I've got 2 seat belt and 1 speeding in the last 6 mths no points and I lost my job...Is there anything I can do to clean my record?
Thanks
I am surprised that 21 replies into this thread no one has yet mentioned CSA 2010. CSA 2010 is a game changer that introduces a new points system for commercial vehicle drivers that is different from driver's license points commonly referred to when people talk about traffic violations.
Knowing nothing about your carrier or the relationship you have with it, whitewolf, I cannot say what factors led to you losing your job. I can say that the points that now matter most to commercial drivers are the CSA points. This new point system is turning some carrier's best drivers into their worst because of how the violations are now counted. Warning tickets now count. Recent violations count more than older ones. Equipment violations that put no points on your driver's license have CSA 2010 points attached that now matter.
The CSA system is explained in
this document. It is not an easy read but it is important for every CMV driver to know the new rules of the game. I urge all readers to take the time to read and understand the document's contents. The point chart that begins on p. 36 is of special interest.
whitewolf said that he had two seat belt and one speeding violation in the last six months. Using the CSA point system, that gives him two seat belt points (one for each violation) and five points for speeding (assuming something ordinary like five or 10 MPH over), for a total of seven points.
Now, comes the important part. The points are weighted for severity and time. The severity means you get five points for speeding and one point for each seat belt violation, because speeding is deemed more severe than not wearing a seat belt.
Time weighting means the seven point total from these recent violations are multiplied by three to give you 21 points. The time weighting is X3 for the first year of a violation, X2 for the second, X1 for the third and zero beyond the third year.
That means if whitewolf has no more violations, his 21 points will become 14 in year two, seven in year three, and zero after that.
The only way for you to get CSA points off your record is to let time pass and get no new violations. One of the complaints about CSA 2010 now is that the points go on when the violation is reported and there is no easy way to get them off if you later beat the ticket in court.
What carriers do with these CSA points is now being worked out by each one. One carrier may decide that 50 points gets you fired, another may use a greater or lesser number, yet another may not use CSA points at all in deciding whether or not to retain a driver.
A very important point to note is that under CSA 2010, a driver's points count against the carrier too. Carriers interested in keeping their own point numbers down are less willing to hire or retain high-points drivers drivers than they were before.
Again, CSA 2010 is a very important game changer in our industry. Drivers will do well to understand how it works and modify their behavior as necessary to keep one's job.
