Dot run ins

They are not waiting for the loudmouth,

the loudmouth sets them off...

Only someone with severe character defects waits for someone to unload on.

That is like chasing another driver, past your exit!

 

Rest area west bound I40 just before Moriarty,NM. I was the unlucky one to get the works inspection by a whole group of trainees of the NM. DOT!
One instructor and five or six trainees being shown every little thing.
Took way too long but I came away the winner...they found nothing wrong!

 

Never had any 'run in's' with DOT, but did have a guy at one of the entry ports in WY have a bit of fun yanking my chain when I was a rookie! It was all in good fun though.

 

Adding things doesn`t hurt.

 

I've had quite a few run ins with bad dot. All in the same 2 states,CTand NY and know i do not run my mouth or give them grieve untill they do it to me. I will not go into detail but lets just say there are to many dot cops out here that do not know the regs and make up there own as they go along and its bs. I will give one example get pulled over in Ny hauling a dozer dot does a walk around everything is fine and lets me go. I run 50 miles come through the toll get pulled over and get written up for unsecure load. Had 5 chains on a 38,000lbs machine, 4 where cross chained dot cop says cross chaining is no good and and only recognises half the chains working limit.Puts me out of service and then has me put one more chain on and go. When i bring up the other inspection he says that dont concern him. I have asked numerous dot cops since about cross chaining and not one has said it knocks the working load in half.

 

I 90 west in Rockford,lll. DOT, pulls me over, does the full DOT, Get paper work, drive 5 miles ahead, Another DOT pulls me over, but this one I know, done many DOT`s, He comes walking up, I look at him and Say "Your not doing a DOT today, Bud", he says "And why is that"? Your buddy back 5 miles ago just did one, he says, let me see your paper work, Looks at it, Says " #### Rookies, Ruined my day", and he laughs, but We know each other, so were on good terms, I believe he retired already.

 

Never had a bad experience with the DOT, yet. Have ran into a few ####y ones but nothing a little professonialism an respect could not handle.

Now, I have been thrown out of a few scales. MD, at the 93, on the southbound side comes to mind. Scalemaster told me not to come through his scale anymore. Something about haveing a low score on the DOT number and holding up his scale. Now when he seees me coming, he just turns the light green and does not even stop me on the scale, what a nice guy.

The scale at the 50 on 79 north in PA won't even look at our trucks either. Helps that our yard is at the bottom of the hill. They just wave hi and say "have a nice day".

Almost forgot, professionalism and respect go a long way with the DOT. Also, having all your ducks in order helps.

 

I can tell way more good stories than bad--actually in all these years can only think of one that might be considered bad--and really he was just having bad day-
Anyway here is one of my favorites--3 of us heading east-(actually south at this point)about midnite on 90/94 just about Randolph--Il state trooper comes down ramp--gets along my buddy(im in middle) lites him up--then backs off--to between us and motions for me to follow him--he gets ahead of first truck--slows us way down and all of a sudden my buddy is making a LEFT! into the accident pull off down there in the middle (@spaghetti junction)--so we all pull in just barely)and he has all 3 of us back against the retaining wall--pulls up in front--we all get out--scratching our heads--he smiles and says--go back get all your paperwork and meet me inside(there is a little building in the front)so we oblige him--he is inside drinking coffee--proceeds to tells us he is from downstate(don't remember the town)was reassigned to CHI few months back and HATES IT!!
Anyway then tells us he IS REQUIRED to do @least 3 DOT inspections a month--and since it turned April 1st@midnite--he decided to get them all out of the way at one time! Took each of our truck/trailer paperwork--just to put names and number on form--asked if our logbooks were good--just asked mind you--and in less than ten minutes handed each of us a fully filled out level1 inspection report--w NO violations and thanked us for driving safely in IL! Told us we were welcome to coffee before we go
then pulled out into traffic--backed up--blocked both of the left lanes--so we could get out--stayed behind us till we were up to speed and helped us ease back into 2d lane about to top of bridge--left his lites on and lit off down the 1st lane on onto SB 55 at warp speed!~One of the best inspections of my life!
just my $.02

 

I have yet to have a run in with a DOT officer. I had a DOT officer at the Banning scales tell me the reason the majority of drivers get a ticket is because of their tude. The rest are legit write ups that the driver missed or broke in between the last check and the scalehouse. For all the newbies DOT can find something to shut you down if they want to look hard enough. The trick is not to give them a reason to look really hard.

 

before I opened my shop , I worked for 2 companies and hauled gas in Chicago , and new most of the Dot cops from my district , well if you know gas trucks most terminals make you do a walk around inspection on your truck before you pull into the loading rack looking for hot brakes or tires or bad electrical , and the terminal operators video tape this and reveiw it once and a while to make sure we are doing it , well being I was also a mechanic , i took it to the extreme , so I stop do my walk around look underthe back , no problems , so i load a heavy ( full 80K ) of diesel fuel going to the electric co gas turbines , load up pull out of the racks , and to get onthe main road you have to do a reverse hairpin , which tore up the pavement in the spring and made a typical swallow a small car Chicago pothole , so the trailer bucks going over the hole and makes its ussual bangin sounds , I get about a 1/4 mile down the street and low and behold , theres the senior DOt officer from the district waving me down to the shoulder , he looks up at me and says loaded , I replied yep .. he looked over my CVSA stickers and said hey your out of date , you busy?? I said no last load whY , he was I want to renew your stickers .. Ok ( since I tripped the truck and knew of no write ups) well he starts going over it while I sit waiting for the turnsignal drill , drill over and all of a sudden he comes overto the side and signals me to come back there , I was like what now ?? tires are a week old , tank is in spec.... well you know that hole a the corner it broke my leaf pack on the back axle in half and fell off , now he started to read me the riot act and I am like woa charlie , you know me better if I deem it out of service its out of service , and when I checked it at the terminal it was there . I told him the trailer made a little wobble when I turned out of the terminal .. so i bet it broke there , well since the truck was in a secured area we hoppe in the car and went back and sure nuff there was my half a spring pack laying in the street , we picked it up so no one would hit it . I got put out of service , but had my mobile mechanic come fix it ,what was going to be a nice easy day wound up being a 12 hour one . but thats the only dot runin I have had ,
I treat them like they have a job to do , and try to be nice to them . only have had one give me a snotty attitude till his commander who is a freind of mine stopped and checked up on him . then his attitude changed when he found out we where freinds from High school .and I told him I do not get any special treatment . the nice thing I like about Illinois state police DOT officers is the whole time your getting inspected its on video and audio tape . including if your in the squad .kind of keeps the playing feild level .