Help with wide load!!

Not to mention the extra revenue in your pocket and not the escort's.

 

Passed an oversized on i24 east. It was almost dark.

Six: How about that oversized going eastbound. Got it on?
Hand: Yeah, go ahead.
Six: Where are you heading with that big load?
Hand: Savannah.
Six: Drop down 2 channels.
Hand: I'm here.
Six: Where are you stopping at?

(We were almost in Chattanooga. There's that crappy little Peelot at the 169 and a pickle park, but there ain't no way in hell you're going to be able to get in there at dark thirty. There's the pickle park on 75 south a few miles in Georgia, 2 truckstop at the 345 in Ringgold,GA, and then the Weigh Station. At that time there was nothing in Chattanooga. This was still in the blue ink days of Georgia)

Hand: I'm going to try to make that Pilot at the Xxx Milemarker.
Six: I don't think you have time, hand. I wouldn't do that.
Hand: I have til 30 minutes after sundown. I should be able to make it.
Six: No sir. Georgia rules are 30 minutes after sunrise to 30 minutes before sunset. If you cross that scale it will be an hour past curfew. Don't do that.
Hand:WHAT?!?
Six: You will be blowing curfew. Do not cross that scale.
Hand: I didn't know that.
Six: Turn your beacon light out. You have 2 truckstops that you will be able to get in at the 345.
Hand: Ummm, thank you hand for looking out.
Six: 10. Be mindful not to leave in the morning until 30 minutes after sunrise.

 

it all goes back to read the dang gum permit! not once not twice but as many times as it takes to know what is allowed. and also read the provision sheets when applicable! READ READ READ!

 

You know how it is when these guys get started. "Go! Go! Go! Gotta get miles! Gotta get miles!"

 

I used to be that way at first. now it's i'll get there when I get there. not a minute sooner.

 

I did too. Didn't read a permit right and got a ticket for 18000lbs over gross. Gave me a whole new religion.

 

don't get me wrong. some times you have to be inventive on some of the routes.(and that is all i'll say about that) but some times it is unavoidable. may not be right on paper but right to get it done. in all the years I have done this, only once did I get popped. very very expensive. lesson learned.

 

@TripleSix & @superhauler that's exactly why as a company driver we're paid by the day not by the mile or percentage on these bigger loads. No need to put miles on the hub to make a paycheck so the need to go go go is removed from the equation therefore the little details that can cost into the 5 digit range for getting overlooked are given the attention they demand.

As you well know over the years I have spent many days parked at the rest area just south of Chattanooga with super-loads. Over those years I have watched well over a dozen OD loads roll into there well after Georgia curfew which is all fine and dandy because they didn't get caught but just like clockwork I've watched them pull out 30 minutes before sunrise the next morning, 1 hour before legal with a weigh station just 10 minutes down the road. And a handful of times I have arrived at the weigh station an hour later only to see them parked around back waiting on their company to get a new permit issued while they lick their wounds realizing they are going to be working the next month or two for free paying the ticket they just received.

I had a pair park right next to me one night and in talking to them they hadn't read their permits, signed them in black ink and were planning on leaving at 30 min before sunrise. This was a Friday night so I used the copier in my truck to make copies of their permits to remove their signatures and gave them a blue pen to sign them with. Saturday morning I woke up just a couple minutes before sunrise to find them already gone. Monday morning my state troopers showed up, we rolled a couple minutes early and guess who's sitting in the back lot at the scales when we rolled through......... I spent over an hour with these two fixing their ink color mistake, explaining the whole 30 minutes after/before thing and even wrote down the 30 min after time for them but they chose to not listen so instead of making their appointment in Florida Monday they got to spend the weekend at the scales OOS and I suspect several thousand dollars more broke.

 

Sounds like you got a whole new religion too, LOL. It's like having all of your friends and family around cheering you on and suddenly


A few years back, I met a driver who was picking up an oversized going to the same place I was. I helped him secure his load. He was extremely nervous. It was an 11 wide, nothing serious, but this was his first OSOW since he got KTFO. He didn't read a permit and got decimated at a scale one Friday afternoon before Memorial Day.

We went to the pub and had a few rounds, and of course, I had to pick with the cute waitress. Next day, I ask him if he were ready to go. He said he was. I asked if he read his permit. He said he did. I asked him if he understood the route. He said he did. I asked him if he had his Wisconsin and Illinois provision sheets. He said no. I told him that he did not read his permits. Part of reading the permits is reading and understanding the provisions. I've never had Wisconsin ask, but I have had Illinois scalemaster's ask if I had the latest provision, dated 1-14.

The driver was shocked. No one had ever told him that reading the provisions was part of reading the permits. When we got to our destination, he thanked me for "mentoring" him. Those OSOW fines are unbelievably hard. We don't want to see a young hand that's trying to provide for his family get KTFO.

 

I guess "why?" is too obvious of a question. Do they really believe the DOT or other authority would just turn their head? My perspective is very naive for certain, but that doesn't make any sense to me.