Rollin' 18 Podcast

Breaking Boundaries: Defying Regulations, Broker Transparency Challenges, and Advocating for Safer Roads in Trucking

• Walter Gatlin

Share episode

Send us a text

Imagine a world where truck drivers can harness the power of their engines without the fear of hefty federal fines. Join me, Walter Gadlin, on the Rolling 18 Podcast, as we unravel the dramatic story of Jonathan Achtemeyer, who dared to challenge pollution regulations to boost performance and fuel economy. I question the rigid federal rules and ponder the potential impact if seasoned drivers banded together to instigate change. However, the line between innovation and illegality is thin, and Achtemeyer's tale serves as a cautionary reminder of the severe consequences that can follow. Intrigued by how collaboration with fleet operators turned into a conspiracy, we explore the complex network that fueled this controversial move.

The trucking industry faces another storm in the form of broker transparency—or the lack thereof. Dive into the nitty-gritty of how drivers are financially squeezed by elusive brokers withholding crucial payment information. It's not just about money; it's about survival on the road and the urgent need for updated regulations. Language barriers are another silent hazard, with English proficiency becoming paramount for safety and effective communication. Let's advocate for change: reaching out to lawmakers to ensure that every driver can read road signs and protect their livelihood is just the start. Join the conversation on how we can shape a safer, fairer trucking industry for all.

Buzzsprout
www.rollin18podcast.com

YouTube
www.youtube.com/@rollin18podcast

Rumble
www.rumble.com/user/Rollin18Podcast

Facebook
www.facebook.com/rollin18podcast/

Instagram
www.instagram.com/rollin18podcast/

X - Twitter
www.x.com/rollin18podcast

Email me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at rollin18podcast@gmail.com. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Rolling 18 Podcast. This 40-year veteran is here for anyone wanting to stay up to date in the trucking world. Grab your coffee, hop on board and let's get on down the road with Walter Gadlin.

Speaker 2:

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. All you wonderful drivers out there. I hope you guys are having a great day, a great couple of days, a great week. I mean it's good to be alive. At least we're breathing. That's always a good sign. And you know, everything can go as good as we plan it. And then there's a few wrenches thrown into the mix, but for the most part I think we're all doing pretty well.

Speaker 2:

Any of you guys that had any major problems this weekend, I'm sorry for you. You know I heard there was a couple of horrific accidents over the weekend. I'm not going to go into specifics because they were terrible, but if you go online and look at your news, you will probably find them on your own. Sometimes we get in a wreck and we're real lucky, like that person that went over the bridge and the trailer stopped it from going into the water and they rescued that driver out of the truck. That was amazing. And then sometimes something, maybe even smaller, happens and then there's demise and that's very, very unfortunate.

Speaker 2:

There's a lot of things we cannot control, but what we can control, well, it looks like they need to plead guilty on this one. There was a conspiracy to disable truck emission controls and it netted a guilty plea. Now it says here in exchange for a fee of up to forty five hundred dollars per truck, a new jersey man was able to remotely reconfigure heavy-duty diesel truck engines, allowing company drivers to bypass federal pollution control regulations. We may learn in the story why this happened. I still don't understand why that would be like that, unless they wanted to speed it up or something, or maybe give it more horsepower or torque, but maybe we'll find out in this story. He now faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Jonathan Achtemeyer pled guilty in a Washington State Federal Court on Wednesday and I'll tell you one thing about federal courts they don't have the leniency on sentencing that state courts have. So this guy is going to be stuck. Whatever sentence he gets, he's going to serve 90% of it. He admitted that between 2019 and 2022, he removed the pollution control software on hundreds of trucks from around the country and he's probably provided the information on at least some or most of them trucks that ended up getting worked around. So you guys might want to answer your phone if you see a strange number calling you, because they're probably going to want to shut your truck down when you defeat the emission controls.

Speaker 2:

It can boost the engine performance, like I mentioned earlier, and improve fuel economy at the expense of emitting more pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that removing pollution control equipment and disabling the software results in trucks polluting at 30 to 1,200 times the level of a truck with pollution control systems. Tampering with the system is a violation of the Clean Air Act. Now let's go back to the beginning of that. Okay, emission controls can boost engine performance and improve fuel economy. I you know a lot of times I'm not speechless about things but it actually makes the truck run better and it gives out better fuel economy, which means we suck less fuel out of the ground. But because it puts out these certain numbers that they're calling, you know, during their federal, how do we know them numbers work? How do we know? But and look at this broad statement of trucks polluting at 30 to 1200 times the level of a truck with pollution control systems results in trucks polluting. We have no solid evidence of that. And yeah, I know, they show charts and they show different meter readings and things like that.

Speaker 2:

Ladies and gentlemen, I drive by several plants on my way to deliver every single day in Des Moines, iowa. I can smell everything they're admitting out of those. One of them is a natural gas plant, two of them are fuel plants and I smell so much in the air, just the raw ingredients, just the vapor coming from that. Stuff is blowing out probably millions of tons per day of whatever pollution stuff they're talking about, and I understand there's a lot of data and a lot of research on this and they use these meters and everything like that. But really, really, your equipment that you've designed and you made other companies put these designs on trucks. You forced truck companies that sell trucks, that manufacture trucks, to put this stuff on there, which decreases engine performance and decreases fuel economy.

Speaker 2:

We need to check to see if the United States government's not in the engine building business, because maybe they needed to sell more engines, because the engines were lasting too long and maybe they weren't selling enough fuel so we could provide all the fuel in the world. We didn't have to buy fuel from other countries, which is what our government likes to do. I don't know why. It's probably to funnel money. Look, I'm not going to get into politics on this. This is crazy and what the guy did was wrong. We can do the done, done, done again. Ladies and gentlemen, do not break the laws. And if you're going to break any laws, make sure they're really super tiny and they're state laws, not laws, but usually in a class cdl type, class a business, it's going to be a federal law. But yeah, I'm not understanding a lot of this stuff the united states government does with trucks and we we are. If we got together as a group all the smart truck drivers in the country got together and just had a big discussion, we could alleviate about half of these federal policies. That's just the way it is Now.

Speaker 2:

Records filed in the case revealed that Actmire conspired with five truck fleet operators and garage mechanics to disable the anti-pollution software. Anti-pollution software. Two of Atmeyer's co-conspirators, based in Washington state, worked for trucking companies that owned fleets of 2016 and 2017 model year diesel trucks manufactured by Freightliner in Peterbilt. The co-conspirators sought Atmeyer's services to trick their truck's software into believing the systems were still working, a process known as tuning. The US Attorney General's office said in a statement the process could take less than an hour per truck. You know, the United States government state local federal laws would be a lot more believable if these people would just quit lying to us.

Speaker 2:

And I understand there's a lot of good in slowing down the emissions production out of a vehicle, but come on, why is it they have to inflate everything? When they talk to the American people, they dumb us down like we're stupid. They get really excited about global warming, and then it was global cooling, and then it was environmental warming, and then all of these rich people started buying multi-million dollar homes next to the beach, but the water level was supposed to rise in the next three to five years to a height that was going to destroy half of humanity. Monitoring software on a deleted truck will detect that the pollution control hardware is not functioning and will prevent the truck from running. Atmeyer disabled the monitoring software on his client's trucks by connecting two laptops he had provided to various co-conspirators. Some of the co-conspirators would pass the laptop on to others seeking to have the anti-pollution software disabled on their trucks.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, seeking to have the anti-pollution software disabled on their trucks? So yeah, I mean it's a tit for tat and I understand the significance of cutting down on the smoke and stuff like that. That's good. I remember LA back in the 60s and 70s. It was hard to breathe and that place was under a cloud of smoke for a long time. Every time there was a fire, every time millions of people traveled for holidays, whatever, that valley would fill up with smoke, and I understand that we got rid of that part of it.

Speaker 2:

But there are certain techniques and certain laws that the federal government and the state governments come up with that are just overbroad and overbearing, and it's basically about money. It's basically about funneling money from one organization, one non-profit, one federal agency, one state agency to another, and then somehow or another, human beings get their hand on the money and a person that makes $145,000 a year, ooh, all of a sudden has $8 million in the bank. How does that happen? Now, the names have not been changed because happen. Now, the names have not been changed because we think these people are stupid.

Speaker 2:

Now the FMCSA proposes tougher broker transparency rules. Now, this could be a good thing for the owner-operators, for the lease-operators and things like that people that haul broker loads, including the companies, because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing tightening regulations regarding broker record keeping and disclosure. We know for a fact and I know from past experiences a lot of them. Documents are being destroyed as they go along because of the difference in what was promised and the difference of what was paid, and no broker in the world likes to show the exact dollar amount that a company is paying them to broke out the load. Now, according to a notice of proposed rulemaking released this week, comments can be submitted until January 21st through regulationsgov.

Speaker 2:

Now if you go there, you can put your input in, and it's very important. I don't I'm pretty sure they look, they read most of it. You never know, but the thing of it is why not give it a shot? So go to regulationsgov and find out what they can do for you. If you cannot, if that link does not work or you don't find something like that, go to truckingdivecom and they've got the story on here and the head of the story is fmcsa proposes tougher broker transparency rules.

Speaker 2:

Now the measure would require broker transaction records to be electronic and shared with carriers within 48 hours upon request, which the agency says it would improve transparency and accountability. Now they have been trying to get the federal government to get involved with brokers for a very long time. There's a lot of things that drivers, owner-operators, whoever's getting a broker load their hands are tied and they ask them for stuff. The broker gives them stuff, something doesn't feel right, something doesn't look right, somebody hauls a load for a certain amount, gets to the place where another company or driver owner-operator picked up a load the same exact load and they got paid much, much more. Very disheartening when you hear that information. These changes would ease access to information and ensure claims, such as those by shippers about damage or delay, are documented with full visibility, which would help resolve matters between the parties without resorting to costlier remedies, according to this agency. So, yeah, it sounds very viable.

Speaker 2:

Now the Owner and Operator Independent Drivers Association and Small Business and Transportation Coalition petitioned the agency to reform in 2020, calling for overhauls and saying broker contracts can include clauses waiving access rights, and that's something they're trying to get rid of. Current regulations already make access to transaction records a right for the relevant parties, but for years, carriers have noted problems with accessing them. The proposed rule would clarify this right as a regulatory obligation. According to the notice, the electronic requirement is sought because brokers can complicate matters by making the required records unavailable or, I'm sorry, available for inspection only at their principal place of business, which can mean access is essentially impossible, according to the notice. So now that everything's going to be hopefully put online 48 hours after the transaction.

Speaker 2:

If anything was to come up, that would work out great. I hope they're going to include the actual amount, the real amount that was paid to the broker to have that load transported. And then the broker takes its 5 or 10% and I hope some broke I know, I know, I know, I know they gamble all the time. Hey, let's see if we can knock, keep 30% or 40% of this load money and we'll just see if this guy will haul it. He has two puppies, a couple of cats he needs to feed. He's in a tight spot. He's not making his bills. Let's get him on the road. Let's squeeze him for every dime he's got. Let let's squeeze him for every dime he's got. Let's just screw him like you could never be screwed before. He'll be so happy he's making anything and by the time he gets that load to where it's going he will have spent more than what he made.

Speaker 2:

Now here's some political talk that the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents brokers, called the proposed rulemaking misguided overreach. They're called TIA and they have consistently maintained that the broker transparency regulation, rooted in the 1980s, is obsolete and un-American. The group said in a statement originally implemented in an error following trucking deregulation, when brokers acted as commissioned sales agents for motor carriers. This rule has no place in today's highly transparent marketplace. When they say transparent marketplace, they mean lies, because I can guarantee you a lot of owner operators, a lot of company drivers, a lot of lease operators that actually deal with brokers. They have been lied to so much that nobody knows who to trust.

Speaker 2:

Every conversation I've ever heard on Twitter, on Facebook or anywhere where you can live chat that deals with brokers the amount of money, the type of load, things like that there has been a fluctuation of lies that comes up in these conversations and it's like, oh my God, why are we dealing with these people? Why are these people even allowed to be in business? Look, I know there's a lot of honest, hardworking brokers out there, just like truck companies, just like anything else, but you know that percentage of bad people is rising. It used to be a steady 80%, 20%, 80%. Good people, 20% bad people. Now the world's becoming filled with liars, cheats and thieves and they think it's normal and you know what? They go home and they actually sleep at night. What about the values that God has presented us with? What about the values? What about going home and looking your children in the face and and you know and being able to smile at them knowing that you went an entire day without lying, cheating or stealing from somebody Isn't that worth anything anymore?

Speaker 2:

Now there's another subject that's been a long-going subject for a long time and people are talking about it more now, and even the states and feds are getting involved, because we have a lot of foreigners in this country driving truck that cannot read English and they're having trouble with signs and everything, and this has been going on for a while, but the big boys are starting to catch notice of it and they're catching hell because more and more people are complaining about it. So today, or right right now, this theme so right now, this theme is about Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? So I think it's very important that we try and understand where the regulations are going to go with this, because we cannot keep putting drivers out on the road that do not read and speak English. They have to be able, and I think there's a law on this, which I'm pretty sure there is. I know I read one a while back that says you absolutely have to be able to understand signs and you have to be able to read signs. You have to be able to speak in case you have an emergency, especially if you have a whole hazmat and things like that. But anybody that gets into an accident case you have an emergency, especially if you have a whole hazmat and things like that, but anybody that gets into an accident you have to be able to tell the responding EMS exactly what is going on and what happened so they can better serve the public immediately and efficiently while they're on scene. We all know this to be true.

Speaker 2:

Now I think it's important that we keep contacting our senators, congressmen and women, letting these folks know we need some new rules. We need to put a stop to people being out on the road that do not know how to read and speak English. I'm sorry, that's just the way it's going to be. If this is political to you, then you need to go to a political chat room, because this is a trucker podcast and we talk about all things real, all things important, all things to do with driving a semi.

Speaker 2:

So understand how imperative it is that people that drive a semi need to understand the rules of the road, and in order to do that, they need to be able to at least be able to read what they're testing on. They need to be able to at least be able to read what they're testing on. They need to be able to read the signs that tell them warnings and things like that, not just give them the shape and say, okay, this shape means stop, this shape means there's a detour. No, none of that. You have to be able to read, because I've seen some pretty funky signs and you need to be able to read the words in the middle of them in order to understand what they're trying to tell you to do. So let's get to work on that. Let's make sure that nobody out there driving an 80,000-pound vehicle is unable to communicate in any way, shape or form in our nation without understanding the rules.

Speaker 2:

I could not go to Germany or Russia and drive a semi today. I could not do it. Now I could probably drive the truck because I think they're relatively the same. They look the same when I watch videos of them, but there's no way I could read Russian. There's no way I could speak Russian, and I would expect that that nation would put me through a long, rigorous training course on how to read and speak Russian in order for me to drive, and the same thing with Arabic and everything else. So, yeah, let's get, let's get on the ball, people, and let's do the right thing. I appreciate you folks listening to and or watching. All the information to where I do social media is down in the description below this podcast. I I'm on Instagram, facebook, all kinds of other places Check me out and, as always, god bless, be safe and keep it between the lines driver.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to Roland 18 Podcast. Please visit Walter's podcast site at Roland18Podcastcom or his social media site, such as Instagram, facebook and TikTok. All links are in the description.