DOT cracking down hard around the Ringgold, TX area

Not a crude hauler other than transfers and skim jobs, but anything over 95 bbls of production water can put you over 80,000 in a 130bbl tanker, much over 100 bbls of flowback water will put you over 80,000 and 90bbls of 10-2 or Brine Water will put you near 80,000 and god help you if you get caught with 120 load of brine. I was always trained to haul 120, so basically most loads were overweight until recently.

 

Some of our trucks have overweight permits and some don't. You better know before you load!! I haul 150 plus gravity each load, but never more than 192 barrels. With our commission on barrels it's not worth a ticket to make 75 cents or a couple extra dollars a load. It will cost you way more in the long run than you will ever make. Greed out here will make you broke or looking for another job.

 

We had overweight permits too but we were told you can't bridge a liquid tanker with the permit. We have to haul 125 plus gravity to stay legal. I think each barrel I leave at the LACT costs me about a $1.60. I was also told the fines in Texas for running overweight are going up $$$. Another driver mentioned if you get 3 overweight tickets you will lose your CDL, I am not sure he is correct. Mistakes will be made when you load in the field. We had one driver who was 160 pounds over on an axle recently and they gave him a ticket even though I have heard you can be 4% over on an axle if you load in the field.

It's like the wild west, you have all kinds of comments and rumors being passed around. What I do know for sure, the DOT is THICK between Vernon, TX and Iowa Park, TX on 287 and around the Ringold, TX area on 81. Following trucks into a LACT and visiting a LACT to look at run tickets will make you nervous even when you are legal. I got stopped for a level 1 around Vernon and had a legal load but they found 3 issues with my trailer.

 

OUCH!!! These new overweight penalties are going to bite!

 

Yep that will definitely break the bank! I have a friend here in San Angelo who is a rig mover and just got a $10,000 overweight fine because it was not permitted correctly.

 

PA keeps getting shut down for them trying to turn 80 into a toll road so what better way for them to get revenue then nail a bunch of big trucks for weigh violations among other BS? Make sense?

 

OUCH! The penalties seem to be way off-base. Imagine if an investment bank had to pay a months earnings every time they made a mistake.