Are Cops real crackin down on us? Or are they trying to hustle us out of our pockets?

I'm proud to be a trucker. Proffessional driver I don't mess around my bread and butter puts the roof over my head and family. Respect for the road and the truck are number one loose this loose everything in the blink of an eye also respect the mountain...it can turn on you.

 

And yes tickets do get bigger if your driving a big rig.

 

speeding tickets don't but i don't see many 4 wheelers getting roadside inspections, or getting tickets for having a marker light, or for not righting down everytime they stop to get a drink or take a pee. etc.. simply driving a truck gives them more opportunity to find something wrong and get that book out.

 

I am curious, for you guys whop have been driving for a while do you see it getting worse lately. On average how often would you say that you get pulled over?

 

Yesterday coming across I-44 in Missouri I already heard on the cab that there was one rolling my direction behind me and I seen him coming and barely passed me then slowed down and got behind me and was tailgating the heck out of me. He was so close I wondered if he was behind me but I could see his shadow on the ground and plus no one passing just lingering behind him in both lanes even though the speed limit was 70 and my truck is governed at 62. He did that for about 6 or 7 miles and towards the end he flashed his lights and I thought I was getting pulled over but he ended up getting off at a exit and turned his lights off. I thought that was so strange.

 

He was bored and just looking for a reason to pull you over.

 

PA is getting worse. They're giving out those big tickets now for crossing certain bridges; tickets like $10K or $30K. One of our tanker drivers got a $10K ticket in PA overweight for that particular bridge; he was trying to get around an accident on I-80 and took a side road. DOT cop waiting on the other side of the bridge & no where to turn around before the bridge. Company wouldn't pay it either; drivers responsibility.

 

Thats horrible.

 

I've been off the road now for a year. But in the previous 40, I saw a lot.
I think the type of ticket and the size of the fines is what's changing. Back in the 70's I never heard of overweight tickets. They were there, but very rare and there was a lot of leeway. Speeding tickets were the most common and while they were more than for a car, they weren't all that much in comparison.
Emphasis then was speed. Now it seems to be lights, hoses hanging too low, mudflaps sailing too high.
And the cost is out of this world~!
I think we're just seeing the result of state budgets that are broke. When Cali runs a budget deficit in the tens of BILLONS per year, they look where they can for money. Ask any CHP officer and he'll tell you they are a revenue officer now.
The logic for those that subscibe to it, is if you make it expensive enough, people will follow the rules.
But the costs are insane!
My brother is a DOT officer in MO. He tells me they are not pushed to run after trucks, but promotions and shift assigments are largely graded by the amount of revenue an officer brings in. Kinda like a salesman.
And as he says, "There are only so many hours in a day. You can write 5 tickets per shift for $15-35 to cars for using a cellphone or simple speeding, or you can write $300-$2,000 tickets to big rigs for the same violations. After getting sucky shift assignments, one learns how to live in the system."

 

Thats why I left Prime back when they started the 55mph crap. I don't see how slowing down so much will save fuel when the truck is pushing harder and longer to pull a hill. Yes they are a big road hazard. Jerry Moyes got in trouble some years ago forcutting his trucks back to 55 which lead to two problems. One it was voiding the warranty on the trucks because they were burning up and broke down a lot. The other was impeding traffic. Robert Lowe is getting away with it more or less by keeping the trucks set at 63-65 but strong arming his drivers with a contract to follow for lower speed.