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LATEST LETTERS

Dangerous truckers

Thursday, September 27 at 12:01 AM

Isn’t it time Colorado did something to crack down on careless driving by truckers?
There have been multiple accidents and traffic tie-ups caused by semis going too fast or drivers not driving safely or going to sleep, etc.
I travel Interstate 70 many times a year to Glenwood Springs and feel I am putting my life in their hands — believe me, it’s scary!
They are driving too many hours without sleeping, don’t observe speed limits and take too many risks!

Jean Powell, Commerce City

READER COMMENTS

Don't worry too much. My husband travels I-70 every week day (almost) from Denver to Gypsum or Aspen and he is also afraid of the trucks. But he is more afraid of the cars who cut off his truck. They also swerve between lanes and block entrances to the runaway ramps. Some of the most creative get behind the truck following the 20 mph speed limit and start honking for the truck to go faster. A few even drive so close to trucks stopped to put on chains, (trucks being the first ordered to chain up and the last released from that requirement) that drivers have been hit, or forced to chain up by lying under the truck and reaching back for the chain. Of course the best is yet to come..Mexican trucks with Mexican drivers who don't have to follow any of the DOT rules or keep logbooks. Now I'm scared.

Posted by momma y on September 27, 2007 02:12 AM

Sounds like truckers defending truckers to me. I drove truck for 35 years and I have to say that the truckers out there today are the worst ever. Gravel haulers are at the top of the list. It is scary as hell for a car or pickup to look in the rear view mirror and all they can see is the grill of a semi in their mirror. Somehow I don't think this is safe . I do not deny that there are instanses of unsafe driving of cars and smaller vehicles but that is no excuse for poor driving of large vehicles. As the driver of a large vehicle, you are a professional driver and should act accordingly and act like a professional. I think it time, in light of the many accidents involving trucks, and the roll overs of trucks, that Colorado should do as other states have done and restrict trucks to the right hand lane and slow them down. Especially in dense traffic areas like the metro Denver area. I see it every day, trucks pushing you down the road, weaving in an out of traffic like they are driving a sports car. Unfortunately, law inforcement would rather nail someone for 10 over than go after a real traffic hazard like an aggressive driver weather it is a truck or not.

Posted by Randy on September 27, 2007 06:02 AM

Oh Boy! We will get some perspective. Imagine Mexican trucker drivers on I70 in the winter hauling who knows what. Questionable drivers in questionable semis will lead to certain "accidents". But what are American lives compared to Mexican's having jobs. Where ever there is Mexican, there is Mexico. So who will pay the cost of Mexico in America??? You guessed it.

Posted by Breeze on September 27, 2007 06:35 AM

hey if your aftaid fo the truckes on the roads why not just quit driving

Posted by on September 27, 2007 06:47 AM

I'm just wondering.

How can the U.S. allow Mexican truckers on our roads and they don't speak or read English?
Some of them probably can't read spanish.

What's incredible to me is we already have millions of unlicensed,uninsured illegals on the road and now we are going to add more illegals to the road,

Who is going to go after the drivers who come into this country dump their loads and trucks and don't go back?

Who is going to see that the truckers from Mexico are not committing crimes and the they just drive back over the border?

What about all the weigh stations?Are the supposed to stop at them?What happens if they are in violation? ( momma y ,maybe you can explain what a weigh station does, I'm not familiar with there rules )

What happens when a mexican trucker has an accident,how are the victims going to get compensated?

Are our insurance rates going to go up,because the companies can see a disaster ahead on our roads?

Are the Mexican trucking companies going to pay taxes to the DOT for keeping up our roads?

Are these trucks going to be thoroughly inspected to make sure they are not bring drugs or other harmful stuff into the country?

Are these trucks going to be inspected and deemed fit to drive?

Are the trucks going to be inspected to make sure they are not bringing illegals into our country?

Are the trucks going to be turned away at the border if they are not insured ?

How are the border gaurds going to make sure they are not looking at false documents?

These are all questions I have that have not been addressed and the public needs to know about this program before it is implemented.

All we have been told id Mexican truckers can now have access to our entire country.

This again will drive wages down in the trucking industry and cause hardship on trucking companies and owner/operators.

This has to be by far the most assinine thing the administration has done.

Bringing more mexicans into the country.As if we don't have enough?

This program is a recipe for a huge disaster all the way around.

Posted by Can I get an AMEN! on September 27, 2007 07:36 AM

Can't speak to weigh stations, but the answer to most of your questions is NO. Perhaps Spielberg can do a made for TV movie on the upcoming carnage, "Duel with Diablo".

Posted by Breeze on September 27, 2007 07:48 AM

Semi drivers used to be some of safest and most respectful people on the road. Now, anyone with a pulse can get a license and the DOT keeps lowering training requirements (or can't enforce them because of funding cuts), so the trucking companies can meet their needs. Drivers, in general, are more dangerous and disrespectful. So, who's benefitting from this and who's being put in jeopardy? If you support better training and better drivers you're going to have to pay for it, not only with your taxes, which is a no-no to many, but at the wholesale and retail level. If you're not willing to pay for improvements, you don't have much of a gripe.

Posted by Stan Broyles on September 27, 2007 09:08 AM

As a motorcyclist I view truckers as the forth on my list of vehicles to pay extra attention to when I’m near.

1. Beaters with dead tags and shoddy tent.
2. Any type of grocery getter (caravan)
3. Subaru’s.
4. Semi Trucks.

Subaru’s and Caravan’s are almost identical in their on road behavior. 90% of the time when the left lane is being “blocked” (not allowing others to pass) the vehicle is one of those two makes. This causes the stacked up traffic to become very aggressive and therefore they attempt dangerous maneuvers. (passing on the right).

Just last night on my commute I was cut off driving south on Santa Fe buy a green Subaru. I honked (loud pipes would have worked) she heard me and quickly returned to her lane. I proceeded to pass her. At the next light she pulled up and apologized.
I just smiled and replied that “I’m used to it”.
What I really meant was the as soon as I saw that it was a Subaru I went into high alert and was able to move out of her way. Nice lady though…. But somehow she missed the blaze orange jacket and three headlights. (daytime)

As for truckers…I’ve been one. They are the most skilled drivers on the road IMO. However, I believe that trend is changing.
This morning a trucker pulled out right in front of me because he thought that the right lane would allow for plenty of room since I was in the left lane. The problem was that another Semi was in the turn lane waiting to turn left. That resulted in me having to shoot the gap between the front bumper of the turning truck and the truck sitting in the turning lane! Whew…check the shorts.

BTW: TRUCKERS PLEASE CHANGE YOUR OLD WORN OUT RETREADS. They are a hazard to everyone including yourselves.

Posted by Fred on September 27, 2007 11:24 AM

When was the last time you ever saw a state trooper pulling over one of these big rigs because it was speeding or tail-gating?

Posted by Jean on September 27, 2007 11:42 AM

When illegals have an accident they cut and run never to be seen again.

If that happens with Mexican truckers will they run and abandon their load? What will happen then?

What will they bring in their trucks? Drug smuggling is huge and we want to give them a free ticket to do their dirty work?

Sounds like the good ol' USA at work to screw the American people again.

American truckers will lose their jobs, guaranteed.

This country has lost all sensibility.

Posted by c on September 27, 2007 10:41 PM

Let me explain how a trucker does the job.

First thing every morning, or the beginning of your shift, you inspect the truck. You check the tires, brakes, brake adjustments, engine belts, engine hoses and fluid levels. You start the engine and make sure the air pressure, which powers the brakes, and the compressor are both working. Wipers and all glass are inspected. Then you go to the trailer and check the seal or the tarps covering a load or the chains and straps holding the load on the trailer. In Colorado winter months, you are required to have the chains on the truck for certain months. You check the bill of lading, the destination and delivery instructions and make sure they match your load. Then you get in the truck. That takes a good, experienced truck driver at least half an hour in good weather.

The driver goes to the destination and delivers the load. Sometimes the people are ready at the appointment time, usually there is a delay. The driver is required to remove the tarps, loosen and/or remove the straps then observe the unloading to verify the state of the goods when delivered. At any time or place the DOT can set up scales and run a “surprise” inspection. That inspection includes weighing the truck to determine if the load limits on any axle are too high. If the driver can reset his tandems he can balance the load. The papers are checked against the delivery orders and the seal number is verified. The driver’s license, DOT medical card and insurance and registration papers are inspected. All of the information is recorded. One brake out of alignment can be the cause for a fine even though the driver couldn’t make an adjustment. The driver can be fined hundreds or thousands of dollars for violations as can the companies. The biggest inspection is made on the logbook where a driver records his on and off duty hours. Rules have changed since I drove but the logs are very detailed. A driver whose logbook is out of date or shows too many hours on duty can have major consequences to both the company and the driver. Any driver can be ordered to submit a sample for a drug test. Refusal means instant loss of CDL license.

Most drivers are paid by the mile or a flat rate per load. Only a minority of drivers work for an hourly wage. Only the miles driven count towards payment for a driver working on the pay per mile system which is the most common system. All the time spent waiting, unloadng and stuck in traffic means nothing is paid. Some companies pay a flat rate for removing and putting tarps and straps on a load. That is how trucking works. I did it with my husband for 10 years. In that 10 years we lived 24/7 in space about the size of your average bathroom. We were home about 20 days a year. I loved trucking and wish I could still do it.

One reason there are so many problems with so many new truckers is that back in the early 90's the federal government instituted the CDL to prevent bad truck drivers from switching between different state licenses. Many of the older drivers, most of them very safe drivers, couldn’t pass the written test. They knew the material, but the Federal equivalent of a truckers’ CSAP stymied about a quarter of all drivers. 9/11 rules have been very good at weeding out phoney truck schools that dumped drivers who were able to highway drive with minimal back up skills. I was at that level the first time I sat behind the wheel. I then spent three more weeks learning to make safe turns, back up and set my schedule so that I would not be on the road during rush hour nor would I be likely to drive in heavy traffic areas. I was still learning the last day I drove, 10 years later.

That is a grounding in basic truck driving. I’ll post the “problems” of open border trucking. Most of this post and the next were helped by my husband who has been driving a truck since he was 14. That long ago they didn’t really care. He is shy about posting but he might post that story here if I make biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

Posted by momma y on September 28, 2007 12:37 AM

CIGA

You said it. And the problem is that the American truckers will lose business to the Mexicans
because they don't have to obey the hours of service so they can promise a delivery time no
logbook inhibited trucker can match.
Mexican trucks are not inspected as they cross the border, something we were told would be done
when NAFTA passed. The drivers are supposed to be able to read and speak English and the
companies must have an American Insurance Carrier on record before they come across the
border. Don't know how many will actually obey the rules on that one if they check as hard as
they do on the other things.
Once, when we were picking up a load across the border from Mexico, we saw and took pictures
of Hispanic men going from parked trailer to parked trailer opening the doors and going in and
out for several minutes. We called the police and they were totally uninterested until we
mentioned that we had pictures and if they weren't interested we'd find a newspaper reporter or
radio show in the area and send the pictures to them. We transmitted the pictures to the police
then parked in a truck stop a few blocks away. Police cars came around the corners with sirens
blaring and all kinds of noise. They didn't find anyone but there were several trucks fifty pounds
lighter than when they weighed across the border. Several months later DEA made a great big
deal about it when they caught a truck with a hundred pounds of drugs, I don't remember what
kind, at a DEA / DOT inspection scale. The driver was an American who had been assigned to
pick up his trailer the next morning but got there early and left. The trailer seal number on his
papers didn't match the one on his trailer so he had added one of his own and put a heavy duty
lock on the doors. He'd used his truck computer to inform the company and that message was
computer time stamped so the police decided to examine all the trailers. They found about a
dozen, out of more than a hundred, with an average of a hundred pounds of drugs all packaged up
and hidden between crates or pallets in the trailer. End result was that there were too many
working police officers involved to ignore it so the federal government was called in to run a sting
for the trucks coming across. They would sit by the fence and watch as kids with binoculars and
cell phones would go into action the minute the DOT checks were set up. Some trucks in the
hours long line would turn out of line minutes after the cell calls. When the scales were picked up
because we had an agreement with Mexico to not make any wait more than 8 hours, the "quick
turn" trucks came back. Later another big drug bust involved that trucking company.
Under the new system the Mexican trucks will cross the border, show trip papers similar to the
way a weigh station is run today then go on his way. A special "check" station has been built so
the driver will not need to get out of the truck while an inspector checks the bills of lading,
insurance certificate, driver's license and medical card. One person will be assigned to check seals
against those bills.
Those same Mexican trucks will be suspected of drugs and being havens for illegal immigrants
whether or not they are involved. Many will be guilty.
A dear friend in Los Angeles, who is a police officer, was driving her car to the truck stop to talk
with us. As she turned her car into the parking lot a truck passed her. The side bumper of that
truck fell on her car and smashed the hood and front fender. She turned and looked at the truck
plates which identified it as a Mexican truck. She tried to follow the truck but the driver ran two
lights and got on the highway. She never discovered who the driver was because the company
denied that there were any trucks in the US.
The end result will be more accidents. More trucks will be held at weigh stations for mechanical
defects. In many cases the driver will disappear while "waiting for a mechanic." Fines will
probably go unpaid as various trucks can be repainted and a new company established to continue
doing the same things. They will lose a truck in bad condition once in a while.
What will happen when Mexican drivers get I-70 in a bad storm? Few will have chains which cost
hundreds of dollars. Fewer still will put them on the truck. It is a cold, wet and difficult job. Our
old police policy was pretty good. They could ticket you for no chains, but would only do so IF
you had an accident or other mishap on the road (like taking the runaway ramp because the
brakes are out and your speed is approaching 100 MPH. ) The cost of that misadventure is quite
high and must be paid before the truck is towed off the ramp.
There will be at least one horrible accident, probably with a school bus or in an urban area, where
the driver is not able to run away. The insurance card will be a fake and the driver will not be a
legal truck driver. It is not an exaggeration to add all of this in because the Mexican companies
know what will happen and that it will cause the open border policy to be exchanged for an iron
gated fence.
Until that happens Mexican drivers will not be required to obey the restrictions on American
drivers. They don't have to take timed hours on and off duty as to Americans and they will be
bidding against American truck drivers who can't promise that delivery.
Until then measures that were proposed here would be self-defeating. Keeping trucks in the right
lane sounds great until you remember that the right lane is the most heavily used lane. Cars must
use the right lane to enter and exit the highway. In states with that lane restriction, there are many
accidents where cars try to rush into the space between trucks and make a mistake. Many of the
truck drivers try to drive outside of rush hours anyway but the highest concentration of traffic is
always in the right lane. Adding all the trucks to that is bad judgement.
If you want to understand trucking a bit better look up the CDL manual and read the sample tests.

Enjoy the part on logbooks.

Posted by momma y on September 28, 2007 01:46 AM

Momma Y--

Interesting stuff. It is frightening to think about these Mexican trucks all over this country. I smell trouble and lots of it.

For my life I can't figure how this will be any good for this country.

What on earth is going on????

Posted by cas on September 29, 2007 12:07 PM

NAFTA

Posted by momma y on September 29, 2007 02:08 PM

Nitwit Americans Failing To Act

Posted by momma y on September 29, 2007 06:08 PM

Just as in any profession, there are good and bad workers. The trucking industry has the same percentage as any other profession. However, just like a bad policeman can make all policemen look bad. a bad truck driver will give the trucking industry a bad reputation.

The vast majority of truck drivers, care and do their best to drive safely and courteously. Those who don't, generally, should not be allowed to continue to drive anything.

A recent publication, put out by the U.S. Government, has shown that since the CDL (Commercial Drivers License,) with its accompanying requirements for a regular physical and thourogh testing for knowledge and driving ability, the accident rate for the trucking industry has declined significantly.

Non-commercial traffic accident rates have increased dramatically. The amount of carnage and death from non-commercial traffic accidents is truly appalling. It has been found that a large percentage of accidents involving non-commercial and commercial traffic is caused by the non-commercial vehicle driver.

What am I saying?

Commercial vehicle standards are higher than what is required for non-commercial vehicles.

Licensing standards are higher and cost the driver more financially and time-wise than ever in my persoan knowledge of over 50 years of experience with the trucking industry.

Overall, truck drivers are safer and less likely to do something to cause an accident. Although, because of their size and weight, those accidents they are involved in tend to be more spectacular.

Posted by Bigbird on September 29, 2007 11:45 PM

I have been reading a lot of your posts, and as a new trucking student, I have found a lot of helpful information. Do you guys know of any other good websites that I could look at? Every time I type in the information that I want to look up the only thing that pops up is job offers and stuff like that. I need information on mountain driving and bad weather driving. I figure you guys in Colorado might be able to fill me in on that. Also, I am looking for good recomendations on companies in Michigan. Thanks! I enjoy reading your stuff!

Posted by alicia on October 4, 2007 01:20 PM

Posted by alicia on October 4, 2007 01:21 PM