Dot run ins

lately I havent met any of those just doing their job dot guys.the have been total jerks and I have no respect for any of em

 

Really can't say I've had any run-ins but about a year ago I did have what I thought was an unusual inspection. Coming EB on I-80 just before the Utah border, going thru a construction site at the speed limit in a line of cars and trucks.

DOT bear sitting just at the start of the site, pulls out at the end of the line couple of vehicles back, we get to end of the construction and he pulls me over, says he wants all of my paperwork and the reason he pulled me over was for a "loose" strap.

I walk back to the trailer with him and all the straps are secure, BUT one of the tails, about 8" long had come out of the ratchet, he says that must be what I saw and says well while I have you here let's do a Level one.

He goes through all of my P/W EVERYTHING is spot on, he goes all through the truck and trailer, he says that he found a bad strap, I go back with him and he points out a spot of wear on one of my straps that is the size of a pencil eraser.

I tell him no problem I have another one and in less than 2 minutes I have it replaced, he tells me that is fine and he is going to finish his insp. P/W. Comes up to the truck hands me a report, to be honest I didn't even look at it, says I good to get out of there.

After I get home and pull out my P/W, he has me listed as being put OOS while I changed the strap? There is a lesson here.

ALWAYS CHECK YOUR P/W ON THE SPOT.

 

ha a montana dot do a full level one .....couldn;t find anything on the truck then he comes back sprays down a braided airline .....low and behold it is leaking two inches from the fitting so i join four other trucks waiting for service calls .....fortunately the service truck allready there had an airline and was nice enough to charge me a 75 dollar service call to drive 30 feet and install it .....only violation in six years

 

There is a good lesson here about checking your paperwork. Also, always, ALWAYS make sure they give you back EVERYTHING that you gave them to inspect. I had a DOT in Colorado "forget" to give my CDL back to me one time. When I asked for it, I got it, and the rest of the DOT crew gave her a hard time about it.

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CA, OR and WA were the only places I've had the most Level-I's performed.
Castaic scales in Feb '11 and Cottonwood scales in Dec '11.
The Castaic was a voluntary Level-I, Cottonwood was random.

Castaic they found that the mechanism that kept the fifth wheel locked in place had come undone and began to chastise me for not doing a proper inspection.
I respectfully, yet firmly told them that it wasn't that way before I left Fontana and what's next?
OOS of course and had it repaired enough to satisfy the CHP officer to drive out of there and get a full-on replacement at a place suggested by the Nashville shop(weekend, so Fontana was closed).

Cottonwood was a random where they had those walk-under bays.
Everything else checked out just fine, but placed OOS for a microscopic fuel leak at the crossover between the two tanks that wasn't dripping on the ground and was only caught due to the walk-under bay.
The non-sworn inspector has me sign the paper and tells me to park outside and come back in for my license once the proper repair has been made.
2 hours later the repair is made and I go back inside the barn for a reinspect/sign-off with the sworn inspector.
She proceeds to chew me out for not coming back in after parking and I tell her what the non-sworn inspector and the prior inspections had me do before and comes back and says "we do things differently at this post!!"
Nonetheless, I just shake my head, sign the papers, get my license and avoid eye contact as the bay opens and I drive off.

These weren't exactly "run-ins", but just a small sample of the various people that fire a condescending attitude to people who didn't deserve it to begin with.
As for the inspections, I learned my lesson and take extra time doing an even more thorough pre-trip than is necessary to avoid those kinds of things from happening later.

30-60 minute "walk-around/on-the-ground" to avoid 3-4 hours of "scale-house wait-around".

 

During the recent June safety blitz, VA DOT tells me everything is good, then brings an OOS sticker back with my paperwork stating that the safety chain on my spare tire carrier was broken... I'm still on top of the pit, so he escorts me under the trailer into the pit, and I reconnect the hook that he apparently unhooked... Had me sign the OOS paper that the problem was fixed and sent me on my way..

Meat another VA scale, I was ticketed because the reflective tape on my mudflaps was 1/4" too short... I told him if a car is close enough that 1/4" of reflective tape is going to be the difference between them seeing me or not, when my flaps are under the trailer, we've got a bigger problem than there not being enough reflective tape... Didn't see the humor in it and ticketed me anyway.

 

wow i'm knocking on wood right now after reading this thread i've went through the scales yesterday 3,000lbs over gross (demo job no idea what true weight was) and they just gave me the thumbs up and told me have a nice day...ive done this a few times but another one of our drivers went through the same scale from the same demo job at 100,980lbs (980lbs over permited gross) and they gave him a 45 minute lecture how if the catch him over gross again he was getting a ticket......

 

Funny, the VERY first coop I pulled into on the first day of RC 2012 WAS Cottonwood. He was very professional AND one of the nicest guys that I have ever run into, even had a good sense of humor, the way it SHOULD be.

 

All of my dealings with DOT officers have been pleasant except one and that's strictly my fault. You know how it is coming out of the house dragging your feet cause sometimes you just want to sit home in the lazyboy and watch football? So I get down to the truck late, do a quick pre trip and off I take bobtail. Scalehouse is about 20 miles from the yard and wouldn't you know it, I got the red. My heart sank when I realized my log book still showed line 1 from Friday night. I explained to the officer and he says, catch it up and bring it to me when you're done, which I did. I was sweating bullets. He did a quick level 3 on the tractor. Obviously, I was given a log violation but otherwise a clean inspection and no ticket. Officer was polite and professional. Can't ask for more than that.

State and local police? Yeah, not so much. They make me nervous when I'm in a big truck. I feel like rolling revenue to them and they're just waiting for me to make the slightest mistake. Not all of my run-ins have been bad with them. Some have been awesome actually, but I've had enough bad experiences that I can't control my apprehensiveness around them.

 

Once, years ago, I got pulled over in north Texas. Something must not have looked right to the cop, so he askes permission to search the truck. I told him sure.

So I'm back there by the cop car smoking a cig, and a K-9 unit rolls up. They covered the truck up and down, inside and out, even under the hood. About 40 min later they tell me I am free to go, sorry for delay.

Well, before I got pulled over, I had a taco on top of my duffle bag in the passenger seat, and when I got ready to eat it 20 min or so after the inspection, it was gone!

The only thing I can think is the dot dog got it, and ate it, or the cop tossed it after the dog got it. I laughed about it for days, and can only hope it gave the dog the runs in the cop car.

But as far as bs tickets- best would be one for no washer fluid by a small city dot cop. I had used it all up that morning in the fog/haze. Ticket said "washer system inoperable".

 

the last one reminds me of the time I went to the nuke plant in upper wisconsin , as part of the inspection to come into the grounds the put a fido in the cab , I stopped for burgers on the way up as there isn't really a place near by for food that early in the morning , well as I was sitting in the bullpen waiting the officer that did the inspection comes in and asks to speak to me , well aparently they put the dog in the cab first then climb in , an you guessed it fido went right to the sleeper and ate my contraband , both whoppers and the fries , the officer was like what the hell ?? he was so embarassed by the situation and asked me how much he owed me for my lunch .. after that I kept asking how the pooch was , we got a good laugh about it .