By: G. Ray Gompf, CD
This is another issue where the 90/10 rule applies. Ten percent of those in the industry cause the other ninety percent to have unreasonable rules imposed on them because that other ten percent don’t think the rules apply to them.
I drove home to Ottawa after the truck show recently. I don’t use the 401/416 route for several reasons; one, Highway 7 with its slower speed limit saves me fuel. So, it takes me a few minutes longer, but I’m not in a hurry. Second, my vehicle is highly subjected to wind. There usually is less wind farther away from the lake, so I prefer the quieter route. I drive the speed limit, not by the speedometer but by my GPS on my device. When I can, I employ cruise control. That big 454 Chevy under the hood is a thirsty girl. I explain that to say nobody else on Highway 7 followed the speed limit and enforcement was absolutely non-existent. Vehicles of all shapes and sizes passed me, safe or not. Double lines meant nothing.
All that to say, fines for traffic violations are a joke for that 10% who simply don’t care about the rules and many of the 90% who mostly follow the rules. That’s not the biggest axe to grind within our industry.
Fines are simply a way for asking the 90% to follow the rules and let the 10% pay additionally for ignoring them. The thing is that 10% looks at a fine for an individual charge is simply considered “a dime a time”. Fines should be crushing and enforced with vengeance because the ten percent shouldn’t have the opportunity to say a dime a time. That’s never going happen because our governments only hire a number of enforcement folk on a ratio of those people they’re about to serve. In high density areas, that ratio is probably adequate; but in sparsely populated areas, one could go a lifetime without having someone in enforcement crossing their path.
For the 90% who drive well but make mistakes, the fine is a slap in the wallet. I have trucked for nearly forty years and never paid even one fine. No, I never got written up where I had to pay a fine. I’m one of the ninety percent. So, it doesn’t matter to me that in Ontario the fine for 50 km/h over the limit is five figures and the vehicle is impounded. I’m never going to be more than five km/h over and for only a matter of seconds.
The fleets that monitor their drivers speed daily by plugging into the black box know the difference between the occasional overspeed and habitual overspeed and can make their own corporate level policies to curb the 10% careless drivers.
Traffic management isn’t the only place fines can be a cost of doing business. Compliance issues can and should be pricey. Safety and maintenance issues also should be equally pricey. There must be a mechanism to bring those 10% to heel and seemly the only carrot that works for them is to keep fining them until they fall in line. That 10% are also the companies that are subjected to facility audits, checking the compliance issues. The paper trails give them away under audit and fines can be retroactive during audits.
Back in the day, I have worked for some pretty sleazy operators. When logbooks were a thing, I had a sleaze bag tell me to throw my logbook away because the fine for a no logbook violation was less than not having an incriminating logbook. He may have been able to exert pressure on a lesser experienced driver, but that wasn’t me. I stopped at the scale and suggested a facility audit for the company. The facility audit resulted in a six-figure fine. After I reported the company to MTO, I quit and found another job. Life is too short to have to work for bad companies. That bad company I reported declared bankruptcy and continues his sleazy ways under new names. I lost some wages but not my dignity. Drivers, if you think your employer is a sleaze, complain to authorities for a facility audit. You will quite likely need a new job but you’re employable virtually anywhere; the sleaze will have their wings clipped and maybe forever.
