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Author Archives: Drew Anderson
“U.S. Constitution for $400, Alex”
The answer is: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Correct question: What is the 4th amendment?
What on earth does this have to do with driving a truck? Recently, U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank ruled the Minnesota State Patrol’s use of CVSA Level III inspections to determine fatigue violated truckers’ Fourth Amendment rights. You read that right. Read more
What A Relief!!
Today, the Commercial Carrier Journal published a story indicating that barely 12% of all carriers have any ranking at all in the 5 BASIC categories made public under the CSA initiative.
What a relief! Finally, proof that the throng of Chicken Little’s out there are mistakenly screaming “the sky is falling”. This will surely be cited by many as testament that CSA will have little or no impact versus the recently terminated SafeStat system.
With all due respect to our close friends at CCJ (roll Tide!) I would submit to you that this cursory analysis provides little solace to for-hire, LTL, and private fleets. Why you ask? How can this be? Let’s take a closer look. Read more
This is getting interesting…
This is interesting, albeit not surprising. In an alert to its members, ATA said that while it continues to have some concerns with the CSA 2010 methodology, it will not joining the other groups in challenging the program.
Read it here: 11 29 10 SPECIAL Truckline ATA
The ATA feels greater gains can and have been made by working with the agency to make needed improvements to ensure that scores are both fair and accurate.
This could get interesting….
Well, well.
From today’s CCJ: Groups set to sue FMCSA over CSA disclosure
The groups – the National Association of Small Trucking Companies, The Expedite Alliance of North America and the Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Association – argue that disclosure of the percentile rankings within the Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) and use of terms characterizing those rankings amount to a public branding of carriers as less than safe. SMS data in its current form is unsuitable for use by the public in making decisions about a carrier’s safety, and that’s FMCSA’s job anyway, they argue.
What do you think? Leave a comment and let us know.
Cargo BASIC withheld from public view?
Breaking news…..
The ATA and others have recently discussed the idea of asking the FMCSA to withhold the Cargo BASIC from public view when CSA goes live in December. The Crash BASIC was already slated to be withheld from public view.
An alert Vigillo customer pointed out the following from the CSA preview site:
We’ve seen nothing official from the Agency as yet. Let’s hope this isn’t some .html error made by the webmaster. Stay tuned!
Daily Affirmation…..with Stuart Smalley
“I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
Your CSA scores are made public on December 6th. Are you going to take Stuart’s approach when trying to explain to your customers your CSA scores? Let’s hope not. Read more
♫Mr. Sandman……Bring me a dream♫
The year was 1954.
The Chordettes recorded “Mr. Sandman” and had a best selling record on their hands. Fast forward to 2010 and we find the reincarnation of the Chordettes extolling the virtues of Mr. Sandman and the need for drivers to get their rest.
Maintain!
So……. I’m searching YouTube for videos on how to maintain things. I did not see anything on maintaining your tractor trailer. There’s probably something, but I didn’t want to scroll through 50 pages of videos. There are some interesting videos however, such as how to maintain a hot tub; dreadlocks; good posture; your new body piercing; pool table; and the fact that you should seek immediate medical attention if you maintain something lasting longer than 4 hours.
Asymmetric Luminance Steps
Our eyes can deceive and things are not always what they appear to be. Take the following optical illusion:
What appears to be moving is not. This is a static image. Part of the phenomena that makes up this illusion is called asymmetric luminance steps. I won’t even try to explain it. Just think of it as what your drivers begin to see after being stuck at the Flying J on I-84 during a 3 day ice storm. While not as visually interesting, the same phenomenon can occur in your CSA scorecards.
Mystère
I’ll admit it…I’m a fan of Cirque du Soleil. Every time I see a show all I can think is “How the heck can they do that?” They make the seemingly impossible look effortless. At the Mystere show in Las Vegas there are several scenes that seem to defy gravity.
Well, the Vigillo engineering team is known to put on their own shows from time to time and they’ve done it again with the release of the Vigillo Benchmark Scorecards.