Click Click BOOM!!

 

Don't have to. Hit the brakes and they'll fly right by!! Then light 'em up!!

 

Without question the trucking industry is under a lot of scrutiny by our friendly law enforcement agencies. Seems somes states are real bad such as Ct and others pretty easy. I-85 in South Carolina does not have a single weigh station from the georgia to NC border. But, Georgia and NC make up for it.

With the cost of fuel, permits, maintenance and Insurance it has got to be **** difficult for a trucker to make a living.

I personally give a truck a lot of room. Without question, if I get tangled up in all thoses wheels I will loose. Absolutely amazes me how many people in 4 wheel vehicles play dodge-em with the big trucks. Weave in-out-and around them as if they were standing still. I guess people don't realize what getting slapped by an 80,000 lb object going 70 mph will do to your day.

The other side of that coin is, I see an awful lot of trucks driving way to close to cars, swirving into the passing lane in front of cars and so on. In other words, there are an awful lot of very careless "professional drivers" out there.

I guess my point would be that when it comes to driving, not weigh stations, there is plenty of blame. Our driving habits are horrid and perhaps the focus should be on better driver education and less on burned out light bulbs.

2 cents

 

Interesting thread. I can't even remember the last time I saw a weigh station open in Missouri. In fact, nowadays they all seem to be abandoned by the look of them. Back when I was in high school, there was one just south of the town we lived in on I-35 that was open just about all the time, on a sort of rotating schedule.

 

from some one with a class a cdl, and my husband drives a gas tanker, most accidents that involve a truck and a car were because of some one playing catch me if you can with the trucks. As far as the tailgating by the truck drivers, here in NC, on a decent stretch of I85, there are lane restrictions, the trucks have to stay in the right two lanes. You get two cars going under the speed limit side by side in those two lanes, and you have semis backed up for miles. Not saying that tailgating is right at any time, but I understand their frustration. Also, as I am sure anyone on this forum that pulls knows, every truck has a speed that it needs to be at to pull a hill, or its drop a gear and slow down to 45. To all you in the cars, MOVE OVER OR SPEED UP AND HANG UP THE CELL PHONES AND PAY ATTENTION BEFORE YOU KILL SOME ONE. My husband had a woman drifting into his lane and he had no where to go. She was on a cell phone. When he finally just laid down on his air horn long enough for her to not be able to hear on the phone, she finally looked up, and shot him a glair like he was the a****. I think we should be legal to mount grenade launchers to the front of our trucks just for people like that.

 

I'll try to give you a quick explaination of the weigh station.
Mostly, they are there to check commercial vehicles for the following.
Weight, axle, total, and how much the truck is legally permitted for.
Log books, time driven, on or off duty, sleeper.
Fuel , IFTA sticker, time and gallons purchased(usually on the reciepts drivers carry.) these are usually checked to see if the log book is correct, time wise.
Color of fuel.
USDOT #, one number is assigned to a carrier, this gives a database for DOT to check for past violations on that carrier. Safety, Log violations are recorded and become part of the permanent record for that carrier.
Safety violations, this means, condition of truck, load, trailer as far as tiedowns,
weight, lights, tires, brakes, and overall mechanical condition of vehicle.
Paperwork, Tractor, trailer registrations, insurance cards, bill of laiding, any other required permits.
Toll receipts, to see if the times correspond with fuel reciepts, log book.
Some weigh stations will even have an emissions, noise check for heavy vehicles.
There is a quick explanation of a weigh station.
I was employed for about 13 years in the trucking industry.
Mostly, I ran local moving heavy equipment, oversize loads in the Providence RI and Boston MA area.
Most of the equipment was for construction. Some other loads were concrete silos, rooftop a/c units, crane parts, oversize concrete structures, and whatever else had to be moved.
Most reqired 9 or 10 axles, over 100' long,and up to 13' wide, and usually over 13'6" high. Escorts, all kinds of flashing lights, special routes, times.
Almost all the equipment was very heavy and often the gross weight exceeded 120,000#.

When you pull into a weigh station with something like that, if you have all the proper permits, escorts, signs, flags, and the truck looks good, you are usually not put under the microscope.

When you are asked for all your paperwork and you hand the officer a nice, neat folder with everything in it, it shows that you are organized.

When you haul in the same area often, the DOT usually recognizes you.
If you show them that you are a professional, you will be treated as one.

Rich

 

Around here the sign says all trucks must enter weigh station when flashing. Depending on my mood I'll go in with a pick up and have never been waved through! Got a diploma once cause the pinion seal apparently through a little gear oil on the belly of the dump body of my 74 international loadstar with farm exemption tags! It uses a quart every 3-4 years! I ain't changing it yet.

could'nt legally evict a tennant in time to save my mobile home rental from distruction , so I hauled it to the junk yard after it was destroyed. On the way got a $1200 fine for no permit and the truck bumper was to high off the road according to state cop! Hey Hoss, better check your bumper.

A week later haulin in a new used mobile home, I got put off the road by a dot cop. A tail light violation and a non dot registered truck [for hire] pulling my load! the rig sat for 2 days until the light was fixed and I presented proof of sales agreement allowing me the right to drive the truckers truck there by hauling my own load legally! NO problem with the bumper height this time!:rolleyes This was a one ton truck with a 45 ft. trailer behind it!
No more than a big camper set up.

WE used to move houses, big, slow, permitted moves. If we didn't own the house and crossed into New Jersey, fined for no fuel stamp!! [by the way our old brockways were cummins powered to!]

Ok, ok I,ll get to the point. The regulaters are way out of hand, way, way over the top! Very few of the issues in my experience have had little to do with safety! Gov. controls divide and conquer with many motives far from public wellfare and highway safety. How much scale house activity is promoted as safety and motivated by revenue? How many 80,000 lb loads come in on single axel trailers?Non! It's almost always a chunk of tire left on a curb or bridge joint, or a flap or bulb or brake adjuster or haz placard or paper work bueracratic nonsence.

How do I know? At times I have been a subject of "there's something wrong here some where and I have volunteered for 6 years on interstate litter pickup and have cleaned up just about anything that can come off a truck!

IMO the weigh station doesn,t address 90% of the safety issues on the highway. I'm talking about the one behind the wheel! And that problem isn't going to change until the courts take a different turn on individual responsibilities. AS long as the lawyers can profit from "proving" it's always someone elses fault, there will be no personal accountability! I'll bet the girl who thought the trains should take over falls in this catagory.
I've watched a north bound cab over with a empty flat bed trailer literally cut cars off, weaving in and out between 2 lanes, inches of the back bumper of the one in front of him, in a white out snow squal!
And I saw a 4 wheeler merge from an on ramp at the bottom of a hill, doing about 25 mph when it pulled onto the highway in front of the big truck doing 70 mph!
My guess is the ratio of these 2 groups is 1 to 1 when you take into consideration the percent of offenders compared to the total number of drivers!

The R.V. numbers are alot higher! Mandatory regulations of insurance, bonding, licensing, and variables like my open load sat in the rain because when I crossed into the next state I had to be of the road by noon of the day before a national holiday !! helped take me ot of that business. Now, I own a campground, and by my observation , the campers from DTR are the only ones who have a clue! The rest , 75%, should't be on the road, and they drive right by the scale house,weigh station, safety check point and drivers ed classes! Not just on the highway either. Thousands of them will camp in a FLYING J fuel plaza sitting in front of a propane filling tank or gas pump, with their open flame water haeter blasting on one side and their elec generator exhausting into the open window of the camper next to them! Its more luck than good management that there aren't more accidents!


SO, to answer the question posed in the begining of this thread,
follow the money-it will be self evident! STY

 

Quote:

Now, I own a campground, and by my observation , the campers from DTR are the only ones who have a clue! The rest , 75%, should't be on the road, and they drive right by the scale house,weigh station, safety check point and drivers ed classes! Not just on the highway either. Thousands of them will camp in a FLYING J fuel plaza sitting in front of a propane filling tank or gas pump, with their open flame water haeter blasting on one side and their elec generator exhausting into the open window of the camper next to them! Its more luck than good management that there aren't more accidents! SO, to answer the question posed in the begining of this thread, follow the money-it will be self evident! STY

I gave up dueling with rv'ers last year, on the road and in the truck lots. I quit, because one day on US-2, when pulling a 53ft bison trailer, I wanted to kill one for not just getting in my way, but for staying there, for fifty miles! And, ignoring the WA state law that require them to use the pull outs. His answer, the pull outs are for you, not me!

And, later on when I'm tired and HAVE to pull over to rest, I can't because the lots are full of rich (Class A DP's) who are taking my place instead. That's why you used to see us on the entrance and exit ramps sleeping. No place at the inn. Running thru 13 gears to get up to speed only to have to drop down six of them, because of a sloooooooooooooooooooow driver, who doesn't know or care about those behind him. Worse yet are those states who don't have the guts to require drivers be tested for the size of vehicle they are driving. But bust me for being one hour off on my log-books!

DP's when I was growing up meant something entirely different....displaced person.

 

Yep, Yep, Yep. Equal compliance of standards and regulations across the board is a lost and all but forgotten ideal. My lane-your lane, divide and conqour, unless united we all submit!
Talk about level playing fields and opportunity, how about subsidizing the rail freight carrier while more and more tarrifif and economic pain is inflicted at the WEIGH STATION WHIPPING HOUSE!

I Expect NASCAR rules with intake plates and HP restrictors to be inforced at the DYNO station any day now and even though delivery time may be delayed , you will still only be allowed to cycle your refer 6 min per hour while your waiting your turn at the agricultural inspection station. Oh! Didn't you see that " AZMATIC PLACARD" on the bee hive window? Shut er down! Haulin spoiled produce or hog slop? Don't hurry, but if you hit the dock in time you can reach in your pocket and make a generous contribution to WALLMARTS employee retirement fund so you can get unloaded and they can SELL FOR LESS !

Here's another slab of enterprising encouragement-
Public RV Parks go blind folded and hog tied into competition ,unknowingly, with subsidised state, fed, county, municipal parks, army corp of engineeres, navy,air force and army bases all provided by tax dollars. VFWs, legions, Elks, moose and fraternal clubs as well as all the wal-marts and truck stops in this country! Yet the declared campground is the ONLY ONE mandated to compliance for the attraction of campers in most of the US! Example; the campground is held to 100gal RV sewage design per site per day, I'd like to see Wallys parking lot meet that! RV spaces must be a minimum of
30ft wide, there goes 2/3 of the truck stops area and 30% of campground land use must be set aside for green and recreational space, the FLYING J . com advertises under FAQ's the availability of overnight camping , but when is the last time you saw a ballfield, swing set, and picnic pavillion at their "fuel plaza's"?
I had a Quebec lady in a flying J with her 38ft triple slide DP motor home, tell me my $15.00 camping fee was too much to pay, besides the Flying J is free!
Compete with that.
Now there's a level playing field!

Hmm, now, why was it I decided to park the trucks?


STY

 

I have to preface my comments by saying I drove a crappy Ford cab-over for the place I worked when I was a teenager. I learned the frustrations that truckers experience, really opened my eyes.
I live in the ridge and valley region of E. Tn. near Knoxville. Everday I see truckers whip it over into the passing lane going up one of the long hills. Yep, I know you're gonna have to catch some gears if you dont get your speed up before the hill....... But I also know that you realize you aint gonna pass that "slow" truck in the right lane before you get to the top of the hill. Talk about wanting grenade launchers!
The tailgaiting thing: I think this is what is getting John Q. Public to complain to the state the most about truckers.
Very rarely does a trucker pass me but on the occasions that it does happen that I am going slower than the truck (or anyone for that matter) behind me, I can anticipate their greater speed coming up behind me and I will either speed up or drop back so they can continue at the speed they want to. However, I am not going to drive 80 mph just to get outta your way, you will have to wait a second if your wanting to go that fast.
On the several occasions that truckers have tried intimidating me by tailgating..... I dont slow down, I dont slam on my breaks, I call the State Patrol on my cell phone. I will follow the truck giving milemarkers to them until they can pull him over and ticket him. I also let the trucker see that I am calling on them. I had one swerve at me for showing him I was calling
Truckers deserve respect for the services they render but the industry dang sure needs to police itself better.

 

...and while we're totally off my original question (I don't mind), I'd like to publicly thank the two "professional" drivers who shut down eastbound I-90 at I-84 yesterday after they got tangled up in the climbing lane. Thanks! I appreciated it!

 

Wouldn't it be easier to just move over to the right lane? A ticket cannot be written on your word unless you want to make the charges. The most irritating, dangerous, unprofessional, pain on the road is the car that woun't let you pass and speeds up to stay beside you. They should be put off the road. What are you trying to do, kill people? In most states the 4 wheeler has no more right to the left lane than the truck. You need to drive your car, in the right lane, and let the truck decide how much power he has to pull the hill. I think you miss the point when you make a big deal of calling, he really don't care, you are just making a jerk out of yourself.

Every day there are the instances, like yesterday, with construction coming up, lane disappearing, the self rightous cars would not let me into the the other lane, yep, they finally broke and let me in, but only after I was half way into their lane and they ran out of shoulder to pass me on. Georgia state was sitting there watching. Give a little, be courteous, life is short. Shorter if you keep trying to bully trucks. A trooper cannot write a ticket unless HE sees the infraction. You don't own the highway with the trucks using it when you let them, they pay more taxes than you do for the building and use. You mean that you are ok slowing down the trucks but you sure aren't going to let one of them slow you down. You need to rethink your position, you are just another vehicle on the road.

Want some fun? Put the sign, "Hows my driving?" on the back, put your cell phone number on it. When they call, assure them that the driver will be repremanded. Four wheeler feels like he did his civic duty, you get a chuckle. Thats better than the one I saw a few days ago "How's my driving? Call 1-800-SCR-EWU2"

Just for the record, I don't tailgate, ever. If I need to speed up some to climb a hill, to maintain the flow and not hold up traffic, that's not the business of the 4 wheeler civic police. You drive yours, I'll drive mine. Trust me on this, if the economy gets so bad that you can't drive due to cost, the trucks will still be out there. The trucks have to run, the cars do not, or you don't eat.

 

Does anybody know what the average five axle truck pays in road taxes yearly? I remember quite a few years ago they were paying $4750 EACH. Add that up when you see all the trucks and you will see where most of the money comes from for the roads. In other words they have just as much right to the road as anyone else if not more so financialy. The best thing to do is just try to stay out of their way since they are trying to make a living and just be able to get back home safely. Think of what they are trying to do with the power they have and use your head when you see some kind of obstruction up ahead. A little courtesy goes a long way.
Tom

 

WoW whut a string of posts, I actually read this one start to finish. Dixie well said ^5 Seems you have traveled many of the same roads as I in this life. No other industry on planet earth is as regulated as the trucking industry. Truckers cant even pull over and eat lunch with out scratching a mark in their log book, same goes for takin a leak (unless they can do it in less then 15 minutes) hope nobody saw ya. Driver you hauling hazmat? why don't you have a designated individual attending your load while you eat? Oh no you forgot to show your PTI this morning, pay your fine. Your gross is legal but your axle aint. Officer will you allow me to slide my axles? Yes driver after you pay your fine. Driver your legal on your axles but your over gross, fine! Your home time has to be accounted for. Your sleep time, truck drivers live their lives in 15 minute increments. I forget now but what state does NOT allow a tractor trailer to idle for more than fifteen minutes?? Does not matter if its 15 degrees outside and a blizzard. Your just gonna have to freeze if you don't have the logbook time to get out of the state. Ten hour rule Fifteen hour rule 70 hour rule how do you keep track? Air Brakes, Cargo and Tank Vehicles, Combination Vehicles and Doubles and Triples, Hazardous Materials, Passengers, or School Bus........ Chicken coop LOL whuts a chicken coop? Whut did I miss? A trip I took once through Colorado gave me a really good idea for a Steven King novel. Beautiful day birds were chirping air was fresh n crisp grass is greening up. Family has pulled off the side of the road for lunch. Mom has stretched out a blanket across the ground, dad is pulling a cooler from the new mini van. The kids are well behaved safely off the highway. It is looking like a Norman Rockwell scene here. I start to get a lump in my stomach as I reach for the cell phone to dial 911. Seems this family has decided that a mountain runaway ramp looks like the perfect place for a picnic. My god these people actually laid their picnic blanket right in the middle of the runaway sand ramp. Now I think we all know what the local headlines would have read had there been an actual accident involving these ignorant folks. "Tractor Trailer Kills Family Of Four" Family of 4 were killed yesterday after noon as a speeding semi losses control of his rig runs off road killing all four family members, witnesses say. The driver (Joe Blow from NYNY) has been taken in to custody and charged with murder. Kiss you life goodbye buddy, you were responsible for pulling those slack adjusters, you should have told your dispatcher that you refused to pull that trailer even though it had a cracked wheel. Your dispatcher says your fired if you don't get that load down the road. It happens and it happens everyday.


On a lighter note, all you guys out there pulling 5ers them scale houses have the cleanest restrooms in town. Just pull in and ask they wont mind

 

I want to be there when the TN trooper busts you for impeding traffic and making false reports! We'll see who's laughing then.


http://www.state.tn.us/safety/news%2...vethpmerge.htm