Newbies, Listen ... overweight court ahead ...

In South Dakota if you get weighed on portables you can request going to certified scale like a grain elevator. Only thing is if you request going to a certified scale and you’re heavy then that’s the weight that’s used for the ticket.

 

Yea, you're missing that "innocent until proven guilty" still exists.

 

Which is probably the reason this case went to trial.

 

If that driver had been involved in a fatal, that 10,000 lbs overweight would have been worth millions. Not smart, hoping if caught, to get out on a technicality.

 

Aren't you assuming a lot about this guy with that last statement? I feel you are.

You assume he knew he was overweight.
You assume he had a chance to scale his load and decided not to.
You assume he was hoping to get out on a technicality if caught.

You don't know any of that stuff. He might have just left the shipper and hadn't even had a chance to scale it yet. You just don't know his situation.

I've been overweight before because the shipper lied about the weight of the load. I was 3500 over. According to the BOL, I should have been 2000 under. I found out when I decided to scale it at a truck stop before going too far down the road. Stupid Nissan decided not to include a few engines on the BOL that were in the trailer, thinking I wouldn't know or notice. Yea, 3500 over is huge for a regular CDL driver. My company was PISSED, but not at me.

Had I been caught, I might have fought it tooth and nail, but not because I was hoping to get out on a technicality by running illegally on purpose. I would just be hoping to get out of paying the ticket because the BOL was wrong and I hadn't had a chance to scale the truck when pulled over. (assuming I would have been pulled over before hitting the CAT scale.)

 

Had something similar happen picking up a load in Vermont. Was nearly 3 hours later before we hit a scale and found out we were 2500 over gross. Some shippers take advantage of drivers every chance they get.

 

Hey, even a bad/dumb/stupid defense sometimes will win. If you ever watch videos on YouTube of some of those lame defenses that 'sovereign citizens' use, you would get the idea that these arguments NEVER win. Yet, I'm pretty sure that most of them have worked at least once; maybe with a bad prosecutor, maybe with a senile judge, or whatever. They wouldn't ALL be using the same exact arguments if they never worked....

 

I remember picking up a load of ground beef in Fort Worth. I was over gross by about 1000lbs. I went back to have them take some crap off. I knew by the BOL's they threw some extra crap on the trailer. I kid you not, the numb nuts I talked to told me I could slide my tandems to fix it. "Look dude, I am over GROSS, I could slide my tandems until the rapture, and it wouldn't be fixed." He had to call a supervisor, because he 100 percent didn't understand. Stupid is as stupid does. It pisses me off that if I pulled that crap with their lying, stinking, BS Bol it would have been my fault. I always weigh. Screw everybody.

 

141,000 lbs thats some dam weight , no wonder Mich roads look like they 've been used for bombing pratice .