Commentary: Over-Regulation and Idiotic Enforcement

17 Aug by Vitaliy Dadalyan

Commentary: Over-Regulation and Idiotic Enforcement

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Rolf Lockwood

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Rolf Lockwood

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Gallons of ink have been consumed in bitching about the extreme over-regulation of this industry. Ink and a lot of hot air. But we’re right to bitch and moan.

The nuclear-power world is full of rules and regs, too. Possibly — but only possibly — more than we face. At least there’s an obvious calamity quotient there. Sure, our trucks can do damage in a bunch of ways, but the controls outweigh the risk we represent by a factor of about five gazillion to one. And they’re driving people away from trucking. The headaches are just too many.

Case in point: scalehouse inspectors and other enforcement folks who don’t know their stuff. If we’re going to have all these rules, can we please have them applied fairly and correctly?

You don’t know how many letters and calls and e-mails I get from drivers, owner-operators, and fleet managers who say they’ve been poorly served at this scale or that. Yes, we rarely hear the other side, and no doubt some of the complaints I receive are misplaced, misguided, or just plain wrong. I understand that the inspection/enforcement job is a very tough one. I’m also sure that most people doing this thankless job take it seriously and make the effort to understand the laws they enforce.

But not all of them.

Take this true case from a few years ago, about an absurd ticket handed out by police in a sizeable city. It has nothing to do with trucking, but it easily could. A 77-year-old guy — with but one ticket in 61 years at the wheel – was nailed for talking on his cell phone while driving. Thing is, he does not and never has owned a cell phone. He figured it was a clear case of a ticket quota at work, …Read the rest of this story

Source:: http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/fleet-management/article/story/2017/08/commentary-over-regulation-and-idiotic-enforcement.aspx