About 2 weeks ago I got an overweight ticket along with about 10 other drivers. We were hauling sand out of a pit about 30 miles away and had to travel 4 miles of blacktop to get to the pit. Everything else was main highways. Well the road we were on was a 73280 road and I had on 79500 so I got a 6200lb overweight ticket of around $1200. Everyone else was about the same overweight also. They didnt actualy run us over the portables on the road we were illegal on, but a few miles down the road on the main highway. The court date is comming up in a few weeks and is there any use trying to fight it? There are probably 100+ trucks that run out of this pit everyday, and everyone of them have been, and still are running 80K. I have still been running 80K, but have been taking pit roads a different direction back to a main highway which is about 5miles out of the way and all gravel roads. What do you guys think about fighting the ticket? What about taking a chance running on the blacktop road again?

If the road has a posted weight limit and there is a viable alternate route... you are out of luck. If the route is not posted and not restricted to truck traffic then you have a chance.

__________________

Good Luck your not getting out of that one, Thats why they have weight rules, Follow them or get caught....if 1st offense you might get it waived

Talk to the company. Maybe they will stand up and donate some materials for road repair. But other than that I don't think you have much of a chance. You knew exactly what the limits were on that road and you took a chance just like all the other driver did. I would have been there right next to you with my ticket. What does the company say? I believe they play a part in this too.

I once tried to explain the stupidity of the Federal Bridge Formula to a judge, because one time I got popped with a 30' dump trailer, which cut the max gross back to around 72k.

That judge was not the slightest bit interested in what I had to say. Suffice it to say that you are in the same boat.

__________________
Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

no getting out of this unless someone is just feeling nice.

I could be wrong on this so don't take it for gospel.

Something makes me think the overweight ticket goes to the owner of the truck, not the driver. It's either like that or the ticket doesn't count as a moving violation.

I shouldn't even be mentioning this because I'm not sure of my facts here. I just brought it up to alert you that there might be a way out but you'll need to research the rules better.

I am an owner operator so it's my ticket. I can't believe that the mine company dont have something worked out with the township to allow trucks to leave the pit with 80K. Is it the townships/countys decision on the weight limit of the road, or the states decision? The roads around here are not actualy posted with signs. I thought I heard one time about having a couple miles cushion on a non-desginated road to be able to get in/out of a place like this.

It will not be up to the state because in is a county rd or local rd

Some states write them out to the company, like PA. Others write them to the driver. And no, they are not moving violations that go on your record, just potentially hefty fines is all.

__________________
Z-Lady's devoted hubby.