Dashboard Confidential – August/September 2023
Safety has always been a major priority in my daily course of operations. Starting with the thorough pre-trip inspection before rolling out. Doing a walk-around every time I stop, be it for fuel, coffee or even just the 30-minute logbook break. I can’t count the times that what looks like a rock in the tire tread turns out to be a nail or rivet shank. It’s free and has saved me flat tires or other maintenance issues.
Being kind of an odd duck, I volunteer for inspections. I like the new current CVSA sticker, and, as an added plus, my company pays a bonus. Lately I have found fewer and fewer inspectors who will do a volunteer inspection. I can honestly say that in 50-plus years I have never had a violation that put me out of service. Until last week.
I had picked up an empty flatbed in Minnesota that was a corporate move to one of the big hardware store chains in Oklahoma. The town had been hit by a tornado, and the store had severe damage and had lost some equipment. I was bringing them a replacement. Performing my usual pre-trip at pick up, it all checked out fine. Good tires, wheel fasteners, lights, hoses, current annual inspection, everything was good to go. The minor flaw was the spring in the cap on the trailer light plug receptacle that traps the pigtail end was a little loose, but it didn’t look like an issue.
Getting south of Des Moines, Iowa, completed my day, and I found a nice little mom-and-pop stop to park for the night. The next morning, doing my usual pre-trip, everything looked good.
My Kenworth has a great feature that, with the flip of a switch, will check all lights – markers, high and low beams, brake lights, four-ways – all without getting in and out of the cab.
Love it. Bringing my e-log up to the minute and adding the pre-trip, it was time to roll.
I-35 was its usual bumpy self and pulling an empty flatbed made it rougher, but I won’t complain. Weaving my way through the east side of Kansas City, down I-435 to I-49 there was not much traffic, so that was a plus. Approaching the southbound Harrisonville, Mo., weigh station, Pre-Pass was turned off, so all trucks must enter, including my empty flatbed. Pulling onto the small axle scale, the officer weighed each axle individually. With the front trailer axle on the scale, the officer told me to halt and keep my foot on the brake. He exited the building, stood on the right side of my truck and took a picture. I was told to park and bring in everything.
Gathering up what I needed, I shut the truck off and, walking back, glanced over to see the pigtail (light cord) laying on my deck plate. I plugged it back in and quietly said “uh-oh.”
Reporting inside, I met Officer Colman. Friendly, cordial and matter of fact. He informed me that I had no brake lights, and we would walk outside to do a Level 2 inspection. All lights were working, as were the horns and wipers. I then emailed my logs to the officer, and we went back inside. Officer Colman then went over my logs, commented that I don’t work very hard, and we exchanged “good ol’ days” stories and had a few laughs. At that point, the good officer printed out the inspection form and I was informed that I had been put out of service for no brake lights.
The good news was my out-of-service violation only lasted for two minutes, as my brake lights were, in fact, now working at the time of the inspection, but were not when I was on “his” scale.
I was free to go. I did secure the plug and pigtail with a tie-wrap to be sure that it doesn’t happen again. Hindsight being 20-20, I should have done that when I hooked up to the unit in Minnesota. Even stranger, or maybe not, as I was updating my e-log from inspection mode, a flatbed parked beside me and – wait for it – his pigtail was laying on his deck plate and Officer Colman was in hot pursuit.
I take what I do very seriously and safety, again, is most important, so I understand the whys and wherefores of my cardinal sin. And, true enough, I was in violation and paid the price, at least on paper. I sent the inspection report to my safety department, and they required a written explanation of the heinous act and repairs. Quite simply, “I PLUGGED IT BACK IN.” Several days later, I got a call from my safety peeps and got quizzed on the issue and the repairs and had to make a statement. Quite simply, “I PLUGGED IT BACK IN.” LL