My first roadside inspection

You must live around here if your on first name basis with the guys lol. I count my blessings that I've never been pulled in yet (knock on wood) my dad has the opposite luck lol half a dozen in a year with a very clean looking truck

 

I pull a walking floor with a Triaxle tractor with a 107k permit so they already know I'm heavy,and some guys who pull walking floors and dump trailers sometimes get a little crazy with their weights . I've seen trucks hit the scales at 160k with only a 102k permit so DOT tends to have the hairy eye ball on you lol! Pennsylvania is way worse ,but there's no yearly overweight permits in PA ,and most landfills in PA won't let you in overweight,they used to but had lawsuits from overweight trucks (illegal junk overweight trucks) crashing and killing people and were sued for millions of dollars ,so they don't take in overweight trucks anymore,so DOT in PA just goes after everything else.PA has some troopers on 84 that just do level 1 inspections like trooper Pace,he must wear out a few sets of wheels on his creeper every year he does so many level 1 inspections. I used to run out 17 West to Painted Post everyday and they used to be open in Owego a lot. NY has gotten crazy with DOT inspections this year since the ELD mandate took effect in December they've been out training the 160 new DOT troopers they hired with the money the federal government gave the states to implement it. I've been DOT inspected about 9 times since December ,that's more than I've been inspected in the last 5 years in NY. It's all about money and justifying their existence. Most of them are ok and are just doing they're job,there's a few first Class ######## (trooper Hathaway ,a little troll who looks like a ardvark that works around Selkirk)that even the other DOT cops will roll their eyes and laugh when you mention their names. Im genuinely friendly with them,but I don't kiss ###,and if I get a B.S ticket ,I'll take it to court and usually beat it or get it knocked down to a small fine. Just part of being out here you get used to it.

 

Or the bathroom scales come out.

The last big inspection I had to endure turned up a number of defects on my aging JBH truck. It was my last one ever as well OTR. Power steering pump was leaking and several of the spring hangers were going bad among other things. And you wonder why they have 50 brand new conventionals parked in a box at North Little Rock in the far corner that month too. Here I am with a 83' COE international vs KYDOT. Ugh. It did cost JBH some dollars to pay it the tickets and to fix it. (Which was silly because that truck was due to be junked in a few weeks anyway)

The one inspection I remember most was local. My boss knew of a exhaust defect, essentially a giant hole in the pipe that would have blasted exhaust into the face of the trooper inspecting. So leaving the statue of limitations aside he stood there taking heat and so on off that exhaust until the trooper proceeded past him and that flawed pipe. I think that would have been a OOS violation among other things. (A clamp took care of that. A used pipe dropped into place permanently fixed that.) the entire inspection was a little bit of a circus. How we got a clean result and permission to proceed is beyond me.

The kind of inspections I do not particularly enjoy are the ones on the PA Pike back in the day, here we are downgrade at 70+ with the jacobs going and Mr Trooper steps into my travel lane at the bottom in front of me. Now I don't know about you or anyone else but any time Mr Trooper steps into a herd of trucks together downgrade into their lane no less creates a situation that is not that great as everyone begins to do the shuffle. Not to mention when the inspection is complete Im faced with a equal upgrade to get that big weight moving. (Which is not going to happen a while) from the bottom. What a mess.

Inspections are part of trucking. And the best ones are when you do have everything in order. If not? Well... it's going to get expensive somewhere.

 

I've been driving for a grand total of four months and had my first inspection yesterday at the Midlothian scale on I68 in Maryland. Told my driver trainer about it and he laughed. This guy has over 3 million miles in the seat and he doesn't remember when he was last inspected. Some guys have all the luck.

 

My first roadside inspection

Cherry broken

 

They DON'T HAVE to ASK.
You're REQUIRED to report upon meeting them.

I think you better get a LOT more knowledgeable on the subject before you start telling anyone what they are not supposed to do.

 

Its your right to conceal carry so if you get pulled over....i expect you and only you to let the officer know of the half drank gatorade in the back seat, the sweaty gym socks that you forgot about and the empty gum wrappers thrown about the car, and your side arm.

Your post is less factual than cam's post. Maybe its YOU that needs to do some reading because Pennsylvania for one does not require you tell of your carry, and its better if you are concealed carry, to keep your mouth shut about it until asked if you have any weapons in the car or on you.

 

Nice write up. Thanks for the read. I enjoyed it.