Overweight Violation Q - NYS

As long as the shippers let the driver know he is over weight, then it's on the driver.

Mark

 

I didn't see portable scales mentioned in the original post...was it implied and I missed it, or was the 88,000 gross discovered after getting the overweight ticket, proceeding to the CAT scale, and -then- weighing?

Where in NY did you happen to come across portables, if that's the case?

 

as to who is responsible for fines and tickets ,it goes two ways . if i get a company that is always overweight i give the summons to the company and leave all driver lic info off the ticket . if i issue an overweight to a driver instead of company it is because of his attitude and i gave him a warning before . some drivers dont care if they are over because they know the company will get the summons. the companies that tell the drivers to go home if they dont take the load get hammered . dump trailers that are allowed 80,000 lbs that i catch on a regular basis at 135,000 lbs get the full force of my bic pens wrath .portable scales have a tolerance of 2 % and most juristictions give a 5 % leeway . 8000 lbs after the 5 % would not be worth the summons to me . i like the big violators that i get for 20,000 lbs and more . $ 1300.00 towing fee , $ 3500.00 summons , and 30 day suspension of thier registration . i have one company i towed and issued summons 67 times , they are now chapter 11 .

 

Hate to hear that happened to you. Check federal regs to see if you are supposed to be allowed to get to nearest scale

 

Good to see a judge with common sense

 

This is ignorance talking, How is the driver supposed to know the weight of everything that goes on his truck? If they had a platform scale big enough to weight the truck and trailer together and he was over by 8k and he said I don't care and took it, then it is on him. If the driver just said fill it up and what ever it is it is and I'm not going to weight it, then it is on him. But if the shipper cannot give the driver a reasonable estimate on his weight then the fine should be on the shipper! What if the scenario was somebody that drops and hooks, you pull in and back under a trailer with a seal on it, you have no idea what is inside how much it weighs or how it is loaded, so you take off toward a scale to check it. On the way you get stopped and recieve a overweight ticket, who does that ticket belong to? This is the same problem and the shipper should pay the fine

 

See, not everything in California is bad.

 

Regarding the ravenwolfcartage post about loading hay in the field......

As a former "agricultural commodities transportoligist" (aka grain hauler), loading out of the field was quite common for us. Most of the grain trucks in our area had suspension gauges on them, many were factory equipped. It is quite simple to use this as an aid to loading legal. On my 1996 W900, and hopper bottom grain trailer, if I had 62 psi on my tractor suspension, I was legally loaded. I would load the front part of my trailer until gauge showed 46psi, then load the back until the TRACTOR suspension gauge reached 62 psi.
There is a company called Tel Tek (goggle Tel Tek to get to their web site) that offers digital gauges with a lifetime warranty that are VERY accurate, reliable, and reasonably priced. I have used their gauges on all my trucks, and wouldn't dream of operating without one. If you pull the same trailer most of the time, they offer a gauge that will give both the tractor and trailer psi. They also offer one that converts the psi into lbs. The only time I have had an accuracy problem was loading on a steep incline. You had to stop loading, pull to level ground, and get a correct reading.