More HOS Drama
Dear Deb: I’m writing to you about your editorial (March 2005) regarding The Massive, Overdone, Worthless and Frustrating HOS problem with FMCSA.
I’ve been doing this job for about 20 plus years and the most memorable time (and safest) was the ’80s when I used three different logbooks at once. If you could picture the one logbook with 70 hours, the second logbook probably had no more then 12 hours available, and well, the third logbook was so “hot” I had to throw it out the window and call the fire department to put it out.
I’m currently an o/o with one of the biggest publicly owned companies in the U.S. Most of the time I’m training future upcoming drivers, but when I’m not running teams, I now find myself with more rest than I can imagine. I used to joke with my wife about how I couldn’t wait to go back to work so I could rest.
It’s a fact for me, that when I’m home – I work! And when I go back out to the open road I really do get my rest! The new hours of service system is working just fine.
Please ask these nimrods to leave well enough alone. I don’t know all the statistics, compared to the old HOS, but how can you compare when we have not even been using it long enough to compare? I get more rest now, and I’m making plenty of money, and see no shortage of freight. I’m not pressured to do anything that’s not safe, and I don’t see how anyone would want to operate a business in that fashion anyway.
Bottom line is, this is the best and safest that its been in years!
James Garfield
o/o w/Swift Transportation
Tire Pressure Monitors
Dear Evan: First, I would like to commend you on an informative article (Tire Talk, May ’05). It was extremely well written with attention toward what we as fleets need – complete tire monitoring not just trailers or duals. Our steer axle tires are the most critical to driver, vehicle and community safety.
The reason for this note: Within the article, Evan made the following statement, which I must challenge as an industry leader responsible for safety and D.O.T. compliance: “And if you're running single-wide tires, it’s even more important to make sure they are running at the proper pressure, because you can’t limp along on a flat like you can with duals.”
This is a clear violation of DOT regulations. It states in 393.75 Sub-part G (Out of Service Criteria) you may not have a flat tire, audible leak, tires at or below 4/32-inches on the steer axle, 2/32-inches or less on non steer axles, etc.
In addition to this, any tire run under-inflated dramatically affects the tire next to it, depending on time, actual pressure loss and load/speed. The correct procedure with duals when one tire is flat is to remove both tires and inspect the tire that was carrying all the load to prevent a premature failure on the vehicle.
Your magazine and Evan’s reporting are tops. I had to take issue with this point as a “Life Changer” in my company.
Thank you for the opportunity correct this over-sight.
Rick Fitzpatrick
Mgr. Technical Maintenance-Tires
Equipment Performance Team
Fleet Services & Logistics Group
Waste Management
Truck Tapper Editorial
Editor: I was reading your article on the attempts to come up with a viable way to stop a truck loaded with explosives or hazardous cargo from slamming into a building. (Return of the Terrible Terrorist Truck Tapper, April 2005).
I have to say you sound very convinced that this is a poor tool. You act as though this tool will be used at any time in the middle of heavy traffic with little or no warning. You seem to think that the people who would use this tool are stupid, or careless.
Might I remind you that it only took a few terrorists to kill hundreds by slamming into the Twin Towers.
Of course if a truck were driving in rush hour traffic at 60 mph and this [device were] applied, a huge accident would happen. Don’t you think that they would run traffic breaks and other things to eliminate that possibility before using this? Additionally, I think that they would follow that truck on the highway and then stop it when it attempted to leave that highway and head into a densely populated area. Terrorists don’t try to kill a few people on the highway, they attempt to kill thousands or more in one raid. Please be more cautious when you use the alarming tones you do in your articles unless you are going to paint the whole picture.
I appreciate your opinion, but think that an educated man might want to be less alarming and more to the point. The point is, if this system were compromised, then people could use it for killing us on the highway.
But to compare these things to the holocaust that would happen should a truckload of explosives or a chemical be rammed into the LA airport is unconscionable.
Bob Bartlett,
ISPRO Inc.
"Delivering Trusted IT Solutions”
Camarillo, CA
