Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/221538
VOICES CHANNEL 19 Finding driver-manager common ground If drivers and fleet execs presented a truly united front on hours of service to Congress and regulators, would anything change for the better in terms of flexibility? Results of a recent survey of fleet managers conducted by the American Trucking Associations' research arm, the American Transportation Research Institute, show some similarities with Overdrive's reader polling. This list here shows Overdrive results from last year. The rankings in parentheses indicate where the issue appeared on ATRI's top 10. Issues with the strongest across-the-board concern might best be prioritized for advocacy efforts. The surveys show, for example, that both groups give top-five rankings for hours and electronic logging devices. Find more analysis via the Oct. 26 post on the Channel 19 blog. 1) Fuel costs (8) 2) Hours and EOBRs (1 for hours, 5 for EOBRs) 3) Detention time (1, if you roll this into the hours issue) 4) Freight rates (4, if "the economy" is considered as the same issue) 5) Equipment costs / emissions regs 6) Lack of influence in lawmaking 7) Distracted driving 8) Safety regs/CSA (2) 9) Parking (6) 10) Costs of health care/insurance More than a T-shirt In October, the folks behind the "My Crazy Life as a Truckers Wife" Facebook page retired this T-shirt design for good. Fans took advantage of a final sale to grab up the last of the inventory. You can tune into the page's blend of driver appreciation, family support and trucking advocacy via facebook.com/ TruckersWife4Life. Violation stacking occurs where officers write more than one violation for problems associated with a single root cause. IF 'STACKING' VIOLATIONS WRONG, WHY ARE INSPECTORS STILL AT IT? Lights often get the most attention when it comes to stacking violations. After I wrote about a case where a disconnected pigtail led to a multiple light violations on Sept. 24, readers reported numerous other instances relating to the ABS system, the air system and load securement. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has an ongoing effort with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance to reprogram software to prevent stacked violations from contributing to carriers' and drivers' Compliance, Safety, Accountability numbers – if not from being written in the first place. "So," asks Kurt Keilhofer, "if the federal guideline is to not stack these violations, why aren't the offending officers/inspectors being fined?" If you have an example of stacking, drop us a comment on the Oct. 24 post to Channel 19. Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. 6 | Overdrive | December 2013 Voices_1213.indd 6 11/26/13 9:17 PM