Friday
I was pulled over in the semi yesterday by AZ DPS officer. These are the guys whose almost sole job is to pull over commercial vehicles and do inspections.
And, as is their custom, they will always find something wrong with your truck so as to either write up a citation or give you a warning.
I was given 2 warnings yesterday, thanks a lot, there goes my bonus next month, next?
The first warning, and this after the guy spent 40 minutes inspecting the truck, the tractor and the load to the nth degree, was for a strap that had a slit in it. After looking at the strap, I concluded that it was still legally usable. 3/4's of an inch. Further, the cargo that that strap was tying down? Had TWO straps on it. In the case of that cargo, which was a crate holding 3 small check valves weighing at most 500 pounds, ONE strap was legally enough to secure it. The cargo was over-strapped - a thing of which the officer complimented me on and then gives me the warning.
Whatever.
The second warning irritated me. You see, this officer followed me for almost 10 MILES before he pulled me over. Why he did that, I have no clue. He handed me the warnings and I looked at the second "infraction". It said I had followed too closely to a tractor-trailer rig in front me.
BUNK. I asked him WHERE this alleged activity took place. He told me where SR87 meets SR387. Yes, there was a tractor-trailer rig in front of me, yes I had PLENTY of room in front of me. The officer allegedly clocked me at 2.57 seconds distance behind the truck.
First off, the truck in front of me had started slowing down to turn off of SR87 onto SR387. He did not slow down using the footbrake, he began braking using the engine brake. When a truck in front of me does that, it takes a second to recognize that that truck is slowing down - the brake lights do not come on with the engine brake.
Second, this DPS officer was sitting in his pickup about 300 feet off the road semi-facing south. We were coming from the north. At the point where this officer would have been able to see both trucks, I would have been going between 10 and 15 miles per hour. That's right, the driver of the truck in front of me slowed WAY down, he was going maybe 5 mph when he made that turn, I was just rolling behind him waiting for him to clear the road.
I got into a discussion with this officer about that one. That will not look good to my company, following too closely that is. I stated to him the same thing I already wrote: by the time he would have been able to see me, I would have been going no more than 10mph. He stated that "he didn't know how fast I was going". PLEASE.
I was pulled over in the semi yesterday by AZ DPS officer. These are the guys whose almost sole job is to pull over commercial vehicles and do inspections.
And, as is their custom, they will always find something wrong with your truck so as to either write up a citation or give you a warning.
I was given 2 warnings yesterday, thanks a lot, there goes my bonus next month, next?
The first warning, and this after the guy spent 40 minutes inspecting the truck, the tractor and the load to the nth degree, was for a strap that had a slit in it. After looking at the strap, I concluded that it was still legally usable. 3/4's of an inch. Further, the cargo that that strap was tying down? Had TWO straps on it. In the case of that cargo, which was a crate holding 3 small check valves weighing at most 500 pounds, ONE strap was legally enough to secure it. The cargo was over-strapped - a thing of which the officer complimented me on and then gives me the warning.
Whatever.
The second warning irritated me. You see, this officer followed me for almost 10 MILES before he pulled me over. Why he did that, I have no clue. He handed me the warnings and I looked at the second "infraction". It said I had followed too closely to a tractor-trailer rig in front me.
BUNK. I asked him WHERE this alleged activity took place. He told me where SR87 meets SR387. Yes, there was a tractor-trailer rig in front of me, yes I had PLENTY of room in front of me. The officer allegedly clocked me at 2.57 seconds distance behind the truck.
First off, the truck in front of me had started slowing down to turn off of SR87 onto SR387. He did not slow down using the footbrake, he began braking using the engine brake. When a truck in front of me does that, it takes a second to recognize that that truck is slowing down - the brake lights do not come on with the engine brake.
Second, this DPS officer was sitting in his pickup about 300 feet off the road semi-facing south. We were coming from the north. At the point where this officer would have been able to see both trucks, I would have been going between 10 and 15 miles per hour. That's right, the driver of the truck in front of me slowed WAY down, he was going maybe 5 mph when he made that turn, I was just rolling behind him waiting for him to clear the road.
I got into a discussion with this officer about that one. That will not look good to my company, following too closely that is. I stated to him the same thing I already wrote: by the time he would have been able to see me, I would have been going no more than 10mph. He stated that "he didn't know how fast I was going". PLEASE.
Don't tell me they don't have a good estimate of how fast a vehicle is going - that's a 6th sense they get after being out there for a long time, looking at vehicles and estimating pretty close how fast they are going. The fact that he stated that he didn't know how fast I was going was what got me going. He KNEW how fast I was going and IF I had been less than 3 seconds behind that truck, it was because we were going SO slow, even if that driver had slammed on his brakes I would have been able to stop before hitting him.
I brought that up as well. He didn't have an answer for it. I then told him these warnings were going to cost me my bonus. He looked at me in shock, but there was no retraction. If they had been citations I would have seen the guy in court, guaranteed. With warnings, I don't know that you can fight them because that's all they are: warnings. At the same time, I lose an entire week's worth of pay that I would have gotten next month for being a safe driver, which I still conclude that I am regardless of this guy's warnings.
Nice way to start the day, it was around 7:00am when this occured. After leaving, I go to the job site with the load and find no supers or foremen there for this company. Only workers. That can sometimes be a bad thing. Well, I was delivering some pipe (as well as a lot of other stuff on the truck). There were 2 different kinds of pipe - different ratings on it - that look EXACTLY the same as each other.
I pointed this out. This is class 52 pipe, this is class 350 pipe, don't mix them up. What do they do? Mix them up. I pointed it out for about the 5th time when another guy walked up, who got into an argument with the backhoe operator, who started yelling at another guy, who started yelling back.
I might have found these morons entertaining, throwing hard hats down, kicking dirt, hurling insults at each other but the encounter with the DPS officer had put me in a bad mood. Watching a bunch of clowns get into a pissing match wasn't top on my list of things to do.
That is what happens when there isn't a forman or a superintendant around to monitor them. I noted on the paperwork that the pipe had been mixed together. This because the super will eventually call and ask where his class 52 pipe is. It is thicker walled pipe and can take both more water pressure internally and also more abuse from traffic above it underground. Mostly, I think it's used to cross underneath roads. Then back to the regular class 350.
Whatever the case, it costs more. At least the pipe is marked, albeit you have to know where to look. I showed this guy - this was like the 5th time now - where the markings were on the pipe, where all 5 sticks were.
Got that truck unloaded and got the bleep out of there.
That was it. There were other deliveries but they had to get out so salesmen ended up delivering them. By the time I got back, it was almost time to go home - I am over hours and had to leave early yesterday and will have to leave early today as well.
And with that, the weekend is almost here.
The news is rife with garbage. "New report: Dream Act to cost taxpayers billions". No kidding? What, is this supposed to shock anyone? Is there ANYTHING that the government does that doesn't cost a buildingful of money?
Pollution. We get these advisories every winter. Pollution settles into the valley and doesn't go anywhere. Pollution advisories are issued - they are expecting this year to be particularly bad for whatever reason. Nice, breath in that wonderful, polluted air. Just another reason I would love to leave the Phoenix area permanently.
Whatever. No plans for the weekend besides usual stuff. Still responding to respondants who are interested - referring to "Plenty of Fish". One of them looks intriguing at least.
G'day.
ben
I brought that up as well. He didn't have an answer for it. I then told him these warnings were going to cost me my bonus. He looked at me in shock, but there was no retraction. If they had been citations I would have seen the guy in court, guaranteed. With warnings, I don't know that you can fight them because that's all they are: warnings. At the same time, I lose an entire week's worth of pay that I would have gotten next month for being a safe driver, which I still conclude that I am regardless of this guy's warnings.
Nice way to start the day, it was around 7:00am when this occured. After leaving, I go to the job site with the load and find no supers or foremen there for this company. Only workers. That can sometimes be a bad thing. Well, I was delivering some pipe (as well as a lot of other stuff on the truck). There were 2 different kinds of pipe - different ratings on it - that look EXACTLY the same as each other.
I pointed this out. This is class 52 pipe, this is class 350 pipe, don't mix them up. What do they do? Mix them up. I pointed it out for about the 5th time when another guy walked up, who got into an argument with the backhoe operator, who started yelling at another guy, who started yelling back.
I might have found these morons entertaining, throwing hard hats down, kicking dirt, hurling insults at each other but the encounter with the DPS officer had put me in a bad mood. Watching a bunch of clowns get into a pissing match wasn't top on my list of things to do.
That is what happens when there isn't a forman or a superintendant around to monitor them. I noted on the paperwork that the pipe had been mixed together. This because the super will eventually call and ask where his class 52 pipe is. It is thicker walled pipe and can take both more water pressure internally and also more abuse from traffic above it underground. Mostly, I think it's used to cross underneath roads. Then back to the regular class 350.
Whatever the case, it costs more. At least the pipe is marked, albeit you have to know where to look. I showed this guy - this was like the 5th time now - where the markings were on the pipe, where all 5 sticks were.
Got that truck unloaded and got the bleep out of there.
That was it. There were other deliveries but they had to get out so salesmen ended up delivering them. By the time I got back, it was almost time to go home - I am over hours and had to leave early yesterday and will have to leave early today as well.
And with that, the weekend is almost here.
The news is rife with garbage. "New report: Dream Act to cost taxpayers billions". No kidding? What, is this supposed to shock anyone? Is there ANYTHING that the government does that doesn't cost a buildingful of money?
Pollution. We get these advisories every winter. Pollution settles into the valley and doesn't go anywhere. Pollution advisories are issued - they are expecting this year to be particularly bad for whatever reason. Nice, breath in that wonderful, polluted air. Just another reason I would love to leave the Phoenix area permanently.
Whatever. No plans for the weekend besides usual stuff. Still responding to respondants who are interested - referring to "Plenty of Fish". One of them looks intriguing at least.
G'day.
ben
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