Good cop, good day.

Discussion in 'Flatbed Trucking Forum' started by Freightlinerbob, Oct 30, 2014.

  1. Freightlinerbob

    Freightlinerbob Road Train Member

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    Officer:

    Driver, is there a reason you don't have 2 tie downs in the first 10 feet of that load? You need one more if there isn't something in front of the article to immobilize it.

    Me:

    There are 3 in 20 feet and the shorter 16 foot piece has 2 and is immobilzed with chain going through the eyelets plus the tie down rating is more than enough for the load......but I'll gladly throw another one on there if that's what you'd like.

    He kept saying "first ten feet" I and I could not remember anything about that specifically.

    Then he pointed to 393.110(b) (3). which says nothing about "first ten feet" just additional "10 feet or portion thereof". I pointed that out to him but conceded that I had missed the "portion thereof" but maintained that the load was immobilized.

    Here's the load with an extra tie down second from the front:
    [​IMG]

    This is how it was secured:
    [​IMG]


    Bottom line: he either had some doubt or gave me a brake because he removed the citation and I passed the level 2 inspection.

    Good cop, good day.
     
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  3. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    Well, the cop was correct. At least according to the way I was trained and how I read it.

    But you had it well secured, so putting the extra chain on without being cited was a practical compromise.
     
  4. Scalemaster

    Scalemaster Heavy Load Member

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    393.110 specifies "at least one tiedown for every 10 feet of article length, or fraction thereof".

    Nowhere does it say they have to be in the first 10 feet, or every 10 feet, etc.

    If you have a 40 ft I-beam with no header board you need 5 tiedowns. Being an I-beam, if you secure the front and the back, and have all the tiedowns in the first and last 5 ft, the middle is not going anywhere.

    "one every ten feet" tells how many, not where to put them.
     
  5. street beater

    street beater Road Train Member

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    For un braced Its 1 for under 4 feet AND under 1100 lbs. Go over either and its 2, then 1 for every 10 so a 6 foot peice that weights 700lbs or a 3 foot peice that weighs 1400lbs both need 2. 2 for first 10 and one for 10-20 one for 20-30 and one for 30-40 thats 5 for a 40 foot non braced load. If its braced i.e. headache rack or step only need 1 in the first 10
     
  6. crzyjarmans

    crzyjarmans Road Train Member

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    I always use extra securement, thous so far have never had any problem with DOT,I have had many other drivers state "thats to much and a waste of time", but I rather take an extra 5 minutes to place a couple more straps/chains than get a cop with a chip on is shoulders and tell me "you don't have enough securement" and use up the ink in is pen, Never have I had a cop tell me "you have to much securement"
     
  7. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    If you read it carefully it explains an item 5-10 ft requires 2 securement devices. And THEN one every 10 ft afterwards. Their way of trying to be succinct I guess. Doesn't word out to well how they talk about a 10 ft item and then add the rule for longer items.
     
  8. jsprocket

    jsprocket Heavy Load Member

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    Our company requires 2 in first and last 5 then one for every 10 after or 1 per 4000 lbs even tho straps rated 5200.
     
  9. Skate-Board

    Skate-Board Road Train Member

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    Common sense would say that's an awesome job you did!
     
    Freightlinerbob and MJ1657 Thank this.
  10. Freightlinerbob

    Freightlinerbob Road Train Member

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    It's that "or portion thereof" that's added at the end that tripped me up.

    Oh well, no ticket so I'm happy. Had to log 45 minutes for that inspection though.....
     
  11. Grumppy

    Grumppy Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/393.110

    "(3) Two tiedowns if the article is longer than 10 feet (3.04 meters), and one additional tiedown for every 10 feet (3.04 meters) of article length, or fraction thereof, beyond the first 10 feet (3.04 meters) of length."

    In '05 or '06, I was running a hot shot pulling a 40' flatbed gooseneck hauling pipe in Houston one morning & a Harris County DOT... yes, that's right, a Harris County police in a SUV that works specifically DOT stuff for Harris County, put me out of service just for this very reason until I could secure the load according to this rule. It had to be 2 straps within the first 10 feet, then one strap every 10 feet there after. Once I secured it with the 2nd strap within the 1st 10 feet, he released me & put me back in service.
     
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