Its a DOT Carrier inspection...

Went through a couple of hours of frustrating questions and answers, wow, something I don't want to do every day. This is not a truck inspection, it is an inspection of your paperwork, qualifications, insurance, logs, medical, dope testing, bills of lading, etc.

They got me on one day where my log showed me starting the day in one city, and the freight bills showed me in a completely different place. Then the questions, where were you actually? Did you falsify logs? Were you over hours? How did you get from Birmingham to start the day up near North Carolina? answer, I don't remember that day...

Well it is over for now and I am still driving my truck, I did pass, but felt totally like an idiot before I left.

I also learned that I can 't read properly, because on a couple of points, it says in black and white in the book, but I guess the writers did not accurately convey the real meaning.

I am so happy now that the roads are so much safer since I got straightened out.....

Actually they were very polite and even helpful, just doing their job, and I did pass, but just glad it is over. Been worrying about it for a couple of months now.

 

Sir, you can put the rubber glove away, I'll tell ya all ya need to know.....

 

Nah, he was having too much fun, ARMY doctors were more gentle with my posterior.

 

They didnt look like these guys did they?



Rich

 

More like on Smokey and the Bear, this is Alabama you must remember...

 

Did Shatzie give them a piece of her mind or just point and laugh at ya?

 

Haulin, did they get you at a weigh station or did they come up from behind with the state highway patrol and pull you over?? The latter happend to me in Arkansas last year while hauling lumber, they used the highway patrol to pull me over and then after they started in the patrol man left as I guess he seen I would comply and not get nasty. It is intimidating tho isn't it?? Sounds like you did great. Goodluck,,Rick

 

Rick, they pulled you over in a 3/4 ton personal vehicle??

 

No I frequently drive commercially for a few different companies from time to time, I am retired or retarded sometimes both. I think they were a bit surprised when I asked them right off the bat if they wanted the keys to the truck and I would call the wife to come and get me and they could have the truck if they wanted it, they were very cordial but also very nit picky in what all they wanted to inspect. They used the highway patrol to get me to pull over in a rest area and the next hour and half was as Haulin described a bit intimidating.Goodluck,,Rick

 

Hey Doc, speaking of getting pulled over in a private 3/4 ton, around here if you have a fuel tank in the back and have a farm tag the state tax commission will use the police to pull you over and dip your tank on the truck!!! I know they even get the non farm guys too, they just really look for farm tags around here. Goodluck,Rick

 

I got caught in Butte, Montana once by the guys in the white cars in a weigh scale. After I handed him my log book and parked the truck I walked in and the first words (which I will NEVER forget) were: "You're in trouble". Turns out I had 72 1/2 hours in to get to where he was!!! I transposed two numbers in the recap and it still took two days for me to get enough hours back to get to where I was going.

 

This was not a DOT check of the truck, been through many of them. This was where they contacted me and gave me a date to produce all my carrier papers so that they could make sure I was complying with the carrier laws. It is going through all the logs, bills, etc. for the last few months, making sure the logs match the bills of lading, no log violations for as far back as they want. Just because I am one truck one driver, makes no difference, have to comply with the hiring practices that JB Hunt has to. They basically check everything you have done, to make sure the paperwork is not falsified and is there.

It is all from the paperwork end of things. A major check of paperwork to make sure that the truck paperwork is in order to check for too heavy of loads on a little truck, seems we have covered that here on other threads. Some of the laws are interperated as the inspector wants, not as the law reads.

When you were a kid and got the "go to your room" so that you coulde think about things a while, with this you have a couple of weeks to go to your room and try to make sure all is in order and knowing you will have violations.

 

The DOT comes to our office & checks all our load times at the pipeline with our logs & our unload times with the computer print out of tank readings. I got called on the carpet because my log didn't match the time the station print out said I was there unloading. Come to find out it was when we went to daylight savings time & the tank monitor was never changed to the correct time. They don't miss a thing.

 

Fixing semi's, I get to talk to a few drivers, or maybe get to listen to them, talk about their excursions on the hwy. Good ole Barney Fife sure gets around. Some of the red tags they get are amazing,and the real safety items get overlooked. The new rookies are the worst. Always trying to make a name and impress everyone.

 

In Gilbert AZ they did the fuel check earlier this week... put a HUGE holdup on anyone with a diesel just tryin to get to work.