Big Trouble, 5 criminal CDL tickets..

I'm glad you squeaked by for such foolish moves. I think you're incredibly lucky and I also believe you'd be more lucky if you didn't hear another word from the state. I'm sure if the judge knew you didn't even hold a CDL when you were pulled over the outcome would have been much different. The courts bought the "I hold a CDL now" and you got away with your future if no one catches up to that. Which is highly unlikely now. I would suggest you get the little green book and cover your ### and your employer by reading § 383.31.

You're also lucky to have a job operating equipment because it would be very difficult to get a job driving a truck with your lack of any training. Maybe a lawyer would have had all of your charges dismissed. I would have paid the money to protect my record so none of this would have show up. But you are satisfied with what you got and that's great.

 

I called the FMCSA there in AZ and basically you're in the clear now. There's a very very small chance that you will be held accountable for this incident. However, your company may get in hot water for dispatching you without a CDL if they look. And that it's up to the inspector on what he's looking for during a company inspection. What you're getting at about not having a CDL at the time so you don't have to comply with §383.31 is just foolish and not covering your ###. If you were smart you'd put all the load on to your employer because notifing him of your "no medical card" is no big deal. But that's up to you, but I would want all of this behind me.

I will pass this on to you on what the FMCSA said. They were not surprised that you got away with such a small charge after a serious infraction. They said that courts and judges are not aware of all the regulations that pertain to trucking. They go out and train these judges the best the can but they're no where near where they should be. In fact they pay the judges to attend their training and the judge gets paid for the judges he trains. They were also surprised that your officer did not make a fuss on what you received. So you were very lucky like I said before. And not having a truck lawyer worked out for you this time. But don't be stupid and think you can do that every time. If you would have had a judge that knew the laws you would have been charged with no CDL and the other serious infractions and you would have a very hard time driving a truck ANYWHERE.

 

I'll never forget the first time I went to court. I was naive. I was in law school at the time. My neighbor's dog barked 24 hours a day. It was one of those ten pound dogs that barked like it was 100 pounds to make itself feel important. After months of trying to study while that furry creature annoyed me I started calling the police to enforce the dog barking ordinance. Three or four times of this and having to explain to each 21 year old police officer with no education what the law said and I finally convinced one officer to issue a violation.

I kept contact with the city attorney regarding prosecution of the matter and learned this was the first time of the law going to court. On court day the old guy shows up and in a nut shell tells the judge that I am an ####### (he was right but that should have been legally inadmissable) because I have vanity license plates that say LAW4MNY and that his wife just died (she died after the violation was issued and before court). The judge asks old guy if his dog barks a lot. Old guy says yes but he doesn't think it is a big problem since he can't hear it because he is hard of hearing. Judge issues ruling of not guilty.

The point of this is that judges can do what ever they want and the only recourse (at least in Kansas) is to 1) be voted out of office. 2) be subject to reversal on appeal, 3) subject to discipline by disciplinary administrator for state licensing authority. Since the city prosecutor would not appeal, judge was home free and he knew it. Later, I had other judges tell me they hadn't been overruled by an appeal's court in a while so they were going to do whatever they wanted even if it was clearly not supported by precedent.

The officer objecting to the judges ruling in your case means that the officer that issued your violations should have been present as a witness for the prosecution of your violations. The Prosecutor gets to decide what comes before the judge and he can drop all charges if he wants to even if you ARE (in GOD's eyes) guilty. If the prosecutor drops the charges the judge does not have any authority over you for the dropped matter regardless of the annoyed government DOT officer. He is just a witness.

BRI

BRI

 

Next time make sure u take that truck to Jiffy Lube before you take the long trip


on the side do they require truckers to take a wrench/prybar etc. to every nook and cranny before leaving ?

 

phoenixAM did you get my PM???