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Is Safety the Driver's Top Concern


By Chett Winchell


I was at the Colorado Motor Carriers Association for their Safety Saturday. It just also happened to have Dave Oseicki from the ATA and Anne Ferro, Administrator from the FMCSA.

As discussions progressed, they both talked about the upcoming changes for the SMS on CSA. Essentially, HazMat will be getting its own basic and load securement will be headed to Vehicle Maintenance.

Remember that 99% of all inspections are caused by only a few things: Direct observations if improper loading, traffic violations or (4%) truly random inspections. Just think, how many problems are caused by drivers? I am not saying they are all wrong, but just think if every driver used a little more finesse in taking care of loading or highway driving, how many stops would be avoided? Additionally, if every driver focused on his/her truck nad load as if they owned it and every expense came out of their pocket -- how would it change their perspective?

Also, think of the direct future...EBOR is not if, it is when. The four top violations for being unsafe are:

 

  1. Speeding
  2. Seat Belt Usage
  3. Failure to yield to a traffic control device; and
  4. Following too closely
And this came straight from the Administrator! Anne Ferror stated, "Truck safety is more important than traffic safety."
 
The top three HOS violations are:
  1. Logs not current,
  2. General form and manner, and
  3. > 14 hours on duty
Companies recruit, train and indoctrinate new employees. Once released to operations, the driver is given a reasonable amount of control - independent from the company - to make safety decisions multiple (hundreds of times a day) times. The driver is responsible to complete paperwork in a timely manner, efficiently and to properly represent the company at all times. Now out of these seven items listed above, how many do drivers control? Let me see, 7 ou tof 7...
 
Enough said. 

 

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