Got stopped today. Terrible DOT Officers.

Got stopped today on US Route 34 in Monmouth, IL with a portable scale. Overweight. Ok fair enough. Here comes this inspecting officer who at first - was very cheerful and seemed like he was going to make this easy for him and myself. Little did i know......... wrote me 3 violations for:

396.17(C) - Operating a CMV without proof of periodic inspection for tractor.
** I had my hard copy in my truck folder but he insisted on having the sticker affixed to the tractor. I quote him the rules in the FMCSA regulations........his response "I dont care what the rules are, if the sticker is not on the truck, it's not valid to me"

396.17(C) - Operating a CMV without proof of periodic inspection for trailer.
** I pull containers so the intermodal chassis has its own registration and inspection report. This guy gave me a violation because the FMCSA inspection sticker was there......but........ IT WAS MISSING A "9" for the month. Wow? Keep in mind.... the hard copy is in the cubbie hole with a expiration date of 9/13/14 so its valid until 9/13/15.

393.81 - Horn Inoperative
** My air horn was working but not the city horn. Loose wire, but thats not the point. According to the FMSCR ... ""§393.81 Horn. Every bus, truck, truck tractor, and every driven motor vehicle in driveaway-towaway operations shall be equipped with "A" horn and actuating elements which shall be in such condition as to give an adequate and reliable warning signal."

Further more...
"Question 1: Do the FMCSRs specify what type of horn is to be used on a CMV?
Guidance: No.
Question 2: Are there established criteria in the FMCSRs to determine the minimum sound level of horns on CMVs?
Guidance: No."

Anyways, quote the regs with a hard headed dot inspector leads to no good. At the end, he told me to scram and these are only warnings... i told him, warnings that will hit my PSP record. He said I need to leave now and he has other trucks to weigh and inspect. I will have my company DATAQ it but I really hope these violations can be removed. I know that its tough to remove a warning if its there no ticket associated but ####.... this is ########! Called my company safety and he is very pissed... but told me .. this is trucking, dont let it get to you.. we will dataq it and hopefully wish for the best.

 

Safety man sent me a picture of the DATAQ dispute he opened just now. He assured me that he will file it 5 minutes after I talked to him when I got stopped. Well this made me feel a little better... atleast someone cares about this situation, Lol.

 

See, that's the thing... I only have IFTA stickers on my tractor. I like it to be clean and tidy... I got rid of those annual inspection stickers and realized it was useless since I only need the inspection hard report. Safety verified the rule and told me I do not have to have it but ... i think i will put em back on now just to avoid this #### violation if need be. And as far as the intermodal chassis..........yeah that's ridiculous. Cant really just call the intermodal equipment provider and tell them hey.... you need to make your stickers a little more clearer. Lol. As long as the inspection report is upto date and valid.... i will roll with it.

As far as the horn, getting it fixed today just to avoid a situation like this