Blue Ink Tech Blog

Being in the trucking industry one thing that drivers always have to look out for is making sure their gross and axle weights are legal. Getting overloaded can cause a lot of wasted miles and lost drive time if the only way you can get your weight is to drive off-site to a scale miles away.

We get thousands of requests from carriers and drivers who want to be able to easily get their gross and axle weights on their phones, tablets, and back office. One of the first questions people ask are "how much do the air scales cost?".

Transporting cargo on a semi-trailer comes with a host of responsibilities, one of which is ensuring the load is safely and securely covered with a tarp. Proper tarping not only protects the freight from the elements but also ensures the safety of other drivers on the road. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of proper tarping, its relation to load securement practices, and the time investment required to do it right. Finally, we will share a few dos and don'ts to help you master the art of tarping.

So far in 2022 the Department of Transportation (DOT) executed over 725,000 inspections and issued 649,000 violations to bulk commodity haulers across the US. We take a look at the numbers of inspections and violations that were held in each state and see which FMCSA BASIC measure were enforced the most.

The violations are grouped together based on which BASIC category that they fall under. Some violations do not fall under a specific BASIC category and were not counted in the tables.

The commodities that were used in this report come from the FMCSAs Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). Carriers who reported hauling the following commodities were used:

• Livestock
• Produce
• Grain/feed
• Meat
• Drybulk
• Cold food
• Beverages
• Farm supply

Read below to see how many inspections your state started and and how many of those inspections turned into violations.

Weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales are embedded scales that can weigh vehicles while they are in motion on interstate roadways. This type of scale works by using sensors in the road and imaging technology to tell what kind of vehicle is currently on the scale and how much each axle weighs. These systems can tell if a trucks load is properly balanced or heavy on an axle group which can affect handling. Some of the more sophisticated systems can tell which tires are low on pressure as well. The accuracy of weigh in motion systems are continuing to improve and can provide weights with 3% error or less.