If you have been driving a truck for any amount of time then you have probably found yourself overloaded at some point. Shippers are moving more cargo faster than ever and many times it is the driver that has to deal with the consequences. With weight limits and road restrictions it's hard for drivers to know how much they are actually hauling. Trying to figure out how much a truck weighs is a job itself. Mechanical pressure gauges read different from trailer to trailer and trying to remember calibrations is almost impossible. If a driver finds out they are overweight the whole day can be wasted trying to fix the issue. Below are some of the cost that are hidden when being overloaded.
Last year DOT officers wrote 175,997 violations for tire related issues. Of those violations over 113,000 came from just ten states. Below are the top 3 tire violations issued in each state. Do you travel in these states regularly? If so, you may want to make sure your tires are up to par. Share some of your tire related stories in the comments below.
When I was a kid, like a lot of other little boys, I loved Hot Wheels. I would play with those little cars for hours, ramping them off stuff, making little motor noises, and sliding them around doing impossible turns. I remember one day coming downstairs and excitedly telling my dad that we should get wheels like Hot Wheels had. My dad’s pickup had suffered a blowout a few days before, and he was in a bad mood about it. I thought we could get solid plastic wheels, and solve the problem forever. After all, my Hot Wheels never got flat tires.
A lot of people really hate ELDs. If you’re a driver, a dispatcher, or an administrator, that’s not news to you. Not everyone hates them, of course. A recent survey reported by FleetOwner found an industry split on whether ELDs are good or bad. 47% of respondents said yes, they’re good for the industry, 38% said no, and the remaining 15% were unsure.
So, what are some of the reasons for the hate, and how do they look after a full year of the mandate enforcement? Some drivers would tell you it’s about privacy. Others would tell you they just don’t want to deal with a computer in their truck. But for most drivers, at least the ones I’ve talked to, the issue seems to come down to how ELDs impact time management.
In a perfect world, every truck would be filled to capacity on every run. Shippers would always have a door open when drivers arrived, and trucks would be loaded quickly and evenly every time. You’d never have to worry about things like axle-weights, and the only bears in the woods would be looking for picnic baskets.