This was brought up in another forum and thought I would toss it out here since I have seen there is a couple of Officers here, or ex-Officers. What are your thoughts on passing scales that are backed up out onto the road or shoulder? My thinking is that it is unsafe to be out on the road doing 2, 3, 4, etc...mph possably causing a rear-end condition and that it is also against the law (not really sure about this but sounds good) to be on the shoulder unless there is an emergancy of some sort, the shoulder is not a travel lane.
Many states have signs indicating not to use the shoulder and to go ahead an bypass at that point. Me............. i don't hang out on the shoulder or driving lane waiting to get into the scale. If I did, and got hit................ I'll own me a chicken house till its all said and done. I bypassed NM west bound I 40 coming out of TX. Trucks were backed up close to 2 miles. I figured they were too busy to notice if I had prepass or not. I never got in any trouble.
There are some scales that have a sign that says...When scale if full bypass. There is a line that will indicate that. OR they will open and close the scales when needed.
when the people in the scale house actually pay attention to the traffic, they will shut down the scale house till it clears of the trucks inside. i have seen scale houses that no-one is watching the road too. i had always by-passed the scale house, especially in the Va area, southbound near the Dumfries(sp?) area on I-95. i wasn't about to get rear-ended. i always wondered who would be at fault, but i always get "trucker's opnions" not the truth on this................
Yes I have always by-passed them when I have seen trucks start to hang out on the shoulder or slow lane. Some scales dont turn off the enter sign for whatever reason. Just thought I would get the perspective from some of the Officers on here as to why we should not pass them up, if so.
I agree with Pro1driver, Just go on, I personally don't care to find out ,or figure out the consequences of sitting out on interstate waiting to get into the scale and some 4 wheeler die or even worse just get maimed by running into my trailer. ( and besides, we all know, its the truckers fault any way)
I as well drive on by, I have seen and heard wrecks cause of this. When i was in Texas a about 6 month ago a driver was killed because he rear ended a truck that was backed out onto the road. I seen that one maybe 1 or 2 minutes after it happened. NOT something you want to see and defiantly something the scale master could of avoided. Sure they are "supposed" to close the scale and some do have sign's to bypass but the truth is more often then not scales will back people out onto the road. AR, TX, PA, VA are all perfect examples. Me? I will always bypass a scale that is backed out onto the road. They can wright me a ticket if they would like, but my job is to be safe and being backed out onto the road cause a scale house wants to weigh me is not in my opinion safe.
It goes to show that this sh*! is no joke!! Just hate that a fellow trucker had to die. ( just to ward off the newbie/ trucking school hero remarks, the trucker might not have had any where to go!,now lay down and let us professionals talk)
Stopping on the shoulder, or travel lane of the highway is real dangerous, and real dumb. With that said, can a driver be ticketed for cruising on by when the ramp is full? I suppose it would depend on the jurisdiction, and the diesel cop manning the hen house. Sux, we even have to wonder about this issue.
