Prepass vs sign on hiway

Good advice above.

But they never get upset when you go in anyway. I use their scales sometimes when I know I'm legal, but want to make sure the load is balanced. Or, I might have a question for them. Or, use the bathroom. Or, park for my 10.

Never had a bear fuss at me for going in. They tend to get a little annoyed when you DON'T go in and were supposed to, though.

 

I also go in these scales on occasion to get a free weigh. I found that most of the CAT scales aren't calibrated properly anyway and can be off by as much as 4,000 LBS. For example, I weighed at the Flying J in Fargo, ND and stopped at the port of entry in Montana. The CAT scale noted my steer axle at 13,225 LBS. The scale at the port noted the same axle at 11,220 LBS.

 

If the pre-pass gives you a green and the scales are open, are you supposed to drive into the ramp but bypass the scales or just stay on the highway and keep rolling?

I was pulling a load for an O/O yesterday in his truck with prepass, the scales were open and I got a green light in-cab so I kept rolling. As I went by a driver yelled at me on the Cb saying I was going to get pulled over for not stopping. I said "dude pre-pass said green" and he said well you can tell that to the cop when he pulls you over.

Since I am a retired cop myself I really didn't sweat it at all, and no one came to pull me over I kept driving. Later I did wonder if I was supposed to pull into the ramp but drive thru? ANyone?

 

You did right. You follow the prepass. It supersedes the sign. Stay on the highway. Now the opposite and the sign says okay to bypass and you get a redlight, you have to stop. The cash cow is waiting!

 

As already mentioned you did the right thing by staying on the highway. The driver on the CB was either a complete idiot or a clueless fool. Perhaps both. I don't even bother with CB's anymore for this reason. If I'm in a truck that has one, I turn it off.

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread but my trainer said u must pull in port of entrys . However I read on prepass.com that it is valid for port of entrys not just weigh stations. I told him that and gw said " they just mean the scale part of the port"

 

If you get a flashing green light, you're cleared to bypass the weigh station - including the port of entry as well, unless you have a permit issue, etc.

 

Also, you do have to stop at the POE if you're hauling hazmat. After the POE you're clear for the other scales if you have the green light.

 

http://www.prepass.com/aboutus/News/Documents/Mar08.pdf