C.A.R.B.

More on CARB (California air resources board), In January, CARB got the EPA waiver to enforce the new anti reefer laws, (not running near a school, not running while waiting to load/offload, no pre-cooling the trailer, unit must be a 2001 or newer model [phased out every year up to 2008 standards,'01 replaced in 2010, '02 replaced in 2011, etc]. anybody running anything older than 2001 unit has a choice, pony up 22-25k for a new unit or do not cross the CAL state line (I now call this the DMZ, demilitarized zone.)

They are also enforcing anti idle laws on all commercial vehicles, if a trucker idles their truck for more than 5 minutes, and a carb official sees it, the CARB official along with a CHP officer ( because you know if the CARB person tried to do this on their own they would get bitch slapped and pounded into the ground by the trucker)  the driver gets a nice citation with a $300.00 fine attached for the first offense. the fines go up for each infraction there after.  There are a couple of exemptions to go along with this. (in a traffic jam, rush hour, waiting in line to access a port, waiting in traffic at a signal, ETC.) This all sounds good on the surface,(clean air for little kids to breathe, not putting extra pollutants into the sky,) but what about the drivers health? Does CARB and EPA not understand that there is a human being inside of the truck? A person with family and friends, feelings, health issues just like the rest of America. Why should the drivers health take a back seat to anyone else's health?

Drivers like to stay cool during the heat of the day and stay warm at night just like all people, but because the drivers chose to live a nomadic life style, they are considered less human than the citizens of California. HEY, California is pretty much a desert, it gets hot during the day and cold at night. If the daytime outside temp is around 90-100 degrees, you can bet it is around 110-120 inside of a truck. Not exactly perfect conditions for resting while trying to comply with the HOURS OF SERVICE rules set down by the feds.

BUT WAIT, THERES MORE!!!! Why don't the drivers get a little APU? (auxillery power unit). I am sure every driver would love to have one, but company drivers are not going to drop 8-10 thousand dollars to place one on a vehicle that they don't own,and the company's that trade trucks every 2-3 years consider it a unjustifiable expense. The company's(not all but quite a few) do not care if the drivers freezes or get heat stroke while in Ca. The drivers are just a cog in the machine, as soon as one quits, another one will climb in the truck and replace them. ( any company with turnover rates over 50% does not give a crap about the drivers, if they did, APU's would be on every truck rolling down the road) I know, I know, it is an extra expense to add an APU to a truck that will get traded in 2-3 years. (driver would be happy, company gets a fuel savings, less wear on the main engine, and OMG!, it can be UNBOLTED and moved to another truck) THESE are great reasons not to add an APU to a truck.

What about owner operators you might ask? A lot of O/O's do have APU's or gensets to cut out idling and provide power for creature comforts. Those that have them are sitting pretty, those that do not are not looking so good. Again, in this rotten economy, who has a stack of cash laying around to purchase one? Get a loan? With the number of repossessions of trucks climbing, would you write a loan to add a 8k piece of equipment to a truck that might wind up back on your doorstep in 2-3 month's?

My advice is just stay out of California, there are 47 other states to truck in and out of. I am sure that they will survive with out the truckers of America crossing the border to their state. Look at East Germany, they were walled off from the rest of Europe and they survived. All we need is to add a red arm band with a SS insignia to the enforcement officials uniforms (CARB, EPA, CHP) for easy identification when the jack booted thugs are coming for you.......