Ever blow by a Weigh Station when it was open?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by Vito, Jan 21, 2015.

  1. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2009
    Messages:
    18,525
    Thanks Received:
    129,753
    Location:
    Copied in Hell
    0
    First time in Missouri, drove through StLouis on 70. Company truck. Got into a dragrace with a Big R pulling wiggle wagons. Suddenly, Big R peels off into the coop. I blew the coop! I pulled over at the end of the ramp and a bear came out to talk to me. He took my license and I had to get turned around and go back in. No ticket because I had stopped at the end of the ramp.

    My next gig was in a largecar. We used to blow that scale on 10 in Louisiana. Turn the lights out and hammer down. Wow, that's easy. Then I saw that Lousiana scale on 20 west. Heck, even in a slow truck, you will be in Texas before any cop could get you, even if he was sitting in the car.

    Of course, these were in the days before the sensors and electronic surveillance.

    We we were doing a crane move from Houston to Haines City,FL. 16 trucks, most of us OD We stopped for the night at that TA in Marianna,FL. next morning we all strike out onto 10 street east. Came up to the scale, I'm up front. Little old lady comes out and I hand her my permit."morning, driver" "Goodmorning mam." I look up, see one of our trucks blowing by the scale with an OD load. The ScaleMaster did too. She pointed at him and he honked his air horn. She grabbed her cell and called HP. A few miles up the road, you would have thought that driver robbed a bank. 4 full growns had him pinned in. They were at the back of his trailer pointing at his lack of a beacon light. They voided his permit and wrote every ticket they could.
    Well, we made it down to Haines City and got unloaded. They went back to Wildwood, looked at the chrome shop and got some dinner. That driver who ran the scale pulls into the TA. "Driver, why on earth did you run that scale?"

    He said, "My PREPASS blinked green!"
     
    alds and Hammer166 Thank this.
  2. Skate-Board

    Skate-Board Road Train Member

    Joined:
    Aug 9, 2014
    Messages:
    3,801
    Thanks Received:
    3,996
    Location:
    Merrimack, NH
    0
    Was coming up on a scale in like 5 miles. The coop was closed but then it just opened up. Guy comes on the CB asking locals if there was any exits before the coop. Nope. He said he was overweight. A dump truck driver told him to slow down and hang back while he got in front of him. I was in back of the overweight guy. We pull into the scale. Dump truck gets on scale and doesn't move. Next thing I see is his hood up. Guy comes out and waves everyone around.
     
  3. seabass

    seabass Light Load Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2007
    Messages:
    56
    Thanks Received:
    25
    Location:
    The Sunshine State
    0
    Late one night I ran by the Fulton MS scale on 78. I was on my way to Tupelo to get a Cooper Tire load. I swear to this day the sign said "CLOSED". The DOT officer did not agree with me.
     
  4. Tall Mike

    Tall Mike Road Train Member

    Joined:
    Aug 20, 2014
    Messages:
    7,359
    Thanks Received:
    34,740
    Location:
    New York State
    0
    I love trucker stories.... :happy1:
     
    allniter Thanks this.
  5. Vito

    Vito Heavy Load Member

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2012
    Messages:
    878
    Thanks Received:
    950
    Location:
    North Carolina
    0
    Reading comprehension problems? Where did I ever say I missed a weigh station? I have not. Old guys like you just look for any excuse to say "rookie". Old fart! :biggrin_25522:
     
  6. Ruthless

    Ruthless Road Train Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2010
    Messages:
    8,945
    Thanks Received:
    88,080
    Location:
    The City.
    0
    That little set of scales on rte 40 in MD that you hit when you're trying to skip the big coops on 95...I had gone thru there probably a dozen times legal and the sign would say open so I'd creep across, never see a light then get net to the building and no one was in it :/ so I took a load down a few month later, was over gross by a bit and over axle on the spread (gotta love preloads, that being said I didn't turn it down knowing full well I was over...) get on down there, ride past the scale, lady comes hustling out of the office waving a clipboard :mad: 3 trucks right behind me blew it too n got pulled in. 3 more in the following 10 minutes including a bobtail with a bunch of blinking lights that shouldn't have been blinking and a clearly bald tire...he hopped out yelling how he didn't have to stop he didn't have a trailer...he got a $1000 ticket. I told the lady about the dozen or more times I came thru and no one was there etc did my best to be polite and as honest as I'll be with a scale cop..got a warning. Told me "my partner and I took this scale over the first of the month, and I noticed there was a cooler in front of the switch that had dust all over it and must not have gotten moved for a while"

    :/ gee thanks
     
    Big_D409 and Vito Thank this.
  7. Alwayswillingtolearn

    Alwayswillingtolearn Bobtail Member

    Joined:
    May 23, 2012
    Messages:
    15
    Thanks Received:
    7
    Location:
    Westerville, Ohio
    0
    I blew a scale crossing into Wyoming. Realized it was open and not closed as I had first thought so got turned around and came back through. Good thing, too, because he had called the HP on me. When I got in they cancelled the HP call and checked my pw, etc. then issued me a warning. My company treated it as a full-fledged ticket. Cripes! So I pull into scales even if my prepass blinks green. I look for scales in my sleep practically. One place I pulled in recently spoke over the intercom to me and asked me why I pulled in. I said, "Better safe than sorry."
     
    Vito Thanks this.
  8. snowlauncher

    snowlauncher Road Train Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2014
    Messages:
    1,250
    Thanks Received:
    2,664
    Location:
    Southeastern ID
    0
    I run through WY all the time mostly on I80.
    The scales are almost always open and most of the time they make you bring papers. I have PrePass though so I get a lot of green lights.
     
    alds Thanks this.
  9. clausland

    clausland Road Train Member

    Joined:
    Dec 5, 2014
    Messages:
    1,933
    Thanks Received:
    11,067
    Location:
    North Woods
    0
    Never recall blowing by an open coop, but have gotten popped trying to bypass....Got stopped one time in NY trying to bypass, they were waiting on the State route....He asks what are you doing over here, I tell him trying to bypass cause I'm already hours late on my unload in VT....So, he writes me for being over width & over length on a State route with a 48'/102.....Yeah, I know that was a long time ago, when the max was a 45'/96, go figure....
     
    Vito Thanks this.
  10. blazer1

    blazer1 Light Load Member

    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2010
    Messages:
    179
    Thanks Received:
    90
    Location:
    so. jersey
    0
    I was in line at the scale house on 287 in NJ, a bright yellow K-whopper with straight pipes blows by, (did anyone ever watch the beginning of the LeMans road race where the drivers have to run across the track and jump into their cars?) That's what 3 NJ state troopers did, they almost collided with each other pulling onto the road going after Billy Bob. AS I was leaving, I saw they had him pulled over and surrounded and Billy Bob was waving his arms in the air. I would have loved to hear that conversation.
     
    prostartom, racemaxx24 and Skate-Board Thank this.