Petty, BS tickets by DOT getting out of hand

Over the past few years I have lost a tremendous amout of respect for police officers. I understand they are just doing their jobs, but really need to try to be a little more realistic when writing tickets. A little common sense/ ability to see things from the driver's shoes would go a long way.

I am a safe driver, and keep the truck in good, roadworthy condition. Of course, there is a 500? page rule book for them to critique your truck with.

In my stack of tickets, included is:

citation for faulty washer system (no fluid)
power steering fluid leak (negligable, leaks about a quart every 3 months)
chaffed air line (negligable)
many others

And now, disreguard traffic control device.

Which was--- an accidental turn down a "no trucks" road, in a bobtail.
Here's what gets me about this one in particular-

1. Once your on the road, your on the road. You don't see the sign until you have already commited to the road.
2. There is a gas station on this road. Do they not accept deliveries? There were also trash cans on said rd== garbage trk
3. There is no reason for this to be a no truck road, beside the fact that they plopped a no trucks sign in the ground. No bridges, no height constraints, no obstacles. It's a semi-residential/business road.

Cop tells me the reason it's no trucks is because residents complain about noise. So what? cars make noise. planes make noise. Where do you draw the line? what if people on every road complained? make the whole town no trucks? Just because someone complains, does not mean it is justified and requires action.

And doesn't my company pay a proportinate amount of tax to the state for the weight of the truck to fund roads? So how the hell can they just tell you to stay out?

I had no ill intent, no malice when I turned down the road. Nothing was unsafe about driving on the road, and no one's saftey or property was in danger by my driving down this road, anymore so that any other road. No harm, no foul, right?

So where the hell does this cop get off giving me a ticket that I'm guessing will be about $1000? Thats 2% of my yearly pay for a wrong turn... 2%.

I guess my point is- it's a money grab plain and simple. It's corrupt, it's immoral, it's extortion. It's tyranical.

Maybe it's about time to hang up the keys.

Sorry, should of posted in the rant section, too late now.

 

Also wanted to add- yes, I have a huge stack of tickets from the last 7 years of so. It's not that I'm an outlaw driver, it's that I drive local in Houston, which is a port city, which means tons of truck traffic. Every little suburban police department realized the can cash in on the truck traffic, and created there own CMV division. They work on the assumption that they will never see you again, a one way cash cow.

So it's not bad driving/equipment, its exposure. I probably pass through 7 or 8 predatory towns per day. Hell, Seabrook only has like 3000 residents, but they got their own truck cops on the port route that runs through the town, and always have trucks pulled over- even at 2 am. Predators they are.

 

Ummmm.... They are all petty violations, completely unrelated to the safety of the motoring public. I'd be willing to bet my violations rival most other local drivers'. I can probably pass through 10 seperate jurisdictions with their own CMV enforcement in 150 miles of driving. Light bulbs don't burn out sitting in the yard overnight, they burn out in route X several close predatory jurisdictions = exposure. Washer fluid runs out en route, ect, ect.

Money grab.

 

No, it's because there is not a reason for it not to be open to truck traffic.