weigh station thread?

my one and only trip to the Port of Tacoma I went by that scale and at the last second saw the sign for it, locke dup the brakes hitting the off ramp. On the way back, it took me 40 minutes to get through the scale there were so many trucks.

the rule in Wyo. is this, if the sign says "All Trucks Must Stop" then all trucks must stop, no exceptions. If the sign says "Only trucks requiring Permits Must Stop" then everyone else can keep on going. My rule of thumb, just stop no matter what, saves time and energy.

 

The scale I hate the most, and thank god it's closed now, Ft. Garland, Colo. What PITA scale, in a stupid location, was hardly ever open, and when it was it was guarenteed you were getting pulled in for a paperwork check. We used to run from Denver to San Luis and back every day for 5 weeks one year, in that time I only caught that scale open twice.

 

that one i went to said nothing about anyone needing to stop. If you want to get technical, and this is as explained by wyodot, you only need to go into the first scale when you enter and the last when you leave, unless a sign says otherwise. It's in their system whether you went or not, and you are automatically cleared for any in the middle of the state after you are cleared by the first one when you entered. Unless a sign says otherwise.

Also, if you think about it, there is no law that says you have to enter weigh stations. It's just following a sign. In ohio the sign says placarded loads must enter. Therefore no one else needs to. (of course not what an LEO would say)...hell, that said, i accidently ran an ohio scale with class 8 placards and didnt get caught.

 

Funny Guy! But I don't work in a scale, I'm on the highways and byways. Only time I'm there is taking out of service vehicles and driver's to the penalty box.

 

I think you may want to research your laws a little better. Each State is different, but I know in my State all trucks over 5 tons must enter. There is nothing about permit or haz mat loads. When you make statements like that, you are only setting some poor SOB up to have his day ruined if he takes your advice.

 

The scales in California are always the hardest to "get thru" because the speed limit is 5 mph in the empty lanes and 3 mph in the loaded lanes and the lines are terribly long, especially at Banning; but they're all a pain, and very unpredictible.

Colorado is alos a pita if you don't have prepass especially in a town like cortez, where the signs make you take a certain route through town to get to the scales.

Any Arizona scale can take a long time to get through if they have prepass turned off.

Now, as far as "tough" scales. Georgia has turned into a tough state - they'll give you the bypass, then red light you, and come check your book. Generally, Montana, Oregon, California, Missouri, Virginia, AND ANY SCALE IN CANADA, aren't playing games.

However, with the mobile technology, scales are the very, very, very, very least of my worries. South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, New York, etc. don't even need scales and can turn any pull-out or rest area into a nightmare. These mobile guys scare me more than the scales ever thought about - why?:

By definition the mobile guys are generally out to check the driver, which means that I may have worked for free this week, if I added up my hours wrong yesterday. A scale is usually set up for to check the company's equipment, which means that their profits are on the line.

That's the general rule now-a-days, and, of course, there are exceptions, some of which I have noted.

Now, I've met some good DOT-men, and most of them are just doing their job, but some of them are out for blood (usually a DOT-men that is employed by a municipality as opposed to the state).

I will tell you the absoulute toughest scale that I have ever crossed ... It is in the first town that you come to after you crosss into Manitoba, Canada at the northern terminus of I-29 - the American town is Pembina, ND. That guy is out for blood - I got a BS ticket there, and I have seen that guy out working hard, trying to catch drivers on technicalities.

Not to write a treatise here, but in my book, that is what seperates the good guys from the bad guys. There is the law, and there is the spirit of the law. I think if a driver and his/her company are obviously trying to comply with the laws of the land, then a warning now and then or cutting some slack is sufficient, especially on technicalities and ticky tack stuff. However, if a company and the driver obviously don't give a rats rear end about their equipment or the safety of the public or filling out a log book, then by all means throw the book at them. All too often, though, the bad companies/drivers get a slap on the wrist, while the good companies/drivers end up sending hard earned $'s to these states over ticky tack violations.

 

I just want to know who we can give a ticket to, for having burned out lights, for all the places that the sign says CL SED, or PEN, or any combination?

 

Speaking of scales, when your going up or down I 81, please do 40 MPH though these. The sign says 40, they want you to do 40. If you go 20, your likely to be pulled in, or get the one behind you pulled it.

Tennessee, has been beefing up it's weigh station enforcement. The tall skinny black guy on the east bound side (just east of Memphis) is very agressive. And he was a trucker for 4 years. So giving him a crack pot story wont work. I will say this, he is very fair about things. And understand alot of what we go through. But, he won't tolerate BS, bad smeeling truckers with lame excuses.

Was getting DOT'd there one night there, and some slouchy stinky trucker came through there, got pulled around back. When he came in, he stunk up the whole room. Needless to say, he rushed us out with a clean bill of health. But made it sound as if the other trucker wasn't going to be so lucky.

 

so someone with a 3/4-1 ton pickup truck pulling there boat has to pull in the scales?

 

Idaho did a good one, they put that scale on highway 95 on marsing grade, try coming down that and get slow enough to pull in there with out heating up the brakes.