dot inspection

How bad are these guys to ya'll? I mean, are they generally fair or do you think that most of them are out to get you?

 

I've never had a problem with any I've dealt with . I've had others tell me of officers trying to wrongly enforce regulations they misinterpreted .

 

Some fair and honest,others not.Same with all professions.I`ve had some ignore my bad attitude treating me beyond fair,others that made up things as they went and were real pricks no matter how I acted.Even had one that let me drive 20 miles to a good truckstop (passing 2 more on the way),and give me a wake up call at the end of his shift but wouldn`t let me even buy him coffee.Another time I thought I`d get shot even though I`d never raised my voice or made any threatening moves.The latter example is more likely than my first,though.

 

Sure why not? I don't know what type of machine you're talking about but 2 chains sounds like it's not enough. All the information is listed in the FMCSR's §393.102 and all you have to do is read it.

Attitude plays a big role with any inspectors or LEO's. They have a job to do as well and your job is no more important than there's. Put yourself in their place for a minute and ask yourself how you'd act if some driver gave you some bad attitude when you're trying to do your job. I'll bet you'd write every little infraction you could find.

I have never had a problem with any one in authority that has effected me in anyway. I had a major problem with the scale house in WY and I just reported what happened to my boss and the last I heard two of the state workers there were let go. It had to do with routing a very large load for the military and they would not issue a permit. I've always stayed cool and it's always paid off. There's no sense in trying to control a situation when you have no control from the start.

 

My guess is they were saving you a few steps. Yes, we will go under the hood, look at brakes, steering linkage, leaf springs, pitman arms, oil leaks and anything else we can see. As some posted, when a get a real
prick, some how I seem to look harder. When I get a nice fella I'll talk to him like i would anyone else. wednesday was brake check. Had a guy from KY I had stopped. I talked to him for over an hour. He was still Out of service, but we talked about family, trucking, his daddy who was a trucker, lot lizards, dope head drivers , etc. You name it we had a nice conversation. It's funny, you get a nice guy, he usually gets a warning. You get a prick, he gets a few tickets. Nice formula, don't you think?

 

Sounds like Hennepin county, in Minnesota. They shut down 1st st in Minneapolis and inspect every commercial vehicle they can in a few hours a night. They do this about twice a month during the summer months, usually from 9pm until about midnight. All I ever got was the license, insurance, and log inspections. Never even got a warning, always up to date on necessary paperwork. The officers were always professional and very kind if we didn't show an attitude. Other wise, they tore the limos apart looking for anything to cite the driver for.

 

Yes Dot can inspect anywhere on/in the T/T. I had one actually tell me at the Banning Coops that the reason 90% of drivers that get a ticket is because of their attiude. Its not if they can find something to shut you down, but how hard they want to look for it. I've only met one cop with a bad attiude. Best way to reduce the chance of getting a ticket is to treat them the same way you would want to be treated. I've gotten a couple of warnings for speeding due to professional and honest after being pulled over. Myexperince with leo's are opposite of rjjones56. Most of them acted in a professional manner.

 

Have had 3 lvl 2 inspections now in less than 6 mos. The 2nd one was because I was an idiot and didn't scale like I should have after picking up the load. Having said that, I thought that they all acted professionally as did I. When they puledd me in back after being overweight, I was asked if I had scaled. Was honest and told them no. She was very nice to me, told me she wasn't going to write a ticket, but the company did have to fix the tail lights.

The problem I have with them is in the enforcement or maybe I should say interpretations of the law. First 2 inspections I had had no problem with my logs. Got an OOS 2 days ago in IL for log falsification. Had to do with the way I was logging on line 1 when at the shippers and rcvrs. Guy was still cool about it, explained to me how it should beand even apologized for having to shut me down. Oh well. Live and learn.