An Example of One Company's Enforcement

[Brett]

In an interview with the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier's Safety Administration) about the new CSA 2010 implementation, Mike Clay - the Director of Safety at Kennesaw Transportation ( http://www.kennesawtrans.com/contact.htm ) was asked what they were doing differently to prepare for the coming enforcement of CSA 2010 and he stated:

note: this was directly quoted from the CSA 2010 website and you can find it here: http://www.csa2010.com/articles/Kennesaw_Transportation_Mike_Clay_CSA_2010_Interview.htm

Mr. Clay told me they are much more aggressive in how they deal with drivers getting tickets. For example, if a driver gets a speeding ticket, Kennesaw will check the MVR reports going back 3 years. If they find the driver had NO tickets in the previous 3 years they would reduce the speed of his truck by 4 mph. If the driver has had a ticket in the past 3 years, the driver would have his truck speed reduced and be put on one year probation. If the driver gets another ticket while on probation he would be terminated. They are putting much more pressure on the drivers. I then asked Mike if the driver’s safety score would have an impact on their hiring and he said “absolutely, we have always had strict requirements, but they would most likely not hire a driver with a marginal rating, let alone an unfit rating” Mike also said, “this new initiative is a good thing, there are lots of BAD drivers on the road”.

Quite interesting.....

[TruckerMike]

Wow, that's some interesting stuff. The safety director at my company also stated something to the effect of companies having you sign a waver in order to release all CSA2010 data to them before you are hired. That's what companies will be doing now, in addition to checking DAC reports, DMV records, criminal history, work history and in some cases, credit checks. Just one more area drivers need to cover themselves on.

I'm not sure I totally understand reducing the speed of a drivers truck if he or she gets a speeding ticket. What if the speeding ticket happens in a 25mph zone? Reducing the speed of their truck by 4mph will not help them do 25mph when that is the speed limit. So I wonder, is it more of a punishment or an actual way to avoid future tickets? I don't think most truckers are recieving speeding tickets in 65 or 70mph zones. It's usually speed limits of 55mph or less. So how would reducing the speed of the truck by 4mph really help? Of course, I don't have any hard data to back that up, but I think it's a good guess.

[Brett]

So I wonder, is it more of a punishment or an actual way to avoid future tickets?

I would definitely say it's a punishment because you're right, most trucks are governed too slow to get speeding tickets at maximum highway speeds. They're going to get tickets in slower speed zones. But companies know that your truck's maximum governed speed is incredibly important to the drivers so I believe it's more of a punishment than an actual attempt to keep you from getting speeding tickets by reducing your truck speed.

[Rhonda]

There are not that many trucks out there that are not governed anymore. Most seem to be set at 70mph and lower.  I think 65mph is most common. Anyway whatever your truck is governed at, most drivers do not want it to go lower. I'm one of them.

I agree with Mr. Clay that there are a lot of bad drivers out there. These new rules are going to take care of that issue and the carriers who "don't seem to care" about that. We are to be professional when on the road.

Other things are going to have to change to which has been mentioned--sitting to get your load dispatched/loaded/unloaded and there needs to be enough time in delivery so driver can eat, fuel, use restroom and do detours and still make appointments. If its a 6 hour drive from A to B, don't expect driver to do it in 5 1/2hours.  People inside the trucking office have time to eat, use bathroom and dispatch or whatever and take their breaks, but this is not allowed for the driver.