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Have you ever reported any one to the Dot?

Old Doug

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I saw a truck pulling a grain trailer parked geting a tire repaired that was very unsafe today and i am thinking about calling the Dot. The driver-owner lost a hub and tires one time and killed one person and hurt several others. The trailer has cracks in its rear frame and no working brakes. I didnt look at the truck. I talked to the tire guys and they will not touch it agin. I dont know this guy but after killing some one i figured he no longer was trucking.
 

Karl Robbers

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I would say that you don't have a choice. If the trailer is that bad, then it will kill or seriously hurt someone soon - maybe even one of your loved ones. We're not talking a bald tyre or a couple of blown globes, that's a death trap.
After killing someone, you would think that the driver would have learned. Some you just cannot help.
 

roddyo

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Call them. The DOT are on the road for a reason. They need to be taking unsafe trucks off the road instead of making busy work by running relatively safe trucks thru the mill generating revenue
 

old-iron-habit

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I for one believe that if a person has served his punishment for a crime he should be given a chance. However if that person is back to his own tricks and is on the path to another accident, I agree that he should be given a look over. If his rig is that out of compliance with cracked frame, etc. it would be suprisind if it has a current DOT. I would be compelled to report him.
 

lantraxco

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No different than calling police if you see someone driving erratically, possibly driving drunk. Make the call, I would.
 

RonG

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I'll bet the DOT already knows it,especially with his record.I see law enforcement looking the other way in many instances which I can't account for,I imagine that he is on the list and DOT is busy with the "bad" guys and saving him for "slow"days if they ever have one.Ron G
 

td25c

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indiana
I saw a truck pulling a grain trailer parked geting a tire repaired that was very unsafe today and i am thinking about calling the Dot. The driver-owner lost a hub and tires one time and killed one person and hurt several others. The trailer has cracks in its rear frame and no working brakes. I didnt look at the truck. I talked to the tire guys and they will not touch it agin. I dont know this guy but after killing some one i figured he no longer was trucking.

My short answer is NO . Not going to call Police / DOT for something like that .

Only time I might call them would be if I am witnessing some sort of crime , reckless driving event , or accident .

I do understand and feel your frustration , sounds like this guy has issues past and present . He needs a good mechanic & welder.;)


Any idea what the trailer brake problem was ?
 

Old Doug

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Just make sure you don't live in a glass house

My newest truck and trailer is 20years older than his. I got stoped this summer and they gave me a real going over the only thing they found was they said one chain on my load could be tighter. I bet the Dot was surprised after looking at my junk it may look bad but it is safe. As far as what was wrong with the brakes the shoes were past gone and it didnt need air to move.
 

td25c

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As far as what was wrong with the brakes the shoes were past gone and it didnt need air to move.

OK , Sounds like it's ready for new brake shoes .

Did it have the piggy back spring brake type chambers or the old single pancake ?
 

digger doug

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My newest truck and trailer is 20years older than his. I got stoped this summer and they gave me a real going over the only thing they found was they said one chain on my load could be tighter. I bet the Dot was surprised after looking at my junk it may look bad but it is safe. As far as what was wrong with the brakes the shoes were past gone and it didnt need air to move.
I hear you...it's partially "everyone should be swabbed with the same brush" feeling, after your d.o.t. inspection, but more important is the "this guy needs taken off the road as someone innocent is gonna get killed" feeling.
 

Logan

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New Zealand
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Presented with that kind of evidence, I would be making a citizens arrest and sitting on the roadside until attended by the boys in blue. The law cannot police a community if the community will not police itself. They are simply outnumbered. If this sort of behaviour is to be allowed and ignored, then all of the other rules are open to interpretation aren't they? "Most" people will occasionally go over the speed limit due to inattention or knowing there is a 5 mph tolerance, the lunatic fringe will drive around with knackered brakes and cracked frames. Please protect us from the lunatic fringe when you can. If it is a question of lack of finance on his part, when you get to that stage in a business it is time to confess to failure and get a job that doesn't threaten peoples lives needlessly.
 

td25c

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Presented with that kind of evidence, I would be making a citizens arrest and sitting on the roadside until attended by the boys in blue. If this sort of behaviour is to be allowed and ignored, then all of the other rules are open to interpretation aren't they?

Ok .... A Police officer is going to go forward at his or her own discretion depending on how they see the situation . They put there eyes & ears on it and make a decision like anyone else would .

That all being said ........ Lets say a customer drives up to my shop for a DOT inspection . I crawl over & under the truck & say you got a broken spring on the right rear axil and a wheel seal leaking on the left side . Customer pays me for the inspection and asks me when I can work him in for repairs . I tell him next week .

Ok ....... should I call the Police and report my customer for driving a truck that wont pass a DOT inspection ?
 
Last edited:

lantraxco

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Totally different situation, your customer in this scenario is obviously doing his best to keep his equipment in compliance.
 

td25c

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Yeah lantraxco .. That's where the water gets a little dark so to speak . Truck driver / customer doing his best still wont cut it on a road side DOT inspection . Brand new truck won't pass if the inspector don't like it for whatever reason ?

It is what it is .....
 

Karl Robbers

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Ok .... A Police officer is going to go forward at his or her own discretion depending on how they see the situation . They put there eyes & ears on it and make a decision like anyone else would .

That all being said ........ Lets say a customer drives up to my shop for a DOT inspection . I crawl over & under the truck & say you got a broken spring on the right rear axil and a wheel seal leaking on the left side . Customer pays me for the inspection and asks me when I can work him in for repairs . I tell him next week .

Ok ....... should I call the Police and report my customer for driving a truck that wont pass a DOT inspection ?

Fair point and I do see where you are coming from. If I could offer a couple of examples that I know of personally, I realise that laws and attitudes vary between our two countries.
The first example relates to how a business, part of a national chain in fact, specialising in light vehicle suspensions would handle a similar situation. Their policy is that if a vehicle is found with a serious suspension/brake flaw, that vehicle does not leave until the fault is rectified as they feel that their duty of care would be unfulfilled and they would potentially be open to litigation if an accident were to result. If you push the issue or decide not to rectify the fault, the vehicle will be delivered to your home or another address on a tilt tray truck and your invoice will have written a clear description of the issues and an instruction that the vehicle is unroadworthy and not to be driven etc. The customer must sign this invoice to acknowledge the statement prior to the vehicle being unloaded. What the customer does from that point is their call.
The second example relates to a heavy vehicle mechanical workshop who, if faced with a similar situation will not sign off on the vehicle safety check they perform on every vehicle that enters their workshop and you will be informed that the vehicle is unsafe to operate until such time as repairs are made. Once again the operator of the vehicle must sign off on the document to show acknowledgement of the caution.
Increasingly we are seeing the whole chain being investigated in the event of a heavy vehicle accident, including management and mechanics. There was a case recently where an entire fleet of trucks and trailers - 100+ units, were put off the road due to an accident with one of their trucks. Preliminary investigations found that maintenance was a foreign concept to this company and nearly every unit had a serious defect of some type as well as the correct documentation not being kept in order to satisfy the national mass accreditation scheme they worked under. Several drivers were charged, (primarily log book offences), along with maintenance supervisors and several directors of the company. Potentially, their sins could cost them their personal assets and even lead to time on the wrong side of the bars.
Heavy vehicles and their operators tend to be judged very harshly by the public and while fault among professional drivers is rare, when it does occur however, the hounds bay for blood. Once upon a time, management were largely insulated from prosecution, as the law placed the onus on the driver. Obviously, that was a flawed state of affairs as the driver needed a job and could easily be forced to drive a vehicle with known defects in order to keep his job. Thankfully now, there is an increase in the culpability of management and a recognition of their responsibility to provide safe equipment and maintain a safe workplace as regards hours worked and rest times.
The days of turning a blind eye, not that I am accusing you of that, have well and truly gone.
 

kshansen

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Once upon a time, management were largely insulated from prosecution, as the law placed the onus on the driver. Obviously, that was a flawed state of affairs as the driver needed a job and could easily be forced to drive a vehicle with known defects in order to keep his job. Thankfully now, there is an increase in the culpability of management and a recognition of their responsibility to provide safe equipment and maintain a safe workplace as regards hours worked and rest times.

Not sure that kind of attitude has reached the US or if it ever will, but agree very much with that.

Not exactly DOT related but the following fits with the general topic of turning a blind eye to a problem.

Management, especially at the top levels, seem to like to hide behind fancy "mission statements" saying how safety and environmentally concerned the company is, but when push comes to shove production can become the most important objective. Like spillage on a catwalk, won't let people work overtime on a Saturday to fix hole in chute causing the spillage.

But if MSHA safety guy sites the company for unsafe catwalk they go around beating their chest telling workers they need to keep the catwalks clean. Most of the time it would take less labor to fix the problem than to keep cleaning up the mess. But can't fix leak while plant is running and can't work overtime except if plant is producing.

Years back with previous management problems like this would be noted during the work week and come Friday a list of repairs would be made up. About 1/2 the crew would be told to report Saturday to address the problems. Maybe not 100% of them would be corrected but come Monday 7:00AM plant would start up with fewer problems than the week before.
 

Jonas302

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So if a truck driver sees gravel on the catwalk should he call MSHA ?
 

Nige

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G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
Management, especially at the top levels, seem to like to hide behind fancy "mission statements" saying how safety and environmentally concerned the company is, but when push comes to shove production can become the most important objective.
And you know as well as I do Ken, that's total and utter BS. It's put out simply to keep the company PC in our current litigous world. But when push comes to shove every company is looking for the lowest production cost/ton or whatever unit they use to measure their production. Everything else is secondary to that, and any company executive who says otherwise is lying through his teeth ..... IMHO.
 

norite

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Jul 31, 2010
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Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Lantraxco's post is what a reasonable man would do. Assuming only a helper leaf on the spring, not the main leaf and the oil seal is weeping, not totally destroyed so it doesn't hold any oil. Often it takes a couple of days to source the parts for a repair or as TD25c said, the shop is busy and that is the first available date to repair it.

Now if it was a broken main leaf or an oil seal which is totally gone and the bearing is running dry I would think that would be something that is unsafe to drive, with a potential for a serious accident.

Either way, DOT (or MTO here) notwithstanding, if there is an accident and the investigation finds these defects, the owner is going to be in trouble and perhaps liable in a lawsuit. Of course the owner will tell the story of how he had his truck inspected and had scheduled repairs next week, which isn't going to cut it. When the shop is found to have discovered the defects and not immediately repaired them, the shop also becomes liable.

Huge gray area here, but could result in a huge liability problem.
 
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