CRETE - A Year in Review

It certainly will if I'm not able to get it taken care of in court. As a matter of fact, while I was typing this up I got a call from the training department with my next assignment, which I had to turn down until the outcome of the citation is determined. But that's two months away. Looks like they have quite a backup in their court system. That might work in my favor once I get a lawyer working on it. It has to up my chances of an out of court agreement of some kind.

I've done it SS, I've figured out how to keep my APU. I'm currently at 340,000 miles and my truck would have went to my next student. There is always a bright side.

By the way SS, what was the outcome of your incursion with NM's revenue enhancement task force.

It was a classic "Get the big trucks" setup. It happened on I-94 east of Chicago out by Portage. There were three lanes of traffic and I had recently pulled into the right lane so than I wouldn't be holding up traffic as it was beginning to thin out. Shortly after pulling into the right lane I had a four wheeler pull up along my left side at a fairly quick pace and then proceeded to pull slightly ahead and then slow down and drift up along side me while bouncing around in its' own lane.

This of course caught my attention and I was keeping a close eye on the car not knowing for sure if this was some form of road rage, an elderly driver having troubles maintaining control or just someone preoccupied with some activity other than driving. As it turned out, it was some young girl who was fully engaged in conversation with her passenger, arms flailing while texting a message off to someone else at the same time. The point being that I was concerned about her erratic driving and my attention was diverted at that particular moment.

Well, at the very same moment I rounded a curve in the road, I made the unsettling revelation that a DOT officer was not too far ahead on the shoulder of the interstate with a Big Truck.

The a fore mentioned 4wheeler was still firmly attached to my left hip (at 62mph in a 70mph zone) which made it impossible to change lanes along with a solid line of cars directly (tailgating in full effect) behind her as she was proving to be an extremely effective moving roadblock. This also resulted in a stream of cars passing her on the outside lane. Final result, I was stuck in the right lane with absolutely no way to get out of it. What I did do was take my foot off the accelerator (jake break engaged) and moved as far to the left in my own lane as possible without causing an incident.

The next sentence should have began in this fashion, "I then applied my breaks", but sadly that was not the case. In any other normal circumstance that is exactly what would have happened, but I had been so preoccupied with the unpredictable actions of the bimbo next to me that by the time I saw the officer on the side of the road I simply didn't do what I should have done.

I passed that obstacle shortly there after but the driving by the girl on my left had continued to cause me problems. I finally hit the breaks to slow down even more and she actually passed me, but crossed the line into my lane a little and then swerved back into her lane and once again slowed to my pace and continued to concern me. It didn't matter if I speed up or slowed down, she was glued to me. This continued for another 1/2 mile or so until I saw what no driver wants to see. A set of flashing lights in my mirror. Oh Crap!

I pulled over and pulled out the required documentation and awaited the scolding that was sure to follow. The passenger's door was opened shortly there after by a young gentleman in his late 20's at best along with one hell of a chip on his shoulders. This was going to be a rough one.

I'm don't really know what kind of training these DOT guys go through, but there must be an extensive course in "Treating truck drivers like pieces of ####" and this particular recruit must have finished top in his class with something to prove.

It began with the standard, "Do you know why I stopped you" and "Do you know how fast you where going". I answered with a, "I going to guess it was because I didn't move over and I was going about 55mph (65mph truck zone)." I also stated that I moved over as far as possible under the circumstances, knowing it would do no good. He confirmed the reason for the pull over and also said that I was speeding. He wasn't impressed with my efforts to move over within my own lane and said that if I was unable to do so that I must slow down below the posted speed limit. This was our first conflict and I pointed out that speeding was impossible because I was in a 65mph zone and this truck was governed at 62 and I had taken my foot off the accelerator, therefore was going below the posted speed limit and had slowed down. Apparently I hadn't slowed down enough, what ever enough was, I don't know.

He also "demanded" to see my log book. I pulled it out of the overhead and began to pull it off my clipboard and pull out my ruler and carbon paper and he lost his mind by screaming at me not to make any changes and hand it over immediately. I simply finished what I had started and looked him in the eye, "It doesn't need any changes" and handed it over.

The multiple questions and discussion that ensued made it painfully clear that this officer was a rookie and my best guess would put him in his first weeks on the job. He just couldn't seem to grasp the concept of why I was a Crete driver, but sitting in a Shaffer truck. It took a solid 10 minute conversation to convince him that I was not trying to steal a Crete trailer full of glass. Not a good sign for me, there was going to be no leeway with this officer and I was confident that I would get two tickets out of this.

He went back to his car and I sat there, waited and amused myself by counting the number of cars passing by in the right lane at 70mph along with a hand full of trucks. During that time I also noticed another DOT Cruiser heading on down the road with lights flashing.

About 10mins later the officer was once again at my door to inform me that there was an officer 3 miles up the road with another truck and told me to head on down the road and park in front of them, he would meet me there. He then jumped in his car with lights flashing and took off. I was a bit mystified by this one, but did as instructed and met up with the party shortly thereafter.

At first I had no idea what was going on, I assumed the truck driver ahead of me was putting up a stink and my guy had been called for assistance, but it became clear latter on the the officer that had pulled me over didn't know what he was doing and needed help.

The officer's finished up with the car hauler first and after he pulled away the two officers sat behind me. No less than 100 cars passed by after that time in the right lane with both DOT cars behind me until a truck who found himself stuck in the right lane passed by. Moments later the other officer was in hot pursuit. This was nothing more than a revenue generating, truck specific operation. We are nothing but a target out here with a big green $ sign on our backs. Sometimes I really hate this job.

When all was said and done I got a clean level 3 inspection, a warning for speeding and a citation for "Local Laws (general), Failure to yield to stationary emergency vehicle".

In hind sight I wish I had never proclaimed my innocence with regards to speeding. If I had not done so, this inexperience trooper would have most likely given a speeding ticket to a 62mph governed truck in a 65mph zone on flat land, which would have been been very effective at calling his credibility into question in court. But instead I got a warning with no mention of the posted speed limit or my supposed speed at the time of the incident.

So now all I can do is search for a lawyer and and hope for an understanding judge. Grrr!

 

Well, my steady running has hit the skids, as I expected. I delivered my load outside of South Bend yesterday and got a two load offer after my MT call without delay. My South Bend load was actually the product of a 3 load offer.

I had the choice of an anytime drop delivery in PA(550mi) or an appointment delivery in MN(700mi) tomorrow morning. The PA address was a big red flag but if I took the MN load I would be sitting around for a day waiting to deliver anyways, so I took the PA load and hoped for the best. I delivered that load this morning and have been sitting ever since. It is now almost 4pm with no freight. I'm still hoping for a load out tonight, but not counting on it.

I've been running great as long as I stick to the middle of the country, but as soon as I get something over here on the east side I get stuck again.

 

I'm not blaming the officer for giving me a ticket. Hell, I broke the law (sort of) and expected to get one at that point. What wasn't called for was the attitude that accompanied it. I just can't understand why they have to act that way when I am nothing but smiles, yes sir and no sir. I just want to be treated like a human being. Seems simple enough.

Just found a lawyer firm in Porter Co. that deals with CDL tickets "all day long".

I was told it WILL be plead down to something that wouldn't affect my CDL. Something like littering and the lawyer fee is a reasonable $200. I was also told to expect to pay court fees and fines to the state that will come out to $400 or so. Hence my accusations of revenue enhancement.

Just another day in the life of a truck driver.