NO OD Permit Penalties

Oh, and you'd better pray you don't get in an accident without permits........

 

I've done a couple loads that should have been permitted, but didnt. I'm not saying this to give an excuse not to buy the permits. As stated,. most permits are not expensive and much depends on the dimensions of the load itself.

The particular load I decided to run was a small excavator that was 105" wide at the base of the tracks. It was also a weekend and the route I used took me through scales that I knew would be closed,.. so I didnt have to avoid any scales or be where I shouldnt. I took a chance and got away with it. (Knock on wood).

Now in the grand scheme of things,.. had I been pulled in and they decided to measure and go by the rules,.. I would have no choice but to man up and accept what ever happened.

2 years ago I was hauling an 11'2 structure out of Fla. We were waiting on permits, I got the text that they just came in, so I rolled out thinking that when I got to my first scale by Ocala I would just check my email and show them the permit. Well to make a long story short,.. I was on Sprint at the time and my phone had auto-updating on, Somewhere between Tampa and Ocala it lost signal and the phone was bricked. When I got to the scale they pulled me aside as I expected. Then and there I had my Oh #### moment. I tried in vein to get the phone working. They said I had 30 mins to produce a permit or else,..

Or else ended up being a $1000.00 fine.

Hurst

 

Well I would suggest that you call each one of the states, tell them the dimensions and ask how much the fines are going to be. The phone numbers can be found in your Rand McNally..........oh wait, you probably don't know what that is and rely on the GPS on your phone so I'll help you out with the number for the state police in each state;
Iowa - 515-725-6090
Missouri - 573-751-3313
Oklahoma - 405-425-2424
Make sure when you call them you tell them who you are, what your driving, your company name, the route you'll be taking etc. that way they can give you a really accurate number on the fines.

As others have already said, the cost of the fines will be exponentially more than the cost of permits and will certainly run more than the freight bill plus you'll be sitting where your caught till you get permits.

Now if you have an accident your going to jail, if someone gets hurt then you'll be working the rest of your life to make the payments on the judgment the court hands you and if someone gets killed your going to spend the rest of your life in prison and your family will be working the rest of their lives to make payments to the family of whomever got killed. Have an accident without a permit and regardless of how it happened it's your fault because you, by law, were not even supposed to be there so it's your fault period. Same goes with running off route with a permit.

 

Don't call, give your company name, then ask what the fines are, call and get the permits. Why not just call each states DOT and tell them you're illegal and what time you'll be passing through so they can nail you.


That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, "Call and ask what the fines are."

 

I think you missed the sarcasm.

 

I think you're right. And that's actually a shame, because it was an excellent example of sarcasm.

 

LOL

Like a fine wine or old bottle of bourbon, some things are best done in moderation.

Hurst

 

So you have a whole different set of problems. Why not just rent a legit trailer and do it right? It would be much simpler and you could even come off the goat paths and take an easier route.

 

Well prior to my good advice the dumbest thing I had ever heard of was getting on a public forum and asking how much the fines are going to be for doing something illegal. But now I have out dumbested him so now it's back on me and you won't be thinking that some poor schlep trying to run an illegal trailer with an illegal load is the dumbest.