Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/391783
I ndependent owner-operator Joe Bielucki is familiar with what it's like to encounter an offi cer with the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles' Commercial Vehicle Safety Division, the lead agency performing the state's truck inspections. Bielucki is based in the state, having carved a niche doing short open-deck hauls where few truckers from elsewhere in the nation want to go. Though Bielucki's last Level 1 inspec- tion in Connecticut was nearly four years ago, what the inspecting offi cer told him rings true with more recent trends. In terms of the individual inspection, Con- necticut leads the nation in two areas of Overdrive's analysis: total violations per inspection (high) and percentage of clean inspections (low). The latter is important because clean inspections help improve carrier scores under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program. "The young inspector told me that he always will fi nd something," says Bielucki, and that's exactly what he did: missing refl ectors on the back of the cab and under the trailer's taillights. 38 | Overdrive | October 2014 CSA's FALLOUT STANDOUT STATES Connecticut Finding fault This is the second installment in the Standout States series, in which we profile states that stand out for their enforcement intensity, violation- issuing propensity or other reasons. You can access interactive maps charting a raft of enforcement data via Overdrive's CSA's Data Trail main site: OverdriveOnline.com/csa. Last month's evaluation of Maryland and Pennsylvania showed states hard at work checking trucks and drivers. This month, we look at Connecticut, which might get the most bang for its inspection buck with the highest number of violations per inspection on average – and the lowest percentage of clean inspections. BY TODD DILLS