Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/611028
42 | Overdrive | December 2015 W ith the CSA's Data Trail update in the June issue of Overdrive, Illinois stood as a marked counterpoint to the downward inspec- tion numbers trend. The entirety of the 950-plus-trooper state police force, as notes Master Sgt. Todd Armstrong, had been marshaled to actively pursue inspections follow- ing a spate of truck-involved accidents showing some truck driver fault. Over two years, three such accidents resulted in the deaths of two state police offi cers and critical injuries to one. Putting that statewide force into motion in truck enforcement didn't present much diffi culty, Armstrong says, given "all of our troopers come out of the academy Level 3-certifi ed." While full truck-and-driver Level 1 inspections remained steady over the same time period compared to 2012 (before Illinois' inspection and violation numbers started to rise), 2014's Level 3 (driver only) inspection totals tripled. Based on 2014 data, Illinois made its debut in Overdrive's top 10 most CSA's DATA TRAIL STANDOUT STATES Illinois After a focus on moving violations led to a dramatic climb up Overdrive's state inspection- intensity rankings in 2014, the Illinois State Police show signs of backing off. BY TODD DILLS Roadside heat waning If you're armed with a court adjudication of a citation that also was marked as a vio- lation on an Illinois inspection report, and if the charge was pled down or dismissed, you should have little trouble getting that violation removed from or discounted in your CSA Safety Measurement System record. That's done by using the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's DataQs system (dataqs.fmcsa.dot.gov). Processing such requests has been pretty straightforward in Illinois, says Todd Armstrong of the State Police. "I know some other states are having some issues," he says. The state's Department of Transportation takes the lead on all challenges by motor carriers and drivers. If IDOT and the state police do have a problem, it's with the vol- ume of what he sees as totally unsupported violation challenges. "What we're seeing companies do is say, 'Please remove this violation. It will impact my CSA score,' " without providing any documentation to justify its removal, Armstrong says. Such practices "clog up the system for DataQs," he says. "Our partners at IDOT have to respond to them." Appeals must have photos or other evi- dence to prove their point. "It's like you're going to a court of law," Armstrong says. CLEANING YOUR RECORD IN ILLINOIS inspection totals tripled. Illinois made its debut 's top 10 most 's state inspection- CLEANING YOUR RECORD IN ILLINOIS