Weirdest violation on DOT inspection

im not a fan of cops or dot,i realize they have a job to do.with that said ive met more nice ones than bad,and ive met a few.its the occasional bad one that you remember the most.it is just a ticket,don't treat me like a criminal

 

Being tired makes most people grouchy. Ah oh, fatigue!

 

It's not the cops fault that idiots in congress passed CSA. If I forget to sign my name, I'm fatigued. If I forget to write miles down on my log, I'm fatigued. What in the name of god does any of that have to do with ANYTHING?

 

But, people sometimes forget things. Everyone does. A person should have the opportunity to correct a simple mistake without a ticket and CSA points, unless it is obivious that this person has a habit of screwing up by looking at their paperwork.

 

Most effed one I had was recent, ICC bumper was bent in the middle, and popped for my right side work light not working... taking this bull right here to court.

 

I'm getting a good big belly laugh on this one! I'll tell you what, the first thing anyone needs to do is take care of the truck and keep it up. I've pulled into scales, even the great state of California with violations, but if you know what the law is, and of the violation itself, you can generally get by and not receive a citation. I have three to give you. First one, Cal scale on ca99 near stockton. I pull in, qc the dm to let them know I'm in for a level 1. Pull in the barn, and smile, give the officer EVERYTHING, and get the reg from the trailer. PPwk ok, time to look at the hardware. Tires up good tread, brakes freshly adjusted, lights ok, nothing worn, all good. Puts a sticker on the windshield and says I may have an slight air leak. I was blunt and straightforward with him. Yes, its one of my bags. Yes, I know you can red tag me. However, I have the shop time scheduled to replace ALL of them soon. No problem, lets me go with a smile. Second one. I pull into a scale in Washington state, a bit over on the tandems. But I know the law. The scale in question is the nearest to where I just loaded, and the scalemaster must give me the opportunity to correct the axles there, or return to the shipper and have the load adjusted. EZ education for the rookie, and a bunch of seniors in the office must have agreed, because he did not come back out with his citation book. I already know that from a conversation with a DOT officer in Illinois from years back. (rule here is know the law) Third event! Traveling down I70 in Illinois, i saw one of my headlight give that bright flash and burn out. I hit the next exit ramp, and since I always carry spares, I had a new one in before the trooper walked up to the front of the truck. Now the light works, so no ticket. He tried to make an issue of it, so I asked him if he would like to talk to the lieutenant I mentioned above, along with his district number and office location. The issue got dropped, FAST. The good green book is full of this information and more, and I don't pull punches, even on myself. I've written up so many trailers its almost pathetic. I thought I would get a carpet calling from a boss, but that hasn't happened. So, I at least hope I'm doing things right, and training right. Also, being a QUALIFIED, not certified, inspector and mechanic by the state of Wisconsin from a past life, I love to laugh about this stuff. I see the driver's point of view, and the cops, too. I especially love the time when I actually had a police officer state, "You know an awful lot about the law!" Well officer, I need to know the laws here in town, and 50 states worth of laws to do my job in a lawful manner. Thats just me.
Scalemaster, I know you've seen a lot of stuff, but I would rather share a cup of coffee with you than argue over a mud flap. For the record, mine are about 3" above the ground, and I carry several spares for the trailers.
I'm not for the confrontational city police, but by and large, the state troopers out there are generally a good bunch. Kudos to them!

 

Where is it about the plates on front ? This one turd where I live stops me if I don't have trailer hooked and plate on front?

 

I run a expedite straight truck. A big problem I have with plates is getting pulled over for no plate on the rear. Tn requires my plate on the front. Had a Oh Leo stop me one nite and wanted to know why I didn't have a trailer plate on my str8 truck. I finally put a tn vols vanity plate on the rear of the truck and haven't been stopped since.

sent from my Galaxy Tab2

 

This didn't happen to myself but to one of my trucks, back around 2001 we ordered some new Sterling cab and chassis to make into rollbacks with trailers, kind of a stinger steer outfit to haul some lite weight stuff for a contract we had.

The Sterlings used the same big cab for their medium duty trucks as they did for their semi's trucks also had sleepers on them, however we were only tagged for 26,000

Driver pulls into the Banning Ca. scale, and gets stopped on the scale, he said he is sitting there and the SM tells him; DRIVER, set you parking brake! So my driver reaches down and pulls up the Ebrake, (trucks were HYD Disc brakes, NOT air).

Says he is sitting there and the speaker blares out again, DRIVER!!!! SET YOUR PARKING BRAKE!!!

So he says, I reach down and pull up my E brake again, sits there for another minute at which time the speaker says, DRIVER!!! ARE YOU RETARDED???

SM COMES JUST ABOUT RUNNING OUT OF THE SH and is screaming at my driver, do you understand English? My driver, a bit miffed himself at this point gets right in his face and says, I DID EXACTLY WHAT YOU ASKED ME TO DO, TWICE, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?

SM says you NEVER set your PB, DRIVER says, I DID IT TWICE, opens the door to the truck and tells the SM to take a look as it is STILL ON!!!

SM climbs in the cab, sees the hand E-brake, and mumbles to the driver that he can get outta here. LOL

Just because he never heard the air brake PSSSST, he assumed the driver had not done what he had told him. LOL

No ticket or warning, but I thought it might be appropriate for this thread.