This is a concern for me. The brakes. Without good working brakes, a big rig is a rolling death mobile. After 25 plus years wheeling these rigs around, i can tell on a pre trip inspection and a few short miles down the road if the rig has good working brakes . . . or not. Any competent trucker will know shortly after starting a run if the brakes are good. The drivers that pull off from a run and have the brakes serviced are doing what should be expected. Those that continue on with poor brakes should be taken off duty until the problem is repaired. The Feds have instituted a complex safety system, the CVSA, Commercial Vehicle Safety Association. It records any and all findings from scale inspections, roadside stops and all reportable accidents. The carriers are subject to a CVSA safety rating and as such, it is in their best interest to have good rigs with good braking systems and competent drivers (like me) who react accordingly to a bad rig on the road. Is the brake sensor system at a truck scale needed? I think not. Most big rigs today have automatic adjusters and they have proven to be quite reliable in use over the years. Previously, big rigs had manual adjusters, which meant you would crawl under the rig and hand adjust the brakes, even if it was in the mud, rain, snow, spiders etc . . . The State of Wa. is doing this as a test, but knowing how the Draconian mindset of the State DOT here, it may be in place for years to come. Time will tell.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 00:52:24 +0000
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