Comments on: FMCSA SAFESTAT: The Grading System For Carriers And Their Employees

By: Don Dierdorff

Don Dierdorff — Sat, 08 May 2010 15:58:55 +0000

I worked for Southern Refrigerated Transport (SRT) for 6 months between November 2008 and May 2009. While driving for SRT, they tried to force me to run with an over-axle weight load from Carrollton, TX to Riverside, CA. I tried to explain to the dispatchers there that the worst coop in the U. S. is the westbound Banning scales in California, and I refused to run with the load. By the way, they didn’t want me to take it back to the shipper, so another driver took the load.
The following morning, Darla Tyree called me up and told me “Don, you’re making things difficult for yourself” and “you’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” I tried to explain to her that if I would have been stopped, fined or whatever, it would be on me, not her. I had also sent a Qualcom message the night before asking SRT to accept any and all responsibility for trying to brow beat me into taking a load I knew was overweight.
Shortly thereafter, they fired me because, according to Eric Nelson “I wasn’t happy working there, so we have to let you go.” Since then, I filed a claim with OSHA and found out SRT made up a complete lie about me getting fired.
If any other drivers out there have had a bad experience with SRT, please get in touch with me as I have found an attorney to take my case on a contingency basis, and extra witnesses will not only help me, but it very well may help you as well. Thank you for reading this, be safe and God bless.

By: TruckerMike

TruckerMike — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:22:51 +0000

Ouch, my company is waaay up there. Not good!!

Thanks for the info Rhonda, good stuff!

By: Rhonda

Rhonda — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 23:59:32 +0000

The DRIVERS rating belongs to every driver of the company. You may do everything right, but if a few of your co-workers like to speed and not have the logbook up to date for two examples, and get caught via violations, these are what shows on SAFESTAT.

This is part of the reason that you get pulled into a scale and/or asked to pull around back and bring in your papers. Sudden roadside checks also catch drivers.

Hope this answers your question.

By: Brett Aquila

Brett Aquila — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:52:20 +0000

Rhonda would know that one better than I would – she uses the site a lot because she’s a safety coordinator – but I’d guess you wouldn’t have any score – your record would be blank – like your credit history if you’ve never had any credit – blank.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 19:31:55 +0000

Out of curiosity what rating do drivers get when they first start out? I assume it’s not 0 and it wouldn’t be right to give noob a 100 just because they have no record, any more than it would be fair to everyone else to give them a 0.