12/04/2025
Today we had a very close call for one of our drivers. Thankfully he was able to walk away from this accident.
When the camera cuts out, that's the impact.
The other driver walked away as well, but some facts to share:
-We were hit by another frac sand hauler with a conditional safety rating
-The driver has an international CDL
-Could not speak any English that we could verify
-No ELD device to verify
-Went left of center to either pass our driver, or nearly rear-ended him so at the last minute decided to swerve left of center, as we mentioned, no English so no one could verify based on any explanation from him
-No ticket was issued to the other driver
-The officer said he would not put anyone at fault, it was up to insurance to make that determination, it was also a difficult language barrier with the officer
If we do not level the playing field, what is the point for us other carriers who are following the rules and regulations of to go through such lengths of passing audits and being in complete compliance? Where do we see us winning out in the end because we are following the laws as we expected to? Why is carrier like this getting paid the same rates as we are while we apparently have a better safety culture? If you hire 2 people for a job, one has more experience and more credentials, wouldn't it make sense they make more than the other?
The outrage so many truckers feel has hit home for us. We have been feeling the affects of cheaper rates due to cheaper labor from competing carriers. Our drivers have a hard time accepting they are getting paid less and less due to other truckers who dont pay taxes like they do, who operate at a much lower cost due to cheaper labor costs. Is the solution simply telling our drivers "tough beans, live even lower than your means so your family doesn't suffer?" Is the solution to ignore the ELD mandate rules or time card rules and let the drivers run 24/7 and outlaw, like a lot of these competing carriers? I'm here to say, that is NOT a solution...its easy to publicly view any carriers safety rating on the FMCSA website, simply click on carrier search, type their name or DOT #, and click SMS results. No carrier is perfect. In oilfield, it's expected to have blemishes, especially in maintenance related violations. But a conditional rating is all due to in-house office personnel. Where a carriers safety culture starts.
please continue to fight for us carriers who abide by the rules. Level this playing field.