How often do you get DOT inspections?

In my 3 years with Swift I've had two inspections. A Level II at Raton Pass, no violations and a Level III on I-10 between Phoenix and Tuscon, no violations.

I dont worry about the DOT. Swift keeps up the paperwork and I always run legal equipment and weights. Rarely have to pull into a scale house. I sleep on occaision at scales and have never been bothered.

I think most roadsides are brought on because DOT saw something about the truck or the drivers behavior he didn't like.

 

Depends on who you drive for ... In 5 years I've had 2 level 3s, 2 level 2s and 1 level 1 when I was bobtail. OTOH a friend who drove for CRE got a level 1 every quarter.

 

In the last 4 years I have had 2 level 1 inspections both at the Chowchilla scale in California and the other one was a level 3 at the Cottonwood scale up by Redding, CA. So I have a total of 3 inspections. No other state has bothered me.

 

Had a Lev 3 my first year. Last year had 3 level 1's all good. Had a Level 1 this year once again all good. Funny all level 1's were in Tenn. Level 3 was Cali.

Don't sweat the inspections. Keep your paperwork legal and check your truck and you will be fine. My level 1 this year was a roadside. Not sure why he pulled me over except that the scale was closed due to construction at the time. No big deal, passed a very quick lev 1 and was on my way. Easy 100 bucks for me.

 

So it wasn't a random inspection.

Maybe that should learn you something.

 

in 2 years 1 level 1 during spring blitz, 2 level 3's one was at morhead mn scale the other was a random road side i just happen to be the next truck to drive by after he was done with the last truck he pulled.

in florida the guy pulled me in to check my registration wasnt sure if it was real since it was canadain -_-
some times you may find that the scale is open when u roll in there is an officer standing by the scale checking books. i had that happen a few times in South dakota and in canada 0300 sunday morning outside drinking coffee smoking ciggs just takeing a peek at your books.


i will assume partly the reason for you to ask this question is you have heard some horror stories but believe me alot of these DOT guys are nice people their not all log book Nazis unless you happen to be a ######.

 

Had 3 randoms in 3 years -- 2 in California, 1 in Montana. While CA is my home state, I've only done maybe 10,000 miles/year in it so its safe to say CA coops are a bit more active.


Passed all 3 btw



According to rigdig, the truck I recently bought had 13 inspections since it went on the road in 2001. (Passed all but 1 -- the one citation being a mal-adjusted brake in 2001). Most of those were in Texas...

 

Texas is starting to become a pain in the you know what.

That scale on 59 by Atlanta pulls me in every single time so does the one on 45 around Fairfield ish.

They take their sweet ole time to about it.

Got pulled over in ft worth around Denton because the GPS flopped off the dash and turned off my clearance lights on trl not too long ago.

Got a lvl 1 and one of those neat little reminders you don't even need to report to the company. Dude had just come out the academy 6 months ago said it was the best job in the world being a cop. Good for him.

 

I have been driving about 19 years now and I have only got a inspection once a lot has to do with apperance if you drive a crappy looking truck and look personally like you need to take a bath and shave there is a better chance they will pull you in. also how you approach the scale if you come in slammin on the breaks to slow down or cant seem to get it in gear and look all nervous that is a red flag also