Carriers are still attempting to lead CSA rather than follow CSA. That is the failure of the FMCSA. It is almost like the FMCSA is setting up carriers for the fall. The traps have been loaded and as soon as they see a carrier cross this imaginary line, which has proven not to be the threshold line, they hit the carrier hard.

Recently a carrier in Canada who had been over the fatigued driver BASIC threshold for several months was fined $55,000 for a driver HOS infraction. This was out of the blue, no warning call, no warning letter. The FMCSA agents laughed in the face of the Safety Manager when they were asked why every time their trucks crossed the border they were inspected without any cause.

Thousands of carriers in the U.S. are sitting in much worse shape at the moment. If congress fails to fund the transportation budget again this year which most people think will happen then carriers will be left to fund the transportation bill and that won't be pretty.

The biggest problem for carriers right now is their failure to educate drivers. If a carrier is still having issues with equipment after a year of CSA, it is likely they won't be staying in trucking much longer.

Driver training can be time consuming and costly but drivers can be trained. The FMCSA failed to give carriers the information needed to train their drivers. Carriers can either be informed or they cannot. I believe any carrier over on BASIC's right now other than the driver BASIC's are just refusing to be informed of CSA the way it is written.

HIPPA has been stripped of its power to protect driver’s medical rights because of the CSA drug testing rules. Yet the FMCSA demands all of the medical records. CSA rules have stripped drivers of the constitutional right of being heard by a jury of their peers and then sentenced by a judge. I point these transgressions out not because CSA is all bad but that the FMCSA refuses to listen to any reason at all about fixing the issues that exist.

I think it is very clear that the FMCSA is setting up land mines so they can farm transportation at will. I see a lot of problems with the FMCSA picking and choosing carriers to fine based on some reason other than the published guidelines. They have become the FMCSA BOOGYMAN! No rhyme, no reason, just imposing their will chasing elusive numbers that a bunch of part time college kids made up without understanding the trucking industry. Lead by Ray LaHood, the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz. His motto, “if I only had a brain!”