Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) hosted an educational seminar on March 29 at the Tim Hortons Distribution Centre in Guelph, Ont. Kerri Wirachowsky of the MTO spoke to attendees about what fleets and drivers can do to avoid getting ticketed during inspections.<\/p>\n
She shared that there are many ways to get out of and avoid what Wirachowski called \u201csimple violations\u201d and offered advice to the audience.<\/p>\n
Keep your attitude in check:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Wirachowski highlighted, drivers that are honest and that don\u2019t give an attitude to officers, often do better during a roadside inspection because the process is smoother.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m interviewing a driver and all of his stuff is in a row, the inspection tends to go well\u2026but when I\u2019m asking him where he\u2019s coming from and where he\u2019s going and he doesn\u2019t want to tell me anything, things go sideways,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n As soon as the driver hints that he\/she is not going to be cooperative in the inspection, Wiraskowski said it sets the tone for how the rest of the (now) lengthy inspection will go.<\/p>\n Be prepared and organized:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Drivers who know where to find the needed documentation and present it to inspectors in a neat, organized binder often do well in an inspection.<\/strong><\/p>\n Not being organized is one of the main reasons why violations are issued, according to Wirachowski. She stressed when an officer asks for documents like insurance cards and CVOR certificates that it is presented in an organized binder, all valid documentation is accessible, and that the operator name is the same on all documents (log book, CVOR, insurance card.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing more of, is the operator name is similar, but they\u2019re all slightly different on each document\u2026and then we\u2019re on the side of the road trying to figure out which name is the legal entity,\u201d she said. She also warned about presenting faded trailer registrations. A rule to remember is: if it\u2019s not legible, it is a chargeable offence.<\/p>\n Get technical:<\/strong><\/p>\n Knowing the truck you\u2019re driving is paramount during an inspection, added Wirachowski.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cMake sure your drivers are familiar with the truck,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m standing there with a driver and he\u2019s telling me he did his pre-trip today and he didn\u2019t know how to hit the lights or didn\u2019t know where the horn was or he didn\u2019t know how to pop the hood\u2026I\u2019m thinking how good of a trip inspection did you do? Trust me that is a signal to me that he doesn\u2019t know that truck at all.\u201d Educating drivers that they should know how each and every truck they are driving works will help you avoid charges, she added.<\/p>\n As well, with more fleets adopting ELDs comes a whole new set of problems. Wirachowski stressed that drivers should know how to use the EOBR once your fleet decides to adopt them.<\/p>\n Source: trucknews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC) hosted an educational seminar on March 29 at the Tim Hortons Distribution Centre in Guelph, Ont. Kerri…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n