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Will CSA 2010 affect You ?
Yes it will Well by now (6/2011) you have heard of the new CSA program tracking violations of drivers and companies.
Many truckers are doing their best trying to follow and comply with the state DOT rules. Are the escorts doing the same ?
Don't bet your CDL on it ! Make sure your escorts are certified,insured and equipped to comply with the state laws
you travel thru. If they don't comply, call for another escort and keep yourself legal. Many escorts simply don't
care if you get a permit violation as the fines will be paid by you and not the escort. Beware drivers, not all
escort services operate legal in the states they operate.
Do you care ? Most Escorts Don't ! Most escort services do not have the proper insurance to cover their business
operations . Many truckers have been fooled into thinking an escort that advertises one million insurance is properly
covered and that is simply not true. For years escorts have resisted the industries need to be properly insured with General
and Professional Liability insurance with bad advice coming from some escort services that simply want the cheapest escorts
they can find. Increased insurance costs would force those services to pay more for the escorts they use and so far most are
satisfied sending escorts without proper insurance. That 1 million insurance policy will not cover the escort when they are
flagging traffic, running high pole or doing route surveys or for their failure to advise you of obstacles that you end up
hitting. Be Careful Drivers, Not All Escorts are
Does Your Trucker Care ? Truckers have made great strides in highway safety over the last decade while escorts
have pretty much resisted every change mentioned. The National Transportation Safety Board recommended escorts get better
training and 10 years later we still have escort services sending out non certified escorts. They don't care. We
still have Railroad crossing accidents with oversize loads, we still have escorts taking trucks off permitted routes and we
still have escorts not getting proper rest to insure they are alert enough to perform the duties. When was the last time you
saw an escort sleeping in their vehicle ? It has become common for escorts to sleep in their vehicles trying to
save motel money to make up for low mileage rates offered by some services. You as a trucker know the rules the DOT has made
with regard to your sleeper configuration and most escort vehicles don't comply with any kind of rules for sleeping space.
In other words, you know you can't get proper rest in a daycab but escorts think they can sleep in their vehicles and be totally
refreshed ready for work the next day. And if you ask escorts you might hear all kind of horror stories about bad
hotels with bed bugs, parking lot thieves and of course it's too far to get a hotel. All nothing but excuses from an industry
crying for help on behalf of escorts across the country.
Do your part driver. When you request an escort ask for a certified, insured and properly equipped escort and
check him/her out when they show up for work. Don't rely upon an escort service to just do the right thing. One service made
it very clear to truckers that unless they ask for a certified escort they may get the pizza delivery guy to get them out
of Texas.
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