Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/573961
56 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2015 COVER STORY: DECREASING INSPECTIONS to brake adjustment, but we're seeing a shift toward brake-system-component- type violations," partly due to self-ad- justing slack adjusters, Keppler says. With disc brakes, there's a longer- term issue. "Most of the components are encased, and some suppliers say you don't have to maintain them," Keppler says. "There are some fleets that will do a good job and some that won't. PBBTs offer another way to look at those brak- ing systems." ILLINOIS REVS UP ENFORCEMENT Brakes also rank high, No. 2, in another top-10 inspection-intensity state's viola- tion priorities. Significant in Illinois' case, however, is what the violation cat- egory's tied with in the state's rankings: speeding. Illinois offers a counterpoint to Georgia's falling inspection numbers. Between 2012 and 2014, Illinois shifted priorites, pouring resources into truck enforcement. It nearly doubled its num- ber of inspections to replace Nevada in the top 10 (measured per lane-mile), jumping 15 places to No. 7. Rob Dykes, posting on Overdrive's Facebook page, pointed to observed increased activity the past year at the improved scale facility eastbound and westbound on I-280 in Moline. "They seem to be open 24/7 with the PrePass turned off," he wrote. "You have to parade through just to get sent to the bypass lane." Illinois' fixed-location inspections were up by a small margin last year, according to the data. However, the vast majority of its increase is attributable to roadside enforcement. The number of such inspections grew by 60 percent from 2013 to 2014. Hours of service, speeding and improper lane changes all appear in the state's top six violation categories, in addition to equipment/ SOURCE: Unless otherwise noted, the source of all data in this report is RigDig Business Intelligence (rigdig.com/bi, 866-237-7788) data from calendar year 2014. This list excludes Alaska, Hawaii and the District of Columbia. More than 60 percent of inspections conducted at roadside. More than 60 percent of inspections conducted at a fixed location. INSPECTIONS PER LANEMILE Numbers indicate inspections per lane-mile. 1.2- 16.6 Indicates number of places the state moved up or down in the intensity rankings compared to Overdrive's 2014 analysis. Should carriers' CSA SMS scores/rankings be removed from public view? OverdriveOnline.com poll Yes, along with all inspection, violation, not-at-fault crash data 43% Yes, along with any data not proven to correlate to crash risk 35% No 16% Yes, but keep all associated data accessible 4% I don't know 2% Todd Dills Georgia DPS has put 150 of these TruCam Lidar radar guns into service, useful for more than measuring speed. With photo, video and GPS capabilities to document and provide solid evidence, ocers say they're a boon to making the notorious "following too close" charge stick in court. MOST INTENSE ENFORCEMENT Maryland 16.6 1 California 11.2 1 Pennsylvania 10.4 Texas 9.4 Arizona 8.9 1 Missouri 8.3 15 Illinois 6.8 Georgia 6.8 Indiana 6.5 4 New Mexico 6.5 LEAST INTENSE ENFORCEMENT 1.2 Vermont 1.6 North Dakota 1 1.7 New Hampshire 1 2 Nebraska 2 2.2 Wyoming 3 2.3 Maine 1 2.3 West Virginia 7 2.3 Oklahoma 4 2.3 Louisiana 1 2.4 South Dakota 3