3 Mistakes When Picking DOT Compliance Companies
Should you manage Driver Qualification Compliance or outsource it? The answer to that question is what will you do with that time and does it bring th...
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Should you manage Driver Qualification Compliance or outsource it? The answer to that question is what will you do with that time and does it bring th...
Other than maybe an office party on your last day before retirement, you don’t want any surprises as a motor carrier Safety Director.
You know the old saying: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure?”
As a Safety Director, you spend a lot of your day as the Chief Firefighter. You have to grow the fleet, reduce accidents and remain DOT compliant, amo...
For the passenger motor carriers who run in the state of New York, Article 19-A is a pain to manage. There is a lot of redundancy to the FMCSA Driver ...
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) are a set of rules and guidelines established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...
AvatarFleet's A-Suite Comply proved to be a game-changer for GO Riteway during a recent Department of Transportation (DOT) audit. Despite receiving sh...
Summary: The cost of driver compliance software can range between $150-$1,200 per month, or $1,800-$14,000 annually. This does not include the cost of...
Transitioning your DQ Files from paper or a local drive to software may seem like a daunting leap. It’s a common feeling if you're not tech-savvy or h...
Want to print out the DQ File Checklist? Download the free PDF by clicking below:
We’re over a month into 2023, so it’s time to take the pulse of the trucking industry. Unfortunately, it appears that the industry’s crystal ball is f...
The FMCSA is making changes to 49 CFR 391.23 which outlines the requirements for Previous Employer Verifications.
In the first week of operation, the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse identified nearly 8,000 substance abuse violations in professional drivers. T...
Excel spreadsheets, downloadable PDFs, and website form captures aren’t the industry standard anymore. These processes are cumbersome, take a lot of e...
The DOT driver physical is an important part of keeping America’s roads and highways safe. That being said, it can be a hurdle for companies and drive...
For the most recent episode of Solving the Driver Problem, Scott Rea met with Bluewire’s CEO, Steve Bryan.
On June 22nd, 2022, AvatarFleet leaders Scott Rea and Mark G. Gardner discussed recruiting, compliance, training, and nuclear verdicts with Bluewire.
Hiring enough drivers to keep up with demand isn’t easy. It feels impossible most days. That’s why it’s all the more frustrating when you’re ready to ...
There are major changes to the Annual Record of Violations Requirement. What does it mean for the transportation industry and companies like you?
Trucking companies face massive risk from aggressive plaintiff attorneys and nuclear verdicts. The FMCSA isn’t the main boogie-man anymore. It’s lawye...
No one has ever accused the government of being cutting-edge technology adopters. Without a literal act of Congress, the FMCSA will have to audit your...
The audit is a fact of life. The Department of Transportation (DOT) takes its role as federal regulations arbiter very seriously and conducts its nece...
The 2022 International Roadcheck is scheduled for May 17th - 19th. This year’s focus will be on wheel-end components. If you want to avoid costly fine...
When you have an accident, the last thing you need is a plaintiff attorney named The Hammer knocking on your door and sniffing around your Driver Qual...
Failure to properly secure cargo/loads can result in hefty fines. Worse yet, improper securement can cause serious accidents and injuries. It can even...
The biggest fear for most fleets is a massive DOT violation. There’s an issue with your drug & alcohol testing policy, a driver who is out of comp...
CSA violations are one of many things that can keep a fleet manager up at night. They range from burdensome all the way to crippling. They could even ...
In order to avoid hefty fines and stay in compliance, you need to stay informed on the DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse going into 2022. We’ll help ...
Like most people in the trucking industry, the idea of an audit probably makes your skin crawl. However, we’re not talking about the DOT. We’re talkin...
The FMCSA will roll out new Entry Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations that take effect on February 7, 2022. What does this mean for your company?
What would happen to your company if you were handed a $1 billion verdict in a court case? It sounds far-fetched, but today it’s a reality. A Florida ...
Earn points towards NATMI certification renewal with AvatarFleet’s professional safe driving training programs.
We all know what happens when we’re not ready for the DOT audit. Fines, court dates, or even worse - prison time - can happen when we’re not in compli...
This blog was written by John Kuder with consultation from Jordan Call and Marc Blubaugh from Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff LLP. The Unit...
Being a truck driver isn’t easy.
It’s been nearly a year since the foundation of the DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse as the new primary database for driver histories of drug and al...
Time is precious and in short supply for both you and your drivers, so you need to save it where you can. On top of that, you don’t need the added fin...
Accidents are every fleet’s nightmare. Accidents cost lives, money, and trust, none of which are easily replaced. A worst case scenario is one known a...
In May, Congress elected to make changes to the existing hours of service rules in order to give truckers more flexibility in their work that will go ...
On June 9th, AvatarFleet President Scott Rea was featured on a webinar hosted by the Ohio Trucking Association on the topic How To Manage Recruiting, ...
FMCSA is going digital. That’s right, your government is joining the 21st century. As a means of continuing their usual responsibilities of maintainin...
If you have more than one terminal, can you keep your Driver Qualification Files at multiple physical locations? It may seem like a simple question, b...
A Summary of The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is waiting for you on January 6, 2020 so we’ve created a summary to...
There have been rumblings about the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse for years, and it appears that it is final...
In order to hire new drivers, all transportation companies have to run Previous Employment Verifications (PEV) under DOT regulations. The PEV has hist...
Driver Qualification Files are a necessary part of life for transportation companies. The consequences of expired or missing paperwork can result in a...
The digital age has forced trucking into the 21st century. It’s no longer just an advantage, but an absolute necessity to use technology in profession...
This blog post has been updated on January 27, 2021.
This blog post was updated on March 16, 2021.
For as long as cars have existed, people have driven without complete attention. Back in the 1930s, radios were first put in luxury vehicles and peopl...
AvatarFleet exists to make the world a safer place. It’s in our DNA. It’s the fire in our belly when we come to work each morning. But what does it me...
Safety meetings can be a powerful asset in your toolbox for a strong safety campaign. In trucking however, it’s difficult to get everyone in the same ...
In the past couple of years, Ohio has made the move to allowing commercial carriers to register trailers permanently in the state for a one-time fee. ...
Verified First and AvatarFleet have partnered to streamline the hiring process through integration of background screening tools with AvatarFleet’s A-...
You will never be 100% safe at your company. It’s a harsh thing to say, but it is a fact of life. Even if you have the best safety team in the world, ...
You can’t run your business in trucking if you aren’t in compliance with federal regulations. This fact can often cost your company a bunch of time an...
One of the easiest ways to make sure you are playing by the DOT’s rules in trucking is to develop your own DOT compliance checklist. DOT regulations s...
You run a trucking company the best that you can. You’ve hired and trained qualified safety personnel to deal with DOT regulations and nonsense. You t...
You know what truck driver compliance is. You and your safety team have a painfully instilled working knowledge of the DOT and their guidelines and re...
This blog post was updated on January 15, 2021.
This blog post was updated on March 3, 2021.
This blog post was updated on February 23, 2021.
The National Safety Council recently issued a report that traffic fatalities were up 9 percent in the first half of last year. The numbers show nearly...
Truck driver compliance and turnover are related. Compliance can be irritating, confusing and ever-changing, but it’s an essential piece of the turnov...
Mark had enjoyed a meteoric career, quickly rising through the ranks of terminal operations. He’d set records for productivity, load average and on-ti...
Have you ever wondered when is the best time to discuss an accident? I wanted to do just that a number of years ago. I wanted to dig into the details ...
We have written extensively on safety and risk management, and the impotence of federal regulations on highway safety. You read that right: impotence,...
This blog post was updated on February 10, 2021.
The DOT makes changes to required paperwork as often as the sun shines. The changes may seem arbitrary to drivers or managers busy with a plateful of ...
Bad drivers are bad news. Most trucking firms know that the consequences of hiring bad drivers is even worse than the pain of having a truck sit idle ...