Arnold Safety Blog

By now, you may have heard about the fatal bus crash, which happened last Friday, August 8 just north of Dallas, TX on US 75. A bus, carrying a tour of Vietnamese Catholics heading for Missouri, blew a tire around 12:45am, careened off the road, onto its side, ultimately killing 17 of the passengers. [...]

Here’s a fatal crash that escaped my attention until now. This happened on April 11, 2003 in Glen Rock, PA, York County. That’s just down the road from me. A 21 year old driver of a 26,000 GVWR dump truck (non-CDL) lost his brakes on a steep hill, crashed into several cars [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

FMCSA has a whole set of ‘other’ regulations, which really have nothing at all to do with safety. These are holdovers from the defunct Interstate Commerce Commissioin (ICC), and they protect the public from unscrupulous moving companies. The fines attached with these regulations are outrageously high, done so intentionally by the Congress, as [...]

In summary, Swift Transportation Co., probably the largest truckload company in the country, was involved in a fatal accident in Kansas in 2004, where their driver ran a stop sign, hit another vehicle, killing the driver. The jury returned a $36.5 million judgement this week against Swift.
$36.5 million! Why so much? [...]

On July 24, 2007, a US Court of Appeals vacated the FMCSA’s 11 hour rule, and the 34 hour reset provision of the 70 hour rule. In the interim, the FMCSA has issued the following guidance on what to do now:
“We are analyzing the decision issued today to understand the court’s findings as well [...]

Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours of service rules, and imposed rules of their own. These changes, I believe, will become effective no sooner than September 14, 2007, but stay tuned, as that too may change.
Drivers may no longer drive 11 hours, they may now [...]

Source:  (New York Times) Inches Too Tall for Tunnel, Rig Plies It Anyway

Well, here’s a driver who really made a mess.
Not only did he take a 13′ 6″ trailer into the 13′ Lincoln Tunnel, he drove all the way through the tunnel, not stopping until he got to the NYC side.
Then he stopped, no [...]

As I have said time and time again, the primary reason you follow the safety regulations is to protect yourself from liability, as well as preventing accidents, and protecting your drivers and the motoring public.  Avoiding DOT fines is a secondary bonus to being in compliance with the rules.  Here is a story of a [...]