Overdrive

December 2017

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/911782

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 45 of 75

44 | Overdrive | December 2017 A SILVER LINING One of those sources, says Mooney, could well be local court systems' records of adjudicated citations, perhaps to con- tribute to the Unsafe Driving category in CSA post-adjudication. This could mean the driver and/or carrier will be held accountable in scoring for the infraction only if a conviction occurs. It's "something we're actively trying to troubleshoot and work on with the court systems," Mooney says, calling it a "long- term strategy with FMCSA and state partners. It's one thing to know the ticket is written, and quite another to know that it's been adjudicated." He believes including post-adjudica- tion citations in CSA would be a signif- icant "enhancement of the program – you're capturing more data in a category that's incredibly important. If you do it on the post-adjudication side," then the cumbersome DataQs process to deal with adjudicated citations in the CSA system is "irrelevant." Difficult though it may be to make the change, Mooney notes that it's human behavior, not mechanical fitness or driver credentials, that contributes most clearly to the cause and severity of most crashes. "The biggest thing we've seen a change in over the last few years is distracted driving as a result of the introduction of smartphones – it's clearly a health hazard for all of us," he says. With more enforcement of such moving violations committed by both truckers and the motoring public, "we hope we'll see the crash rates decline over time. But right now, they're increasing." MANY READERS FEEL LITTLE CHANGE IN CLEAN INSPECTIONS While more clean inspections overall may well be the reality for inspections recorded in the federal Motor Carrier Management and Information Sys- tem database, Overdrive's audience of mostly owner-operators is more skeptical. November poll results showed a majority of readers noting inspectors continue to get more and more "nit- picky" on violations at roadside. Among those who felt clean inspections were in fact more likely today than five years ago, meanwhile, nearly half either hadn't seen evidence of it or still felt there were plenty of jurisdictions remaining that didn't finish the job enough. It's true at least that more states are recording above-average violations per individual inspection than in previous years, though that is not exactly obvious when you consider the national average alone. Violations per inspection fell as a national average from 1.7 in 2015 to 1.5 in 2016, led in part by a boost in inspec- tions in sizable states where viola- tion-free inspections are most common (including inspection leaders Maryland and California, among others). As the average fell slightly, a larger number of states ranked above the average than in prior years. In 2016, there are 21 states with above-average violations-per-inspection rates, three more than the 18 shown in 2015, as illustrated in the bar chart. Do you feel clean inspections are more likely to be completed today versus five years ago? OverdriveOnline.com poll, 462 responses NO 63% No, inspectors have gotten more nitpicky on violations 53% No 10% I'm not sure 8% I've seen it in my operation 15% But some jurisdictions don't nish enough 10% But I haven't really seen evidence of it 4% YES 29% THE TOUGHEST STATES IN 2016 Wisconsin Connecticut Texas Arizona Massachusetts Virginia Idaho Iowa Arkansas Georgia Rhode Island New York South Carolina Vermont Minnesota Oklahoma New Jersey Michigan Florida Missouri Indiana Clean inspections worst states rank: 2 Clean inspections worst states rank: 3 Clean inspections worst states rank: 9 Clean inspections worst states rank: 14 Clean inspections worst states rank: 8 Clean inspections worst states rank: 15 Clean inspections worst states rank: 1 Clean inspections worst states rank: 5 Clean inspections worst states rank: 19 Clean inspections worst states rank: 16 Clean inspections worst states rank: 7 Clean inspections worst states rank: 21 Clean inspections worst states rank: 6 Clean inspections worst states rank: 11 Clean inspections worst states rank: 17 Clean inspections worst states rank: 13 Clean inspections worst states rank: 26 Clean inspections worst states rank: 4 Clean inspections worst states rank: 27 Clean inspections worst states rank: 24 Clean inspections worst states rank: 10 2.7 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.4 2.2 2.2 2 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.6 In violations per inspection, these states ranked above the national average of 1.5. Almost all the states are stingier than average in recorded violation-free inspections, ranking in the top half of the worst states for clean inspections.

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Overdrive - December 2017