violation .” Federal fines amount to more , by multiples , according to Zimmerman .
As for out-of-service rates , Zimmerman said , “ Every year , Albany will pull a list of companies that have gone through roadside inspections and they will rank them from worst to best .” Worst : 100 percent out of service . Best : zero percent out of service . Typically , the department performs compliance reviews on companies with an out-of-service rate that that is 75 percent or more , Zimmerman said . If a company had ten roadside inspections , and eight of them resulted in a driver / vehicle being placed out of service for one
Joe Alonzo , president and an owner of Wever Petroleum in Mechanicville , N . Y ., was awarded the ESEA ’ s Visionary Leadership Award .
PHOTO COURTESY OF ESEA . reason or another , “ That ’ s going to trigger an audit ,” Zimmerman said .
Failing to return DVERs results in an automatic fine , he added , explaining that a driver is given a roadside driver inspection report or Driver / Vehicle Examination Report after every roadside inspection .
“ The driver is required to turn it in to [ company management ], and if there are any violations on that inspection report you ’ re required to certify that they ’ ve been fixed , and send that form within sixteen days to Albany ,” Zimmerman said , adding that the report can be emailed or “ snail-mailed .”
Drivers sometimes refrain from forwarding a report if it has violations , Zimmerman noted . “ One thing that we found doing these reviews is , companies will say , ‘ I ’ ve had 200 DVERs and I ’ ve only been sent back ten , and it ’ s the same driver .’”
Sometimes it turns out that the driver did not turn in the report or reports because they figured they “ might get in trouble because he or she had violations ,” Zimmerman said . Nevertheless , he said , managers should “ stress the importance to the driver of turning these in .”
Failing to correct out of service defects found in roadside inspections also triggers an audit . If a driver is placed out of service , or a vehicle is placed out of service , the defect has to be corrected before the truck leaves the site of the roadside inspection , Zimmerman said .
“ If for some reason the driver leaves while we ’ re there or the driver waits until we ’ re gone , and then leaves , and that driver ’ s then caught with the same defects , that ’ s going to trigger an audit , and that ’ s also an automatic fine by
DOT ,” he said .
A company that is undergoing a compliance review because of a crash should know that the state DOT ’ s procedure includes an examination of :
Driver Qualification File – proof that the driver was qualified to be driving the vehicle at the time of the crash . Drug and Alcohol Results – proof that the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash . Hours of Service – proof that the driver was not fatigued at the time of the crash . Maintenance Records – proof that the vehicle was safe to be on the road at the time of the crash
Zimmerman offered some suggestions about the driver qualification file , including that sample forms can be downloaded from the FMCSA website .
One of the forms is the driver employment application . “ We typically find this to be in violation when we ’ re looking at driver files ,” Zimmerman said . “ It can ’ t be an application that you get from Staples or Kinko ’ s . DOT is very specific as to what an application for employment has to have .”
A previous employer safety check is also required as part of the driver qualification file . “ Within thirty days of hiring , you have to do a background check on your driver for every commercial vehicle employer that that driver drove for in the past three years ,” Zimmerman said . l FON
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