Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/580471
October 2015 | Overdrive | 31 spections of the more than 90,000 total conducted in 2014. Border enforcement makes up a significant piece of the pie, with about 23,000 inspections conducted there in 2014, or 25 percent of the total. That high well of activity could be a pri- mary reason Arizona also ranks No. 5 nationwide for violations issued per inspection. Along the border, driver and vehicle out-of-service rates are 16 percent and 14 percent, respectively – indicative of more serious (and numer- ous, says Preston) violations. As for types of violations, Arizona's program appears balanced, mostly in line with national averages for any maintenance or moving violations. Looking at violation categories' shares of total inspections, none rank above No. 18 nationally – but for hours of service. "We do put a particular focus on a driver's hours," says Preston, ranking that a high priority because of fatigue's role in crashes. "DUI is a big one for us, however many wheels a vehicle has. Seat belt, too, and unsafe driving, gen- erally. And because fatigue directly ties to hours of service, that's a huge focus." Inspectors are encouraged to put more scrutiny on the log book than the truck. If an inspector has to choose between getting the "creeper out to slide under the truck," Preston says, or "making sure we've got a driver that should still be driving, I'd rather focus on the latter." Preston cites crash data and the state's causation determinations show- ing that there has been no truck-relat- ed fatality since 2013 where the direct cause was equipment-related. In injury crashes, only 6 percent are equip- ment-caused. "That's why we focus where we do," he says. Preston believes that "Arizona is ground zero for 11-hour problems" when analyzing high-volume freight or- igins and destinations across the region. For certain drivers passing through the state to California and back on Interstate 10, "it's common to see guys who should have shut down at Blythe," Calif., near the state line, he says. "But Phoenix is just two hours more. They made it to California and came back, and now they can see the glow of Phoe- nix on the horizon." If that describes you, go on and shut it down, Preston says. If you don't, an Arizona DPS trooper is highly likely to do it for you. Hours violations as a percentage of all violations 9.5% 2011 2012 2013 2014 Arizona National average 9.3% 9.1% 5.3% 5.6% 5.6% 5.4% 8.9% Category Maintenance Lights Brakes Tires Moving violations Hours of service Percentage of all violations 67.8% 15.7% 18% 4.2% 2.8% 17% National rank of percentage 19 28 18 29 37 10 VIOLATIONS PER INSPECTION: 2.7 NATIONAL RANK: 5 VIOLATION PROFILE PERCENTAGE OF CLEAN INSPECTIONS: 38% NATIONAL AVERAGE: 40% Arizona is one among a select few states that are not shy about blemishing a trucker's record when inspectors see problems. Its national rank in violations per inspection, No. 5, corresponds with its rank in inspections per lane-mile con- ducted in 2014, where it's held steady for two years running. Prior, the 2013 CSA's Data Trail update based on 2011-12 data showed Arizona at No. 4 among states nationwide. Source: Unless otherwise noted, all numbers based on 2014 federal data analyzed by RigDig Business Intelligence (rigdig.com/bi). SOURCE for all data in this story: RigDig Business Intel- ligence (rigdig.com/bi, 866-237-7788) mined federal data from 2014, unless otherwise noted. No area of the country shows such a contiguous grouping of high- inspection-intensity states as the states lining the 2,000-mile U.S.- Mexico border. Border enforcement personnel conduct a large share of all inspections in these states. Extracting border inspections of the trucks and drivers of largely Mexican carriers involved in border trade, Arizona's inspection rate drops from 9 inspections per lane-mile to 6.7. Even without those border inspections, Arizona still would stack up strongly against other states, with a No. 8 national inspection-intensity ranking. INSPECTION'S HOT ZONE 1 California 11 inspections per lane-mile National rank: 2 2 Arizona 9 inspections per lane-mile National rank: 5 3 New Mexico 7 inspections per lane-mile National rank: 10 4 Texas 9 inspections per lane-mile National rank: 4 THE BORDER EFFECT 1 2 3 4