Things on a truck a cop would look at for a random inspection?

Spare fuses, spare bulbs, emergency triangles, fire extinguisher.
No Joke!
These seem to be a de facto go-to when they can't find something else obviously wrong.

 

My neighbor is a DOT. He says the FIRST thing they *usually* look at is YOU and the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of your rig. If you’ve got crap all over your dash and the truck looks like it hasn’t seen water since the last time it rained, you’re waving a big flag to them.

They go for the low hanging fruit when they can. They know some unkept, duffel bag looking yahoo with an unkept rig is usually going to be easy pickings.

 

I have spoken to many DOT cops over the years about what "triggers" them. Most of the time they tell me it depends on the "operation" going on. Sometimes they will stand out counting trucks and select the (10th)! While doing so they are also looking and "listening" as the trucks go by. Air leaks and flat tires are noticeable. Missing light lenses and inoperable lights are also looked at. Most cops will circle around scratching the ground like a rooster and try to deny admitting this, but they do have quotas. As the previous comment states, they will look for that low-hanging fruit. Stay professional, show some self-respect and keep yourself and your equipment clean and tidy. Have the information asked for handy! Stay nice and polite. You can't do much about general enforcement activity, but you can stop being low-hanging fruit. This can be a bit comical too. I was once being inspected at the NC I 85 SB scales in Gaston County many years ago. This was back when their DOT had DMV markings on the cars. The guy came out and stopped me. Said had he his rather he would rather be sitting in the scale house with a cup of coffee, but his boss's boss was in the scale and he needed to look busy. Told me to not worry unless he found something really bad my inspection would be clean. It was! I laughed all the way home!

 

DOT will look at most everything from the front bumper to the rear bumper.... So yeah, everything.

 

@D.Tibbitt

 

They absolutely have quotas. My neighbor told me that. And they do take the 5th truck, or sometimes they target certain kind of trucks (log, dump, fuel tanker, etc...)

 

If the truck looks like a dirt pile means they will want to look it very closely

 

If it looks that bad they probably wont have to look too closely to find something wrong... Lol

 

Pick any tractor pulling an Amazon trailer or a Container. There is some low hanging fruit.