Can the dot force you to a scale?

Oh about dinner time. If that was a fact, then he got me. =) I was pretty rough that day having worked pretty long hours that week. I think it was 100 hours plus in total over about 5500 miles. It was really intense.

I can only remember one other incident where the 70 hour rule OOS was a real possibility.

 

I don't recall the source (it was legit by me) or all the exact details. A wise guy in FL who the cops were well acquainted with. He realized too late that the scales on US 27 at Branford were open. So he pulled off onto the shoulder and shut off the truck. When the cops saw him and told him to follow them to the scales he replied he couldn't. Why can't you? Truck won't start. OK. No problem but you better be here when we get back. They came back with a service truck from the area. Jacked up his truck and set it on the portables. Did all his wheels and wrote him a healthy fine. More than one way to skin a cat.

 

I've been in similar situation before but,I wasn't asked to go scale,because my load was light only 20,000 lbs.I used to go around the I29 scale close to the Tracy/ Weson MO exit,Not for overweight reasons but,simply because of the time delay and being yanked in occasionally.Anyway,if you take the Tracy/Westinghouse exit and go left back acrossi the freeway...theres an antique mall you can turn right by and the net result is ,you come out about a mile north of the scale.Anyway Dot was staged over by the bridge where you get back on the freeway."What are you doing"?...Me "Driving down a 2 lane road".Him "No,What are you trying to do?..me "driving down the road ,sir".This went Back and Forth,until I kindly informed him"With all due respect sir,You can't Pick my route for me".If you think somethings wrong with my truck,go ahead and inspect it,please.I would like to know.Then he says"Be safe,have a Nice day.I say OK ,you too.

 

I think everybody's missing the actual question can DOT make you go to a privately owned scale one that I have to pay for because they suspect I'm overweight. They can bring portable scales and they can direct you to a state certified or federally certified scale but can they make you go to a CAT scale who pays for the CAT scale? And even if they do direct you to a scale once again most of them say lawful you have to have probable cause on why you thought my load was heavy looking at it is not probable cause can they do other things absolutely but you can fight an overweight ticket if they wanted just to weigh you for wait and told you to follow them. Does that mean I won't do it of course not I probably will but I'm not paying a public scale ticket they will pay that I'm not and they cannot force me to pay it that is federal law

 

Deleted by writer

 

My personal experience with this was in Texas. I was getting weighed on portables out in front of the Petro. I commented that the Cat scale would be faster and the officer said he can’t pay for a scale and he can’t make me pay for a scale. The options (in Texas and in South Dakota, my personal experience) is portables or a state certified scale like a grain elevator.