if you have DOT questions I will answer them.

Can someone tell me if a DOT officer has the right to pull a truck over for the sole purpose of doing a roadside driver inspection? I was always under the impression that they had to have probable cause to pull you over. Not just because they felt like it. Any thoughts?

 

They have probable cause. You are a commercial vehicle.

 

Are you saying that we don't have any constitutional rights because we're commercial truck drivers?

 

That is so old and not relevant.

Your rights as you refer to have not been violated because he pulled you over.

YOU ARE A COMMERCIAL VEHICLE AND HE INSPECTS THEM.

 

You have constitutional rights... CMVs don't.

 

Depends on the state you're in. In one of the true probable cause states, the officer observing your trailer wandering over the fog line once or twice is enough to pull you over and initiate an inspection. Other's might need a specific circumstance such as selecting you at random after rolling across a state scale.

Bottom line is they can pretty much do anything they like since the LEOs have the ticket book, badge 'n gun, and you're driving a CMV. You have the constitutional right to whine about it later.

 

Unless you are exempt and you are or work for a motor carrier you have to follow the FMCSA rules. No ifs, ands or buts.

Don't jump on the horse and then complains how it rides because you didn't read the book that tells you so.

 

if you drive a CMV, obviously you are working by a whole different set of rules, considering you are bigger & heavier than everyone else on the road, and if the wrong parts on that truck fail, or YOU fail, the truck WILL kill or destroy ANYTHING IT HITS, much more than a 4 wheeler. Just because you are a trucker and have to follow an additional set of rules doesn't mean the government is trying to deny you constitutional rights...figures, we have someone new from an LEO background comes in to help, and the anti-government crowd comes out of the woodwork. Give it a rest already.


BTW, welcome aboard, trooper.:smt023