My thought as I was reading it, also. I’m big on air and water quality but that’s not a safety inspector’s concern. I would much rather have them concerned with the difference between minor and serious defects... the latter which gives every driver a bad rep.
Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong
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PILOON
Super Star Member
Call me ignorant, but what about health, pollution, and climate issues like global warming and plain breaking a law.
But then that was not in his job description I guess.
3 Horse Ranch
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Taken out of service does not mean condemned and and headed for the scrappers. It can be anything other than a burned out bulb. A loose frame bolt or lug nut, a broken spring leaf, a small crack in a cross member, just about anything. It is at the inspectors discretion whether the truck is allowed to leave and be fixed at the home shop or parked right there until a mechanic come and can fix it. In either case it is cited as out of service. Usually what happens is the truck is allowed to leave the inspection facility finish it's delivery and then it must be parked until the repairs cited are made.
BigBlue1
Veteran Member
Whether those topics are important or not to society, they have nothing to do with vehicle or road safety. Not saying a commercial vehicle inspector should or shouldn't care about them when looking at vehicles, but it was stated that it was a safety issue and it certainly isn't a road safety issue. It would be like saying "yeah, smoking in the truck is not healthy for you so we'll take you off the road". It's a value judgement but it has nothing to do with road safety.
Lol, no not condemned, but serious enough that it needs to be fixed asap. I find the following condemning of the vehicle owner of a truck that lost its brakes and killed 4 people:
"The trucking company has been cited for 30 safety violations during 19 inspections in the last 24 months with 3 trucks being placed out of service (OOS) during that time.
According to FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS), Castellano 03 Trucking has received 23 vehicle maintenance violations with 10 of those involving brake issues."
That you shrug it off as SOP in the industry is a bit discouraging. Is what it is and I guess we should be thankful there aren't more massive truck wrecks.
Thanks for the education.
LD48750
Veteran Member
I wonder how you would feel if you & your personal vehicle were subjected to one of these inspections 4 or 5 times a year.
IF they want to, any inspector CAN find a violation on ANY vehicle.
3 Horse Ranch
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Don't buy into media hype. The media doesn't have a clue about what they write, they just grab the most sensational factoid they can and blow it out of proportion. The term "brake issues" means nothing without context. A barely audible air leak is a "brake issue," one brake out of 10 being an eight of an inch out of adjustment is a "brake issue," one brake out of ten being worn beyond minimums is a "brake issue." None of the "brake issues" I mentioned would have contributed significantly to this accident, The accident in question was not caused by faulty brakes, it caused by an unskilled driver who secondarily didn't understand the warning signs because the state that issued his drivers license allowed him to take the written portion and perform the skills test in Spanish. Half of the blame lies in that last fact alone. Were it a Federal requirement that all portions of the CDL training and testing be done in English the driver would have been able to understand the warning signs and likely taken the runaway ramp.
His brakes failed not because of faulty maintenance, but because he missed a shift and rather than slowing until he could find a gear, continued down the hill on the brakes alone until he had no brakes left. It doesn't take all that long for the heat from the friction of riding the brake before brakes start to fade. Then the natural reaction is apply even more pressure to the pedal until there are no brakes left.
I never went to a truck driving school, but I was taught that when descending a mountain pass, speed is controlled with the engine, the brakes are reserved for emergencies and the occasional sharp corner. Rule of thumb is to go down the hill in the same gear you went up the hill. This driver either ignored this information, was never taught it, or was taught it but was taught in English.
Language was one of the major factors. Picture yourself driving a loaded truck through the mountains of China, all the warning signs would do you no good if you didn't have a working knowledge of Chinese.
Not a problem, I keep my vehicles up and if something were to slip by I'd be glad to be informed about it, though I wouldn't like the inconvenience of being randomly stopped. MI is the first state I've lived that doesn't have any passenger vehicle inspections what so ever. Other states have mandatory safety and /or emissions inspections annually. I have no problem with the ones where you get to pick a repair shop to do the inspection at your convenience. The state run inspection places where you have to wait in line are a bit of a pain.
3 Horse Ranch, for the sake of discussion, let's assume it was all driver error. Putting a driver that can't understand English or read the road signs is a problem! Unless the guy stole the truck, then someone knowingly allowed an unqualified driver to take the truck out. Again, there are more people at fault for this "accident" than just that truck driver. It's a small company so it's likely everyone in the company knew what was going on, meaning the even if the owner didn't make the decision directly, he certainly knew about it and allowed it. That the trucking company can just switch names and continue business as usual is not good.
mred2
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Reminds me, when I was young, the local liquor store would be raided for selling to minors. Would be shut down. Within a day they would be open under new owners. I guess the same thing happens in a lot of industries.
Yogi05
Platinum Member
In Canada there are no language restrictions to get a CDL. It's not legislated that you speak one or the other of our 2 official languages.
I have seen receivers at warehouses who have to draw a door number on a piece of paper so the driver can match it with what is on the wall at the dock.
Makes me wonder how they pass the CDL tests. English and French are the 2 official languages in Canada and all gov info is available in those two. In certain
areas of Canada most speak both, or in rare cases they might have to get a co-worker to step in that does speak one or the other.
What we're seeing is a lot of East Asian (India) and middle eastern drivers who speak neither.
Makes me wonder about reading road signs, addresses, directions... all that.
I have seen receivers at warehouses who have to draw a door number on a piece of paper so the driver can match it with what is on the wall at the dock.
Makes me wonder how they pass the CDL tests. English and French are the 2 official languages in Canada and all gov info is available in those two. In certain
areas of Canada most speak both, or in rare cases they might have to get a co-worker to step in that does speak one or the other.
What we're seeing is a lot of East Asian (India) and middle eastern drivers who speak neither.
Makes me wonder about reading road signs, addresses, directions... all that.