I was wondering on that question this week and I am asking you to think about it too. I have put as head liner the bumper sticker that OOIDA gives away to promote the “Run Compliant” program. This says a lot and we read beyond the message to see the big picture.
The first thing a professional driver should do, keep a legal log book. I can hear you sitting in front of your keyboards…Please watch you vocabularies…It isn’t nice for the ears…
I am also one that makes a living driving a big truck and I know that when the wheels don’t turn, there are no incoming revenues. Being between two contracts and facing all kinds of twists and turns that are keeping me at home, I will be tempted to bend and stretch the creativity of my log. But guess what? I won’t. I did it before and I am still alive, hate well every day and I faced my financial duties just the same. I will admit that I did cut on some fancy stuff. I still have a laptop that is over 3 years old, I am not on the cutting edge of communication technologies such as Blackberry, satellite internet or TV.
Running compliant is also to drive at posted speed limits. I know some states and provinces do have some tolerance. I do use some of it but, 100Km/h is not 120. Without claiming to be a scientific analyst, I do read local papers and watch newscasts here and there and, on many Mondays, I noticed that most fatal accidents did occur on secondary highways, in towns or cities. When a wreck happens on a limited access highway, it’s a bad one. These are usually caused by driving too fast for the conditions or, simply by following too closely.
In a nut shell, running compliant pays is less stressful and mostly safer!
On these words, you all have a good road safety week and a good road safety year.
Jean Catudal
