Just some of the stupid things I see

Had 2 riding in a truck the other day tryingto share a log book. "But it has a spot for the co-driver to sign." Now I wasn't surprised that neither one of them had a CDL.

 

Well isn't it ok to do that, as long as they use 2 different colored crayons to make the lines?

Probably couldn't afford the CDLs, after having to split the cost for the logbook..

 

LMAO...you get some real winners, don't ya, DB?

 

What state? Most states have exemptions for certain types of products however most are for state routes. Remember as you read this list "the weight limit is for safety"
We have this magical 80,000 weight limit and MUST abide by the bridge formula or the world will explode, unless...........
For example you live in Kansas.

Or Louisiana

Last time I checked sugar cane would qualify as "divisible"

Ohio

Vermont (I especially like this one, anyone want to guess which groups in Vermont pad the right palms?)

The list goes on and on, almost every state is listed and has an exemption for something. That's why I laughed when I read Dieselbear's post about being 2k over on an axle.

Kentucky offers 2 coil permits, "state wide" which is good for singles. Or "35 mile" which is good for an unlimited number of coils. Anyone care to guess how far it is from the AK Steel mill in Ashland KY to the SR852 bridge to cross into Ohio? The multi-coil permit has been available since 1992

I will give Kentucky credit, at least they're honest about it. It's about the money, I have no problem paying it just don't tell me it's about safety.

If your serious about getting one PM me before you do. Oh and your only allowed 96k on 5 axles. (120,000 on 6 and if your hauling coal you can do 132k with 7 axles if you have a 4 axle truck and a 3 axle trailer.....guess the coal mines check was bigger than AK's. LOL)

Depending on your state that may or may not be true. If it is it just means the MFG's in your state don't know how to work the system or who to make the check out to.

 

It's more about road preservation in my opinion. More weight, more damage to the road. It does has a safety componet to it as well. Tire weight ratings exceeded, can cause tire failure. You stick 100,000 lbs on 5 axles with a truck that has multiple brakes out of adjustment it is a safety concern. The heavy equipment that weighs 120,000 lbs, in my experience is run on 6,7,8 or 9 axles thus spreading the weight over a larger area. My State doesn't give permits for running overweight, unless the load is not divisible. In other words you hauling a Cat loader that gross' 112,000 lbs and is 10 ft wide. You'll get a permit for that. But if you hauling "sugar cane", you'll be held to 80,000 because you have the option to not load the trailer to the max and keep it at 80k.
You are right State's vary on this issue. I have no clue what these other State's do. I've been doing this for quite sometime. I can say from experience, I have only had three collisions involving an oversize/overweight permitted vehicle that I have handled in almost 12 years working trucks. But I have had countless wrecks with overweight vehicles. Had one last week that was a flat bed hauling dressed lumber. Granted he was only 2800 lbs over gross. He was on a back road and it had rained. Driver went to make a left turn, onto another road, carried to much speed and the truck kept going straight and off the roadway into someone's front yard. I will submit to you, that speed was the underlying cause, but the weight played into that as well. When I reconstruct an accident and work some of the momentum problems, stopping distance etc. weight plays a key componet of it. Not just in heavy vehicle wrecks, but cars as well. I weigh cars all the time that are involved in a fatal collision because weight factors into the calculations. The more weight, the longer the stopping distance. That is fact. Thus the more weight on an unsafe vehicle you have a safety componet to overweight vehicles. So permits are what is required, and the State's have allowed manufacturers to buy these permits in these other State's, indivisible loads in other's, but it ultimately comes down the equipment and the driver driving it. If one of those componets is unsafe a catostrophic event could occur. In my opinion it is a two part process, road preservation and a safety concern.

 

Sorry, but that sounds like a pretty ########### thing to cite. Was the road he was on a legal truck route? If so, what "traffic control device" did he fail to obey? Had he passed any signs stating the scales were open and that all trucks must weigh? Or had he exited the interstate prior to any traffic control devices which might have otherwise directed him into the scales?

Kind of difficult to "disobey a traffic control device" that isn't present along the route you are driving.

We had a driver who was caught waiting a little longer than he had anticipated in line to load at a plant 20 miles from the yard where he parks his car to go home at night. He also happens to have a sleeper on his truck. Anyway, by the time he was loaded, he was 30 minutes past his 14. Loading on a platform scale, so he knew he was OK on gross, and the air gauges on the truck and trailer suspensions let him know he was CLOSE on axles, but wasn't certain he was 12/34/34. Missouri allows 36K on a tandem on state & US highways, but on the interstate it is still 34K on a tandem....so he followed the US highway the plant was located on back to the yard (which happens to bypass the scale) so that he knew he would be 100% legal on his weights.

Cop stopped him, accused him of going around the scales (questioned him as to why he didn't get on the interstate at the last road he passed) and weighed him on the portables. Cop admitted that his weight was legal for the road he was on, but with 35,500 on the trailer, he would be overweight on the interstate. Cop then checked his log book, and seeing that he was barely over the 14 trying to make it another 10 miles to the yard to get his car and go home, decided to make the driver turn around, get on the interstate WHERE HE IS NOW OVERWEIGHT, to be placed OOS at the scale house....so 10 miles from the yard, he was shut down for a 10 hour break in the truck instead of being allowed to go to the yard to go home for the night.

Had it been me in that driver's shoes, I probably would have ended up in jail...seriously...I have little patience when dealing with idiots and people lacking common sense. It was only another 10 miles to the yard along a route where his weight would be legal for the entire route, where he would then drive his car home to take a 10 hour break vs. finding a place to turn a semi t/t around on a 2-lane US highway, then proceeding 10 miles around to the scale house on the interstate where he's 1500 pounds overweight on his trailer axle, has to sleep in the truck, and has to wear the same dirty clothes the next day that he's had on all day today because he can't go home for the night as he typically does...and after taking a 10 hour break in the truck, there isn't time to stop at the yard to drive home to ####, shower, and shave before getting his axle weights right and making his way towards the consignee.

Either way he's got to drive 10 miles...why not let the driver go home?

 

10 miles from the house, I'd have made him tow me. Since I know all the tow companies in the area, I used to drive for a couple of them, it'd just be towed straight to my house. That's burn that cop up too. What would he do, call another tow truck to tow the tow truck towing my truck? Go for it. There's just be a whole line of trucks towing more trucks, going straight to my house. Beer and pancakes for everybody when we got there.

 

as long as you are legally entitled to drive on a particular road, i can't see any way they could force you take another route. the portables are fair game but if he meets the rules for the road he is on, all he is doing is exercising his right to chose his own route. total bs to force him to go on the interstate. esp if you know beforehand that he won't be legal. if the leo insisted on him taking a particular route inspite of his weight he should be given a pass, as he is acting on the DIRECT order of a LEO

 

As far as I know, an officer can't order you to break the law. I would have flat refused. What are you gonna do if you follow him to the scale, and then they give you another ticket for being overweight on the interstate? They are totally within rights to do so. If the officer wanted it there, he would have to drive it there himself. Besides, I just got a ticket for being out of hours. Whoops, can't drive, sorry.

 

How is bypassing an open scale, i.e. driving right past three big arse signs ###########? THe signs would be a traffic control device. The signs say all trucks and you ride by, that's fail to obey a traffic control device.
This was the third time this year that this guy has been stopped and cited for the same thing. Riding by an open scale when he was overweight.

I have no idea about your friend doing what he was doing, sounds like a totally different thing that I had.