Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/846064
60 commercial carrier journal | july 2017 EQUIPMENT: BRAKE VIOLATIONS out of school," Frolick said. "Our driv- ers also go through two mandatory safety meetings a year." At Transpro, a driver's education and training is tested in unannounced safety blitz inspections in the yard. Coordination with dispatch also is important to prevent equipment in need of service from being sent with another load only because of its prox- imity to the customer. "It's one thing for the computer to tell us maintenance is due, but it's another thing for us to actually be able to get it into the shop," Frolick said. "Dispatch doesn't operate the same way maintenance does. ey may dispatch trucks and trailers closest to a load when the shop may be looking at them for maintenance." Incentivizing drivers When a driver performs poorly, fleets don't have an issue meting out punish- ment. But Frolick said it's just as criti- cal to offer rewards for drivers who consistently have clean inspections. "I think there's a disconnect in what [drivers] are trained to do and what they're motivated to do," he said. A clean Level II scale inspection is worth $25 for Transpro company drivers and $50 for owner-operators. A clean Level I inspection is worth double to each group. Offering financial buy-in to the drivers saves far more than it costs in the long run, Frolick said. A total of 62,796 inspections were conducted during the 2016 Road- check, of which 42,236 were Level I, the most comprehensive vehicle inspection level. Of vehicles placed OOS, brake adjustment and brake sys- tem violations combined to represent 45.7 percent of those OOS vehicle violations – about 4,111 trucks. While inspection bonuses are independent of the company's safety awards, Frolick said it stands to rea- son that drivers who routinely earn inspection bonuses are hitting their safety marks. "at could be $2,000 to $3,000 more a year," he said of the driver's earning poten- tial. "ere's no better feeling than being at that scale and knowing that you know everything about that truck." With fleets fighting over drivers, Frolick said adding incentives for clean inspections allows Transpro to further compensate its best perform- ers. When driver pay rises, turnover generally recedes. "Gone are the days of the dinosaur where you tell them to do it or else," he said. "We want our drivers to buy into it and show them why it is required, not just because it's the law. And they are rewarded handsomely for it, as it's part of their performance safety bonus. Training is where it's at, and we deliver that as well." is year, CVSA will conduct a single intensive brake-safety enforce- ment day on Sept. 7 following years of a full-week Brake Safety Week program. During last year's brake blitz, nearly 2,400 trucks were placed OOS for brake violations. CVSA inspectors checked 18,057 trucks during the week to identify out-of-adjustment brakes and other brake system violations. Inspectors looked over brake system components to identify loose or miss- ing parts, air or hydraulic fluid leaks, cracked, damaged or worn linings, pads, drums or rotors and other faulty brake system components. Anti-lock braking system malfunction indicator lamps also were checked. Of the trucks inspected during Brake Safety Week, 8.8 percent (1,481) of ABS-required air-braked trucks were found to have ABS violations, and 8.8 percent (1,436) of ABS-re- quired hydraulic-braked trucks were found with ABS violations. Fallon said ABS lights on the trailer oen are cracked, and shops some- times are quick to replace them with whatever lens that's lying around. "We see people replacing broken ABS lights with a plain amber light, and that's illegal," he said. "e lens has to be embossed and labeled as the ABS light." Inspectors look over brake system components to identify loose or missing parts, air or hydraulic fluid leaks and cracked, damaged or worn linings, pads, drums or rotors. PERMITTED NOT PERMITTED