Got stopped today. Terrible DOT Officers.

What do the DOT officers do about the trucking companies that don't even have air horns? Some companies order their new trucks from the factory without air horns. Quest Global is one of them.
Some of that stuff is useless and obsolete and just asking for problems from over zealous DOT officers.
Don't need air horns or those silly driving lights that rookies use 24/7.

 

You don't need air horns, only a city horn

 

I feel sorry for all you guys and ladies that are out there trying to do it right. I know some DOT people go over the line with their own interpretation of the FMCS rules.

The most stupid DOT cop I ever ran across was at the Sturbridge Mass coop. My Freightliner Century had just turned about 40,000 miles on it......basically brand new. The lady explained that she was writing m me up for a frayed/unsafe airline. She then said that they were going to write me out of service. She said that I could come down out of the cab so she could show me the violation. It turned out to be a slip on cover/sleeve I had bought at a dealer a month before to keep dirt and grease off off my gladhand air lines.. ( I had non coiled lines) She got quite an attitude when I started laughing, but needless to say...her fellow inspectors agreed with me. It was extremely funny to me because she was acting all hyper about finding such a unsafe situation. I think her fellow DOT cops were probably having a good laugh later as well.

 

Thats true if you go to traffic court! Anything 1000lbs or more over gross in Idaho is a criminal offense.
Loader operator got carried away one day and broke the locking pin on the tongue of my pup trlr. The tongue swung around and sheered off all the wiring at the turntable, I was able to splice wires and get lights working but no way I was fixing them on board scale wires out there in the woods.
They didnt have enough short logs, so they put some longs on my pup (3 to many).
I took the resulting over weight ticket to court. Walked into the court room and saw guys in jail clothes and hand cuffs, both the prosecuting attorney and the judge let me know I would likely be facing up to 5 yrs in jail for that over weight ticket if I lost, and I was also told the mill scale ticket (one week old certified scale) would not be considered evidence that the state scale was wrong.
I ended up paying 1100.00 fine, when it should have been about 150.00, thats why I call it Idawhore!
The people are great, the government is a pos!

 

If so they could make a killing just waiting for drivers at the lunch counter.

 

Yup, Bonner County Court in Sandpoint,ID.
I was in shock when I showed up there for that stupid ticket. Part of the reason I dont haul logs anymore!

ETA: I paid my fine in two payments, and was considered on probation until they got there cash!

 

Fat log truck drivers are pretty rare, lol.

 

That makes a ton of sense. Throw a guy in jail for 5 years for a minor #### up where, instead of collecting a fine, they can pay out thousands of dollars to put him in prison instead. Government is so ####ed.