State of New Jersey to Issue Traffic Texts
Posted on September 30, 2010
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The State of New Jersey will begin issuing “traffic prediction” texts to motorists on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway starting next year. The State is spending $650,000 to use advanced technology which will predict traffic bottlenecks and jams, which will then be emailed or texted to motorists, in effort to allow the motorists to avoid the backups. This technology is already in use in Singapore and Stockholm.
Well, two things. One, I thought texting was dangerous. I mean, how are you going to get this information to me where it’s useful? I’m in the car. So, I guess they’re going to text me…. POTENTIAL TRAFFIC JAM BETWEEN EXIT 15 AND 16. But I can’t read the text, because Ray LaHood tells me it’s dangerous. And then, two, I thought the State of New Jersey was bankrupt? Well, I guess they have money for this, though.
NYC To Spend $27.5 million Replacing Signs
Posted on September 30, 2010
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Apparently, New York City is being required by the Federal Highway Administration to replace its street signs. It seems the Federal regulations require the street signs to be in both Capital Letters and Small Letters. New York City’s signs are in all CAPITAL LETTERS. So, the Feds are going to force NYC to spend $27.5 million to replace the signs.
Insane. Absolutely insane. Hey, it’s not like the government’s a gabillion dollars in debt or anything. Or that we have 15-20% unemployment. By all means, let’s print another $27.5 million to replace perfectly good street signs. Well, I guess NYC has to cough up the money, but they don’t have it, so they’ll come right back to the Feds…. that is, you and me, to get it. Could I at least get some of the old signs I’m replacing??
Texting Ban Causes More Crashes?
Posted on September 29, 2010
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This just in from the Highway Loss Data Institute: the texting bans may be causing more crashes than it prevents. The HLDI compared insurance claims in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Washington before and after their text bans went into effect. According to the HLDI, in 3 of the states, the rate of collisions went up slightly.
The HLDI attributes this to people now hiding their texts while driving. Apparently, the preferred method of texting while driving is holding your phone at eye level. Since it’s now illegal to text and drive in these places, the HLDI surmises people are texting in their laps, thus taking their eyes off the road for an even longer time.
Is this true? Who the hell knows. As Mark Twain said, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Which means you can make statisitics read any way you want them to read. That being said, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it was true. The government is the king of unintended consequences. Maybe it means you can only regulate human behavior so far before people ignore the rules.
More CSA 2010 Thoughts
Posted on September 13, 2010
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Well, as we get closer to this thing, I learn more about it. I talked to two DOT people last week. One swears it’s going to revolutionize how the DOT does business. The other says its not much different from the system they’re using now. I sort of agree with the 2nd person. One thing I learned this past week is DOT is focusing even more intensely on the roadside inspections, including citations which were not Out of Service. This is a departure from the current system. For example, even if your logs at the office are in compliance, if you have a bunch of “log not current” cites on your roadside inspections, DOT is going to harass you.
It is important to take every DOT roadside inspection, and address every last citation on every one of them in writing. For example, your driver is written up for not wearing his seatbelt. Make a note that you made the driver watch a video on the importance of seatbelts. Or that you talked to the driver. Or that you pointed him to page 32 of your company manual which says seatbelts must be worn. Or that you fined him $50. Etc.
It might not be a bad idea to come up with a disciplinary policy geared specifically for roadside inspections. Maybe something like for every violation, you get a warning letter…. if you get too many, we suspend you, or fine you. If you pass a roadside inspection, we give you $25 or $50. More on this later….
Some More Thoughts About CSA 2010
Posted on August 27, 2010
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While I’m thinking of it, there are a few differences in the CSA 2010, and how DOT is going to do their business. For the uninitiated, DOT means the same as FMCSA, which is the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. They’re the group that regulates anyone who has a truck. They are the government, and they’re not there to help you. In fairness to the FMCSA, I do not believe their agents say that anymore.
Anyway, DOT is planning to conduct many more “interventions” (their word) under CSA 2010. Seriously, where do they come up with these words? If I had to guess, they probably had a meeting, which may have taken multiple days, and decided they need a new, non-threatening word for “audit”. Boom, we have “intervention”! After all an intervention is where your friends (like the DOT!) sit around in a circle and force you change your behavior. So, maybe they still are thinking they’re here to help you.
These interventions are mostly going to take the form of them sending you threatening letters, and then you will have to send them many pages of documentation, showing you are in compliance with the rules. Then they may go away. They might not. They might come out and do an audit, they might send another threatening letter, or they might actually just send you a fine. I doubt they’ll start fining motor carriers without doing an audit immediately. It will probably take them a year or so, until they feel comfortable with their system, but that’s definitely where they’re going with this.
There are still many unanswered questions about CSA 2010, so I wouldn’t get too worked up over it. DOT wants to expand their footprint, expand their outreach by fining more motor carriers, but the problem is, they don’t have the auditors to do it. Even if they do issue more penalties, even by mail, they don’t have the people to process them. I doubt they’ll be able to hire more people, because in November the $$$ spigot is going to be shut off. Ok, it won’t be shut off, I’m not dumb enough to think the GOP will actually bring back any sort of fiscal sanity to government. The $$$ spigot will be partially shut off, how’s that?
What Else is New?
Posted on August 24, 2010
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So what else is new? The DOT is getting closer to implementing their CSA 2010 system. I guess I should revamp the website, and start pushing CSA 2010 products like JJ Keller is… but I guess I don’t see it as a game changing development. The rules have not changed. CSA 2010 will not change the rules. Presently, DOT uses Safestat to rank the carriers. CSA 2010 will rank the carriers instead of Safestat. CSA 2010 will have a driver component to it. You will be able to see how many times a driver has been placed Out of Service prior to hiring him. This will have new information on it, but presently, you run MVRs on drivers which tells you how many times a driver has been in accidents, and been stopped for moving violations.
So, I guess I’m not seeing where it’s THAT different. I know, that makes me a heretic, go figure. Right now, you have a Safestat score. Shippers and insurance companies can see the Safestat score. They can choose to do business or not do business with you, based on the Safestat score. The CSA 2010 score is going to be just another score. If you have poor Safestat scores, and you have shippers, and you have an insurance company, you’re probably still going to have shippers and insurance under the new system. If you’re a driver who has some tickets or some Out of Services on his record… you’ll still be able to find a job. Especially when the economy takes off 4-5 years from now. Notice I said 4-5 years from now… if you think things are taking off sooner than that, you’re probably an a economist working for the Obama Administration.
The one thing that will change, and probably within months are the hours of service rules. The FMCSA held all of their listening sessions, pulled the rulemaking which had been written prior to the listening sessions out of the drawer, and sent it to the White House for approval. The only way it won’t be approved is if it’s not restrictive enough. Now we just wait to see how bad it’s going to be.
Writer’s Block
Posted on August 24, 2010
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Yeah, I know, I haven’t updated the website in a long time. Well, I’ve been busy, and I’ve had writer’s block. So rather than carefully think out a few posts, write and rewrite them until they’re right, I’m just going to type them out, and get this done.
So, what’s happened in the past month? Well, Brett Favre retired. In other news, Brett Favre played in the Vikings exhibition game this weekend. I saw the USA Today had an article out which stated government employees make twice what their private sector counterparts make. The Federal Government through the Office of Personnel Management quickly said this wasn’t true. I’m not sure why the OPM felt it necessary to tell me government workers don’t make outrageous salaries. Especially when they do. But hey, don’t take my word for it, the Federal GS scale is public information. According to the GS Table, a DOT auditor who lives in the Philadelphia area with 15 years experience makes around $90,000. That’s without benefits; from what I remember, the benefits on top of the salary are worth about another $20,000 – 30,000. You have health insurance, they match your retirement contribution into your 401(k) plan up to 5% of your salary, cheap life insurance, etc. Oh yeah, don’t forget the generous vacation and sick time you get.
By comparison, I have a friend, let’s call him Bob. Not his real name. Bob has a bachelor’s degree, Bob has been in sales for 20 years, when the large corporation he worked for laid him off. So Bob starts hunting. Luckily for Bob, he found a job as a human resources director for a large multi-national corporation involved in construction, right before the economy really tanked in 2008. Bob was making $45,000. Bob was in charge of several dozen truck drivers, as well as numerous other duties besides the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Reguations. While working there, Bob completed his masters degree in Business Administration. After 18 months with the large, construction related multi-national, Bob was released, as there was no work, so there was no money to pay Bob. Of course as Human Resources Manager, they made him fire all the drivers and office personnel, before laying him off, and closing the division.
Bob was unemployed for about 9 months, when he got another Human Resources job. This one pays $50,000. I did tell Bob to apply to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a job, which he did. He didn’t get the job.
Anyway, the point of this long story is not that government workers are lazy. Some are, but most of them do their jobs. The point is, when compared to what’s going on out in the private sector right now…. they are making wa-a-a-ay more than people in the private sector are making. It’s not debatable. It just is.
Driver in 2009 Oklahoma Wreck Likely to Plea Bargain
Posted on June 28, 2010
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This photo and article comes from the Tulsa World. Donald Creed, the 76 year old man who crashed into a line of stopped traffic on June 26, 2009 near Tulsa, OK, killing 10, is expected to take a plea bargain in his negligent homicide case. The driver has not said what happened. His only comment has been he doesn’t remember what happened.
Investigators have determined he was on-duty since 3am. The accident happened approximately 1pm. Creed’s cruise control was set at 71 MPH. The speed limit was 75 MPH. Also, Creed concluded a 22 minute cellphone call 8 minutes prior to the crash.
It is unknown exactly what happened, but witnesses have stated there were no brake lights, and the truck changed lanes without signaling right before impact. Did the driver fall asleep? Maybe, but if he did, he hasn’t admitted it yet.
Advocacy Groups Want an 8 hour rule
Posted on June 28, 2010
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In the ongoing war over the number of hours truck drivers can legally drive, the “safety advocacy” groups have filed their idea of what the rules should be. This article comes from the June 28 written issue of Transport Topics (which is written by the American Trucking Association). If you want to read the whole article, seek out the written June 28 Transport Topics.
Public Citizen, which apparently includes the Teamsters, wants to limit driving to 8 hours a day, no more than a 12 hour on-duty day, and then a mandatory 12 hour off-duty period in between on-duty shifts. Hey, why stop there? Let’s not let them driver at all. That will stop the accidents.
ATA criticized the proposal, stating it’s just a bargaining position, throwing out a ridiculous starting point, and then hoping for a compromise. They also stated an 8 hour rule will create MORE accidents and deaths, as in order to move the same amount of freight, the trucking companies will have to use more and more trucks, which will lead to more congestion and accidents.
I agree 100% with ATA on that one. I would think exposure causes more accidents than anything else. Why do most accidents happen with 15 miles of your home? Because that’s where you do most of your driving, of course. If we have to put on 50% more trucks, to move the same amount of freight, that’s going to jam the already crowded highways even more, and cause even more traffic jams and crashes.
The current rules, which have been in place for about 4-5 years, have been successful. There has not been a surge in truck deaths. In fact, crashes have declined. The “safety” groups tell me that’s because of the poor economy, and reduced truck miles. You want to see a poor economy? Put this idiocy in place.
FMCSA Allows Scanned Logs
Posted on June 11, 2010
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I think FMCSA is somewhat behind the curve on this one, but it is now officially issued guidance allowing a carrier to accept scanned logs, rather than the original paper copies. Here is a link to a Truckinginfo.com story. I know many carriers already do this, but I guess this makes it official. You never know when that DOT agent who prides himself on playing “gotcha” says, “where’s the original? Section 395.whatever says you have to have the original.” Good, one less thing to worry about.
