Road side inspections/DOT inspections

You may not believe this but in all my years driving I have never been ask for my log book when I was required to have one. I came off the road in 1990 and went to the 100 mile no log routine then I was asked for one. Before that I was hauling overloads OTR and they always wanted to see all my permits and such. I guess after looking at all my permits they got tired! Plus some of those years I was active duty military but that did not exempt me from running a log. I guess they just figured... well I don't know what they figured!

When I first started I was running team for a company out of Jacksonville FL and down south we hardly had any truck inspections too. That was in 1978. We got weighed all the time and got caught with portable scales a couple of times but that was it. I still have all my logs and I'm sure compared with todays standards they're not as detailed. Sometimes I would log another driver when there wasn't one but I'd show he got off the truck at a terminal a few miles back. But during that time everyone was hauling with a heavy foot and we all relied on the birddog. It looked like to me back then inforcement was more interested in not being over gross and speeding.

 

Let me see

My first log book violation.... wrong book. I was showing just fueled in Buffalo, NY. I was on I-65 SB scales coming into TN

Second log book violation. South Dakota Shut down for being over on my 70. I tried explaining to the officer, I had just had a 24 hour break. So there was no way I could be over.

Yes, I was very green. Both tickets were $275 each. The second one required 24 hours in the truck stop. They had a great country bar beside it Best 24 hours I ever spent in a truck stop

 

As far as this last 72 hour thing, I didn't really notice much out of the ordinary. AR and OK were closed, KS was doing a few inspections, CO and WY was closed, got bypassed in UT...pretty much the same old same old for me. I guess that's a good thing though, right?

 

Nope...I met a School teacher, and we know all about them, from the news.

But I did learn to 2 step

 

There were a few places where they were just sitting on the side of the highway, grabbing as many trucks as they could handle. Saw just a few scales that were filled up in the back with bears and trucks, but they must have been too busy for me because I got the green light. Either way, I was happy to avoid much of it.

 

Years ago I was stopped for speeding on the Jersey pike, 10 mph over. My log book was current..I thought. One of the turnpike regulations is that you must flag entry point and time of entry, I had no clue about this and had never heard of it. There is a large green and white regulations board at entry points and sure enough, it was posted on there. Talk about a neat little money maker!