J. Charles & Co. Tansportation consulting and Risk Management

03/12/2023

This one is a bit disturbing. In fact there are check systems to prevent this type of situation already in place. If any segment of the transportation industry should require daily, pre shift driver/supervisor interaction it should be school bussing.

A Nicholas County school bus driver has been arrested on DUI charges.

02/25/2023

Previously I wrote about the upcoming changes to the CSA SAFER scoring system. Today, a couple of us were discussing that. While we all realized that for once the Feds are on the track of getting it right we also realized how much good the specific category of "driver observed violations" are going to help good drivers. Especially those drivers who do good pre trips, change lights and look after their truck to the best of their ability, yet work for bad carriers who don't want to spend the money on maintenance such as brakes and components thereof. This new system will allow those drivers to stand out at the same time pointing out the subpar companies.

The flipside of this is that for the carriers that want to excel and are more than willing to put the money and effort into their maintenance program. This new system provides an excellent baseline for a driver KPI to reward those good drivers and make it easier to cut the dead weight of the bad ones

02/17/2023

This came across the Federal Register recently.

First I like the new Data categories especially the subcategory in the vehicle maintenance block of "driver observed". As noted this subcategory would identify violations that a driver should notice in a pre trip inspection or throughout the day. I hope it goes further and puts associated points from those violations onto the driver's license.

Second. The new system looks like it is going to identify and prioritize more carriers for ok intervention. That's a good thing. And goes a long way towards safer roads and safer carriers.

Due to aggressive automated scraping of FederalRegister.gov and eCFR.gov, programmatic access to these sites is limited to access to our extensive developer APIs.

02/12/2023

The FMCSA has set a goal to audit 30-50% of all motor carriers in the next 3 years.

Do you know what to expect during an audit?

Are you prepared for an audit?

Do you have any hidden issues an investigator is going to find that may get you an unsatisfactory rating?

If you are unsure of the answers to any of these questions reach out to me

02/10/2023

Same goes for DIY DOT numbers.

You know who you are!!!!! https://www.facebook.com/129643173725303/posts/6307577085931850/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Enforcement (MVE) recently spotted a vehicle with a homemade license plate.

02/09/2023

Like it or not it's coming. I have my own opinions on a big driving force behind it, and corporate greed isn't in the top 5.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/01/2023-02073/safe-integration-of-automated-driving-systems-ads-equipped-commercial-motor-vehicles-cmvs

02/03/2023

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ceo-of-eld-one-vows-to-fix-platform-after-fmcsa-revocation

Look, 49 CFR 395 is really straight forward. It shouldn't have taken a revocation of approval to get this fixed

After a notice Tuesday by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that it is revoking an electronic logging device — TMS ONE’s ELD ONE — from its list of self-certified ELDs, CEO Radu Murzac says the company is working on a fix and plans to have the “final issue” resolved in less t...