D.O.T. vs "local police"

We use the term"DOT" loosely to mean any state law enforcement officer trained and empowered to enforce commercial vehicle regulations, all of which have been codified into each state's own laws. Rarely will you or any driver ever come in contact with the 'real' USDOT officers, though they're out there, too.

As for your condition, get a lawyer familiar with trucking laws. It's the only chance you have,mid you even have a chance. Open the checkbook and pay. Your CDL is worth it.

 

PS. I have some (not-so-good) experience in this area. Citations against a CDL issued in one state are also sent to your home state, which will also take their own action. They are the ones who will suspend or revoke your privileges.

It's a serious matter, fair or unfair, and the only - the only - way to survive is through competent legal assistance. I didn't and paid the price. Do not make that mistake. I got hammered by one state and paid a fine. I then also got busted by my home state and paid a major fine plus had my CDL suspended for 12 months.

 

First of all, you make several incorrect assumptions, the first being that the rest area inspection point is not a legal scale house. In most states, Arizona included, law enforcement can and will set up portable inspection sites or even do inspections on the shoulder of the road as part of a traffic stop. All of this is perfectly legal, although some states do not allow ransom roadside inspections you must first be pulled over for a moving violation, these are the states that usually will pull over a truck for 1 mph over the posted limit. Your second incorrect assumptions is that local police are not trained or qualified to do trucking enforcement, only the DOT is. Actually, most of the motor carrier enforcement officers you refer to as DOT are in fact state or local police, county sheriffs, or in some cases not even law enforcement officers per se, rather just state employees charged with the duty and power to enforce trucking regulations. The third incorrect assumption is that only DOT officers could request a drug test, again any law enforcement official, with probable cause, can request a sobriety check, the fact you were driving a commercial vehicle has no bearing on the implied consent law in any state, including Arizona.

Regardless of the orginal charges being dismissed, your failure to comply with the officers request to submit to a drug or alcohol test is an automatic suspension of your driver license, equivalent to a dui conviction. Honestly, you should have stopped at the rest area inspection site instead of bypassing it, you are at fault here regardless of your belief that it was not a "legal" scale house. Secondly, you should not have been operating a commercial motor vehicle with drug equipment and/or alcohol on board, and quite frankly you deserve to have a lifetime suspension of your driving privileges. Best advice to you is find a good lawyer and good luck finding a trucking company that will touch you when this is all over.

 

Peru ILL they set up in the back part of the Sapp Bros truckstop
just as legal as anywhere else

 

Sounds to me like you need to learn the trucking rules and regulations . What you think has nothing to do with the law and the way it is enforced .

As for the charges dropped or not just how ...... Never mind it would just be a waste of time tying to explain it !

 

Hmmmm....me personally, I don't think you should be getting back on the road ASAP....I am not trying to be a jerk or anything, but I just feel that if you have an alcohol and/or drug dependency, you have no business in this profession or on the highway system at all....I wish you the best but.....WRONG is WRONG

 

As a Trooper I primarily only worked collisions and stopped cars. However I could actually make the same cases as DOT, DNR etc. when I chose.

 

Not sure where this info regarding roadside inspections came from. Maine, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey all stake out the toll booths and rest areas and randomly flag drivers for Level 1, 2 & 3 inspections on the spot. Ohio and Pennsylvania stake out the rest areas and commandeer every truck off the interstate into their little traps.

Georgia they've parked in a median watching the on ramps for unbuckled drivers or cell phone use and they pop that hood and check out your rig right on the shoulder in Atlanta.

I've been through many level 1 inspections and I've never even seen a U.S. DOT officer, always s commercial vehicle enforcement division of state troopers.

You might get further with this if you just admit that you screwed up and make the case that you need the license to be a tax paying productive member of society.

Where I live, refusing a breathalyzer is an automatic guilty plea to DUI. The difference, is that I have a few friends who admitted wrong, plead guilty and begged to keep their license intact successfully. Have yet to see anyone who came in blaming everyone but themselves work that magic.