I got a ticket the other day for not producing “Schedule 1.” The officer said something about a checklist for checking out the truck. I thought that’s what the Pre trip form is for! He asked if I had been trained for pre trip at work. I said I knew all that from when I got my class 1. I had to do that on my road test. The officer asked if my company had trained me. I said I did well on my evaluation drive and the trainer said “good enough.” The officer said “Probably not.” The company should have trained you to do the full trip inspection including a lesson on form filling and use of Schedule One. They probably should have reviewed with you how to measure pushrod travel at your brake chambers. Some companies require their drivers to use schedule one to identify and “code” the defects they report. The code comes from Schedule One (NSC 13, Part 2). When you have a light burnt out and I pull you over I expect to see a comment on the Daily Vehicle Inspection Report about the burnt out bulb, and maybe a code 18.1. If you don’t consult Schedule one when you have a problem, how do you know if you can continue with the trip? If the front right signal isn’t flashing, is it okay to proceed? Even if you do carry on with the trip, the company is required to fix it before the next inspection. Did you know that?
I asked the officer to tell me where I was supposed to find this Schedule 1. He asked me for my Vehicle Inspection Report book, and opened it up to the back cover and showed me the list of 23 items on a chart. So I checked out the broken signal light bulb scenario and found out that if the front bulb is out that is a minor defect. But if a rear signal light is burnt out, I can’t go anywhere until its fixed.
The officer added that if that happened, and I fixed the bulb, I should note the fact that I fixed it down in the remarks section of the pre trip report, and attach the receipt. The maintenance guy would appreciate that for his records the next time the Auditor blows through his office.
That was an expensive lesson. I think the ticket cost me 260 bucks. I could have taken the whole course for $100. So I asked him if he had any other tips for my expensive lesson. He said “Sure. If a tire has less than 50% pressure you can park the truck till you get it fixed. If more than 20% of your brakes have problems you can park it. If you have no taillights, you can park it. If you have a cracked mainspring, you can park it. If you have a dripping fuel tank you can park it. If your low air warning doesn’t work, you can park it. If you have a pushrod that exceeds the travel limit, you can park it.”
“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, enough already, I can’t remember all that?!’’ I said.
“That’s why you have to have Schedule One IN THE TRUCK!” Responded the officer.
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