over 5 years. The True Value manager does say he thinks the investment is well worth it.
FMCSA Will Mandate EOBRs for Log Violators
The FMCSA issued a rulemaking last week which will force motor carriers accused of violating the hours of service regulations to install electronic on-board recorders (EOBR) in all of their trucks. Here is the Federal Register. It’s 46 pages long, so I’m not going to regurgitate it all here.
An EOBR is a computer-GPS type device which tracks where the driver and the truck are at. Basically, it takes the place of a logbook. It shows everywhere the driver has been, and the times he was at those locations. It is extremely difficult to falsify your hours of service, if an EOBR is recording where you are.
FMCSA’s regulations state that if a motor carrier is alleged to have 10% of more violations in a “critical” hours of service regulation, that motor carrier will be forced to install the EOBRs within 60 days. The motor carrier will be required to keep the EOBRs in the trucks for 2 years. These regulations will be effective on June 4, 2012.
This is a big deal. As far as the hours of service regulations go, I have always used the speed limit analogy. The limit might be 55 miles per hour, but no one actually drives 55, and it’s not enforced at 55. It’s enforced more like 10 miles over. It’s the same with the logbooks. If you do not have an EOBR, then your logs must match whatever timed documents you have, such as tolls, fuel statement, scale tickets. This enables drivers to cheat an hour or two here and there. Not so with an EOBR. Every last thing the driver does, is visible to DOT.
For the over-the-road, for-hire type carriers, if you don’t want to be forced to install black boxes in the trucks, and be forced to run strictly legal, then you cannot fail the hours of service part of a DOT audit. If you are forced to install the EOBRs, you’ll lose drivers, operational flexibility, and probably customers too, as your competitors won’t be subject to limitations of running strictly legal. Then there’s the cost of buying the equipment. These units are probably going to cost between $1,000 and $3,000 to install per unit. Then you have the cost to train the drivers, that’s another several thousands of dollars in lost time. Basically, if you have 10 trucks, you could be looking at $20,000 – 30,000 worth of equipment and training. If you don’t have the cash flow to make that kind of outlay, you’ll be done.
If you are not an over-the-road guy, say you’re a landscaper or construction outfit, this rule applies to you as well. Maybe your drivers only work 8 hours a day, but you’re sloppy on your paperwork, and they don’t fill out time records every day, like they should. If DOT finds more than 10% of your time records missing, you have to get the EOBRs. At least for the over-the-road drivers, the EOBRs do provide some benefit, such as tracking your vehicles, and eliminating that 5 minutes a day a driver fills out his logs, but if you’re a landscaper, you just bought a very expensive technology you don’t need.
The good news is this won’t happen for another 2 years, so I will revisit the topic before then. My recommendation is that you thoroughly audit your logs on a monthly basis…. or hire someone like me to do it for you. If you are getting audited, you’d better have me there, because if they write you up for log violations, you’d better get a loan to buy all the EOBRs the government demands you have.
CSA 2010 Implementation to be Delayed?
The CSA 2010 implementation will be delayed… probably until 2011 according to the American Trucking Association. The FMCSA denies this, and says everything is on schedule, and that an implementation schedule will be issued in a Federal Register in the coming weeks. Just so you know: that means the coming months.
What does it all mean? It means what I’ve been saying from the get-go…. CSA 2010 means CSA 2011 or 2012. One of the undeniable laws of government; they overpromise and underdeliver.
While we are on the subject, here are a few thoughts on CSA 2010. My customers have been ringing my phone off the hook on the subject, whereas I have not gotten that excited about the topic. First: it’s a new way of ranking the motor carriers, and will replace Safestat. It’s unknown if the ranking system will be dramatically different, my guess is in won’t be. In other words, if you’re at the top of the Safestat rankings, you’ll probably be at the top of the CSA 2010 rankings, too.
Second: CSA 2010 does not change the regulations. You still have to take a 10 hour break, you still need a medical, you still need to annually inspect your truck. Third: FMCSA intends to contact more carriers. They are going to use new methods such as conducting audits via the mail and phone, rather than making on-site visits. I suspect they may even send out civil fines based on roadside inspections. Fourth: Drivers are going to be ranked as well, counting up all of their roadside inspections, and/or moving violations that FMCSA has in their giant database. This information can be checked by prospective employers. Drivers who have poor scores will probably be locked out of the better paying jobs, as the more reputable carriers will not want to chance a driver with a poor history.
Finally, the FMCSA wants to eliminate the Satisfactory, Conditional, and Unsatisfactory rating system they have in place now, and replace it with the CSA 2010 scores. My opinion is this will never happen. Maybe this is what is being delayed. There are several legal issues the agency needs to solve before this happens, and I highly doubt they’ll be able to do it. The new ranking methodology, the background check website, and threatening letters in the mail…. all of that you might see by the end of the year.
I-80 Tolling Scheme Rejected!
Every now and then, something happens to slightly restore your faith in govenment. Yesterday, April 6, 2010, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) rejected Fast Eddie Rendell’s scheme to toll I-80 across Pennsylvania. The main reason was that Rendell was not going to use all the money (or probably even most of the money) to maintain I-80, he was instead going to funnel the taxes to mass transit in the cities, or God knows what else.
Here is an article from our local leftist paper, the Reading Eagle. It laments the loss of millions which the local bus authority would have gotten from the tolls. Actually, I’m not sure how you can “lose” something you never had to begin with, but there you go. Now, Rendell will have to go back to the Legislature for his tax increases. If he wants to raise my taxes so there can be cheap bus service in Philadelphia, then let him and the rest of the slimy Legislature vote for it in broad daylight, instead of trying to get the FHWA bureaucrats to approve it. Yea FHWA! (Never thought I’d say that).
