Mystery of the weigh stations?

it's still funny and i don't care. dude told a funny story true or not. welcome to the interwebs.

 

In my opinion most scalehouse employees are just putting in time for a big paycheck and some get off on there so called authority!!! I was pulled into a scalehouse in illinois a few years ago while i was empty and told to pull around back. I went in and the scalemaster told me he was going to do an inspection on my truck and trailer,I was an owner operator and kept after maintenance but on this particular van trailer the lights at the top of the rear of the trailer didnt work and had never worked since I had owned the trailer.He started on the truck and checked it over top to bottom,brakes,engine compartment,driveline,lights ,every thing,Then went to the trailer checking everything,after he had checked everything we met at the rear of my trailer and I started talking to him because he had not looked up yet at the lights out,we talked and he asked who done the maintainence on my rig and I told him I did and he said good job and gave me my paperwork and put a sticker on my windsheild,All the while the rear trailer markers didnt work!!! Thorough inspection HUH!!! And another time soon after that i was in Tennessee and got told to pull around back and bring my paperwork in,I went in with everything including my less than a month old illinois inspection and I asked the scalemaster wasnt that sticker on my winsheild good for a certain amount of time,He looked at my paperwork and said yea,but because I have you around back I am going to do an inspection on you anyway!!! I said OK,But what a joke the system is,He walked around my truck and checked the trucks lights and gave me a new inspection sticker and paperwork and told me to have a nice day!! And again I was on my way with my trailer lights not working and 2 inspections within 30 days. I am all for safety,But I think it should be done uniform and all states do it the same with the same rules and procedures and recognize each others paper work. As I have always told my drivers,you are at the discresction of the officer you are dealing with and at his interpitation of the law!!! Dont say anything other than simple answers to direct question!!! It has worked for me for 28 years!!! Just my opinion!!
Robert

 

Also,It used to make me laugh,The southbound scale at the KY-TN border on 65,you could see the reflection of the computer screen in the buildings glass the scalemaster at night would be playing solitaire on the computer!!! Seen it many times with my own eyes!!!

Robert

 

I have no knowledge of how pre-pass works other than green means bypass and red means pull in, but i would guess that every time you pass a sensor it adds to a data base kept on each truck as a previous poster mentioned. I imagine that all bypasses, pull ins, inspections and violations are recorded and certain criteria are used to flag which trucks are pulled in and weighed or inspected depending upon the discretion of the weigh station authorities.

 

They use a company's CSA as well. The higher the score the more likely you are to be called in.

 

Geez, I didn't realize my post would cause as much hoo haw as it did.
I guess I should have mentioned that while I interned back in the early 70's, I never did become a state employee, and went back to driving.
While I have maintained my license all these years (in three states), I also maintain my CDL still, tho I have effectively retired from driving about a year ago.
Scales, like politicians, live in a world of their own.

 

I wear a cowboy hat. My truck is dirty. I have to go into every scale that's open...if I can fit. Sometimes, I will send a pilot car in with my permit. I've had certain scale masters attempt to write BS ticket which I will refuse to sign, especially those warning tickets that automatically pile on the points. I've been threatened with jail, but so far I haven't been.

I always recommend actually reading the federal regs book, after all, how are you going to let someone condemn you to hell without reading the bible? Everybody, truckers, lawmen and scale masters, has to play by the same set of rules. (Where's saddletramp when you need him?). It's best to read the ruled and learn them.

In my line of work, the most shameful ticket you can get is the IMPROPER LOAD SECUREMENT award. First offense puts your ManCard on suspension for 6 months and 12 months probation. Not just any cop or scale master is going to catch you. The best of my guys can spot an improperly secured load a half mile away. So can a top dog DOT certified lawman. Be it on the highway or the scale. Across the board, secured wrong loaded wrong, loaded heavy, bad tyres bad wheel seals.

Some of the DOT will ask you a question to see if you're stupid.

DOT: What is that you're carrying?

("I don't know" is the wrong answer)

Sixreading the BOL) It is a soybean extractor.

DOT: What does it do?

Six: It extracts soybeans

DOT:..........

 

Does asnyone remembr back in 91'-92' when that water-Tanker decided to take 1 for the team in Illinois on i-57?

Yep, 4;30am pulled up on the southbound Will county scale while closed......Opened up the rear unload valve and dumped an exuberant amount of water onto the scale platform.......

 

Sometime in about '78 or '79 my brother was hauling freight from Seattle to Yakima, then backhauling produce, always heavy. He got pulled over into the scale and nailed for overweight, said the fat scale master seemed to really have a hard on for him, writing him up for lights not working when they were obviously working, etc. etc.

Then my brother took on a codriver, a good friend. On their first run in the middle of winter just after a huge snowstorm my brother consulted the maps and decided he could run around the chicken coup on some farm roads...

... at first everything was fine, then the snow plow must have decided he'd plowed enough of that farm road and suddenly my brother is at the wheel of a '74 Ford Cabover without chains running rolling hills in about 6" of snow. He had to give it throttle on the downhills to be able to top out the next one. After a few hills it was pretty nerve wracking. A big hill was coming up so he gave it good throttle and topped out at about 25 mph...

... and there was nothing in front of him but a big wall of snow! No time to stop. Brakes are useless in the snow. He and his friend just had time to clench their butt cheeks and BOOM!...

... they blew right through a huge snow drift.

That's the last time he ever tried to run that chicken coop. It's also the first and last trip his friend ever took with him...

 

They'll ask that kind of question to see if you're acting nervously and hiding something. We have a regular run hauling windows from Tucson to Albuquerque. We use the Route 26 cutoff from Deming to Hatch and the DOT like to hang out at the Border Patrol station on that road. One night I got stopped and the DOT officer asked me the usual questions. Where I loaded. Where I was going. What was I carrying.

"Windows and glass doors" I answered.

"Windows huh? Are they broken?" He asked.

"Not yet sir!" I shot back.

He laughed and told me to have a safe trip.