Overdrive

July 2018

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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Voices channel 19 4 | Overdrive | July 2018 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. Some fleets' policies around personal convey- ance use specify mileage or time limitations, with penalties for drivers who don't adhere. Those policies, FMCSA says, are not affected by recent guidance changes. Read more about personal conveyance and recent hours-violation numbers in the June 4 Channel 19 blog post. "There's a lot of tracking compa- nies who can tell you where the truck is," says Declan O'Mahoney, chief executive officer of the company that offers the Tracknstop device commercially in Europe. What Tracknstop, coming soon to the United States, can do that most can't is allow a remote operator to halt the vehicle when suspicious activity is suspected or detected. U.S.-based Magtec and a few other providers are exceptions. O'Mahoney pitches his device in the context of international terror- ists' willingness to use large vehicles as weapons, which has happened in devastating fashion in Europe in recent years with larger-class trucks and here in the United States with a lighter rental unit. Use of such technology is perhaps yet another way, he says, to provide security to control risk, something owners might pitch to customers to "differ- entiate from the competition and potentially reduce your insurance costs." It also could be a game-changer for cargo and tractor theft. It'd enable individual truck owners and fleets to hand law enforcement on a silver platter exactly what they need to pursue a theft, provided some- one's awake at the switch when the worst happens. Find a video and more in the June 11 post on Channel 19. PERSONAL CONVEYANCE TIPS AND 'TRUCK STOP LAWYERS' In the view of former owner-op- erator and compliance consultant Rich Wilson, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's recent guidance change around personal conveyance use really didn't change much at all. He does note the possible excep- tion of removing the requirement for the vehicle to be "unladen" to use personal conveyance. Oth- erwise, he says, it just provided more detailed examples to solve "a bunch of stupid arguments from truck stop lawyers" about what is and what isn't kosher use. Several scenarios were detailed explicitly for the first time in formal guidance. Significantly, those included movement from a shipper/receiver location to a parking spot as OK for PC. One that wasn't called out specifically was noted by hauler Jeff Clark: "How does this work if you stop at a truck stop while laden and there are no spots?" Given the agency didn't spell out this scenario, I'm inclined to agree with Michael Fitzsimmons when he suggested "FMCSA may be of the 'plan your trip better' thinking in this particular case." FMCSA's Joe DeLorenzo left the door open for interpretation of the guidance that could encompass parking-search situations beyond just movement from a shipper/ receiver. He's stressed the hope that inspectors will give drivers the benefit of the doubt in scenarios where there's clearly no pattern of violations. Hope, as anecdotal reports have shown, isn't exactly something to hang your hat on. Clark offered an instance at a truck stop where hope was a solid bet: "They aren't worried about the one-off [violation]. I had a DOT inspection a couple of years ago when I was on an ELD — emailed my logs to the officer. Went into the truck stop for a coffee exchange. "As I was entering the building, I remembered that I had a 14-hour violation the week before. Accident in a construction zone. Officer questioned me about it, and I told him what happened. He was fine with that and gave me a clean inspection." Clark also learned that the officer's response wasn't totally based on mercy. "We talked a bit afterward. He was an avid bicyclist, and I showed him the rack that I built. He then told me, 'About the accident. Just so you know, we can check that.' " GAME-CHANGER FOR CARGO THEFT? The Tracknstop electronic device is installed covertly and enables a truck to be brought to a halt remotely by slowly cutting the fuel supply in the event of a theft or suspect- ed malicious use. Max Heine

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