Bryon Stoll, who co-owns Suprise Trucking with his wife, Holly, got a bit of a rude awakening recently when two owner-operators leased to the fleet received two separate brake violations written at the same scale in Oklahoma for adjustment issues on two different Suprise trailers.
The first time felt like "a set-up," he said. "There were three roadside mechanics on-site waiting" for somebody to have an issue, "and then they still charge you for the callout fee, even though they’re sitting right there."
The second trailer, within about a couple weeks, had the selfsame adjustment issues, at the same scale. "The funny thing is they had just been DOT’d," not long prior to these pull-ins on I-35 coming into Oklahoma from the north, he said.
Odds are, given the intensifying focus Oklahoma inspectors have put on brakes in recent years (as illustrated on the chart), his Wisconsin-based small fleet is not the only one dealing with the issue.
[Related: Suprise Trucking's long road to resurrection after setbacks for Bryon and Holly Stoll]
