The FMCSA has just published a final ruling which will allow them to revoke or suspend the operating status of chameleon carriers, unsafe drivers, and fleets who continually knowingly hire unsafe drivers. The ruling specifically points to any individuals or carriers who “show egregious disregard for safety compliance,” company owners who “permit persons who have shown egregious disregard for safety compliance to exercise controlling influence over their operations,” and executives who “operate multiple entities under common control to conceal noncompliance with safety regulations.”
The ruling is designed to help close loopholes that are exploited by unsafe members of the trucking industry who continually endanger other members of the industry and the general public. Many industry organizations have reached out to the FMCSA for a more specific breakdown of what criteria would need to be met to be considered in violation of the ruling, but in response the FMCSA has published the following statement:
“The Agency is not persuaded that enforcement rules require a formulaic approach in order to avoid inconsistent application or result. To the contrary, the Agency believes enforcement is best served when there is room for discretion, explanation, and consideration of the unique circumstances of each individual and carrier.”
In a further effort to make sure that all rulings are made on a level playing field, all performance reviews will be conducted by one individual, the assistant administrator.
There have been multiple other calls for clarification on the finalized rule which will go in to effect on February 21st, 2014.
Next Story: Driver Survives Eight Hours Pinned, Frozen Under Truck
Source: FederalRegister, overdrive
Sounds like the FMCSA has awarded themselves the power to play God. They need to be more specific. One person decided all cases?
I do not disagree that there are some drivers out there that could be designated as unsafe. But, in the days of anything and everything that goes wrong on the road being the drivers fault, what is unsafe? Companies are citing incidents as preventable that are clearly not the drivers fault. Things like a driver in the sleeper berth in a Walmart parking lot, getting hit by a 4 wheeler, and getting fired. A really good driver who per trips every morning and gets a CSA hit because 1 of the 7 diodes in a tail light is out. Yes, there are ‘bad’ drivers out here, but right now, the system makes it very difficult to tell the good from the bad. Then you have driver mills the pumping out new drivers at an unprecedented rate. Personally, I know of a guy who was terminated after multiple accidents on a forklift. Six months later, he has made it thru a mill, has a cdl, and is on the road. Seriously? I would not trust this guy to drive my pickup to the store!
Only when the pay scale, and real qualifications, catches up with the responsibility of the job will the roads become safer. Yes, that may cause a little inflation. But what is the life of the little girl in the car seat really worth??
Agreed. If drivers are ever paid appropriately then the standards of a driver will go up as well. As for the driver mills no matter how much you kick a dead horse he won’t move and its sad that nothing is done about them.
Scares me when they say basically that there is no real definition of what “qualifies” a driver as a bad driver, but really that’s the way it is anyways.. Company’s fire drivers for anything these days good or bad and this sounds like just something giving them more leeway to do it.. But really if you look at it more closely them firing you these days is really a blessing in disguise because the trucking industry is crap these days.. I’ve basically quit driving because it’s just plain and simply not worth it.. Really I have no other choice because I can’t keep a job with any decent trucking company anyways it seems, and I am a good and safe driver by anyone’s standards I guarantee you that.. I bet you this is the story of many “x” drivers these days and I’ve only been in this business for 6 or so years; you talk to the veteran drivers that have been driving for 15-30 years and there story is even worse because they really know how it used to be, there dropping out by the hundreds.. Those poor drivers the schools are pumping out have no idea, there just beef to be run through the grinder..
Bye bye Swift (and others that shall remain nameless)… (unless they actually get their act together)
here we go again with the unsafe drivers b.s., another way for uncle sam to bring in more foreign drivers .
Drivers do what they’re employers tell them to do or they get fired. Like anywhere else it’s a master/servant relationship.
When the weather gets bad the true value of experienced truckers becomes evident. The stupidity of trying to remove “non/compliant” truckers from the road is now showing up in the number and seriousness of the many weather related “accidents” occurring on the road today. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”! Good truckers are survivors and that doesn’t mean going to a “driver’s school” and “Presto!” a new truck driver is graduated. Safety is paramount and nothing can replace experience. The goal of every trucker should be to get the load to the receiver safely and on time. This doesn’t always happen due to people trying to micro manage something that they can’t see or control. I wonder how many really good drivers end up dead while trying to fulfill impossible requirements. No two drivers are alike yet the rules try to make carbon copies of all. Some people have the stamina to drive a thousand miles a day and others can barely drive 350. If more DOT personnel were experienced drivers then there would be a greater understanding of what it takes to be a DRIVER. We all have a job to do but why make my job tougher than it has to be? Being an “outlaw” kept me alive because I realized that the logbook didn’t drive the truck.
If a Dual Carrier/ Dahl Inc/ Dahl LLC , DAHL PLUS owner are indicted for FICA Tax fraud / FEDERAL. Is this something that D O T might want n ADDRESS ? Two states Minn. /ND. Tax Fraud ID theft, improper state taxation for non- residents, plus Federal Taxes. CANADA TAX ! 2018 Mn. Opiod / Drugs Accident/ school bus ! Uses a Scam Fraud CONTRACT that Co. shows as W 2 Wages / Advances to DRIVERS/ FRAUD ! CHAMELEON INDEED if carrier is cited (3) to cease operation, and is photo evidence of them , ON SAME PREMISES.. still in operation MARLIN DAHL ,Keith, DAHL,&TED K DAHL ARE ALL THIEVES and N D has known this >2013 ! TAXES HELD !!!!!!!
ASK ANY FORMER DRIVER ?
What About State and Fed Gov. entities that allow these Trucking instances to persist > Nationwide. All a Carrier (CHAMELEON) need do is transfer location to another State . N D ,MN, Or. and other DOT official have been aware OF DAHL Trucking since 2013. Yet they permit Company to remain in operation .. IE FED TAX < CANADA TAX, STATE TAXES. on application and State Guideline for Taxation , that remain to be seen as LEGAL . This Carrier rearended a school bus , legally parked on a shoulder of Interstate I 90 ,I94 , I39 . Twenty plus Students were injured. IE I PAID IN OVER $10,000 on an adjusted State Tax income of only $20,000 for a years WORK … SCAM.
Had My ID STOLEN BY COMPANY & results in all my SSI SEIZURE , due overstated W2 wage statements.