DOT Scale Skippin’

Trade ya!

 

I remember the last time I accidently, intentionally went around a scale, the unmarked trooper hiding behind the construction truck and I had words, then he escorted me back to the scale, where the weighmaster and I had even more words, and he marked the ticket "mandatory court appearance" with a smile. Then I handed the ticket to my boss, she handed it to our lawyer, who after appearing in court handed it back to her with a new appearance date, then he and I stood before the judge, I explained why I was dodging the scale, he smiled back and ordered me to pay $250 fine ($300 with court costs), then the insurance company found out about it and jacked our rates 15%, in very plain words, we were all told to never dodge a scale, unless you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt it was by accident.

 

It is just a money grab.

 

The road I was on wasn't rated for trucks, nor was it a truck route, it's possible it's a money grab, but then again, had I damaged the road or taken down the low hanging power lines I didn't know were there, how much of a money grab is that?

 

Several years ago, when I was a local driver for Overnite Transportation, we had a driver who ran Culpepper Va everyday. One day, when he had a delivery downtown, he went down one of the city streets, pulled over to the curb, by doing so, the trailer caught a low hanging wire. It not only broke some wires, it pulled the whole pole down which had 2 transformers on it. One transformer hit the street, the other went through the roof of the trailer., Needless to say, it was one big mess. But Overnite told the driver he could rest assured that this would not be charged to him, either the city of Culpeper or the power company was going to be held responsible . On a public street or roadway, limbs or wires are to be a certain height. Unless the road is restricted or if warning signs are posted.

 

The scales in Virginia are ran by the dept. of DMV, the weigh master has no enforcement authority at all. Only a state trooper can write you a ticket, the weigh master is completely out of the picture. 99% of the time, a trooper will spend his shift at the scale and the portable scales are followed by a trooper.

Also, if you are caught in Va. dodging the scales, do not admit the reason you are dodging the scales. The trooper knows but will probably ask, "why are you here", just say, "personal business" and let it go at that.

 

Depends on how badly the locals want money

 

In Colorado, the scales are part of Colorado State Patrol, have been for the 10 or so years, but they've always had the authority to write citations