[AT] DOT Question

Sun Dec 31 17:14:28 PST 2006

Hey, Charlie,

I drive a semi to allow me to keep farming, and I have noticed that there is 
quite a difference in enforcement between the officers involved.  If the 
arresting officer is a town or county cop, chances are you can reason with 
the man or woman wearing the badge.  If it is a state trooper, you will 
probably get ticketed, and you will likely have to show all registration, 
your personal license, your medical card, your bills of lading, updates of 
vehicle inspection if they are in an inquisitive mood, and you might be 
invited to take your truck to the nearest scale for a weigh-in.

I got stopped by a state trooper one night because the rear van in a doubles 
combo had lost its lights as I passed the guy.  The night was very cold and 
the pigtail had pulled out of the socket.  An hour later we had completed 
several of the inspections mentioned above.  He hadn't asked me to scale it, 
but the rookie cop who was with him was set to right me up for a log 
violation because I hadn't entered my last two hours.

The senior cop was all set to watch him do that when I informed the 
youngster that the DOT regs  allowed me ten minutes to bring my log up to 
date without violation if the book was within twelve hours of being current. 
  Rookie looked at his partner who grudgingly nodded that I was right.

Don't mess with troopers in any state.  They tend to be knowledgeable and 
tough.

>From: "charlie hill" <chill8 at suddenlink.net>
>Reply-To: Antique tractor email discussion group 
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] DOT Question
>Date: Wed, 27 Dec 2006 07:34:48 -0500
>
>About 30 years ago I bought a GMC cab over tractor.  One of those aluminum 
>cabs that was commonly called a "cracker box".  I had been driving for 
>someone else and this was my first try at "owner operator".
>
>I wrote the guy a check for it, called my insurance agent and told him to 
>cover it for me and headed for home with no plates.  I got to the local 
>truck stop where all of us parked our  trucks.  When I walked in the store 
>a friend of mine said "come on, you've got a load to haul.".  I told him I 
>couldn't go that I didn't have any license.
>He said "you aren't going to turn down your first job are you?"
>It was about 6 in the afternoon.  I thought for a second and decided he was 
>right.  I shouldn't turn down my first job and off I went.
>
>The tractor had belonged to a contractor and he just hadn't been using it. 
>The plate on the front had been expired for about 3 years.
>We went down the road about 20 miles and I hooked to a van loaded with 
>veneer that belonged to Georgia Pacific.   About 4 hours later I was 
>following the other guy through the small town of Ahoskie NC.  He cut a 
>yellow light.  I didn't know where we were going.  The guy was a good guy 
>but a bit of a practical joker and I knew he wouldn't wait for me so I ran 
>the red.  The streets were rolled up in that little town and there wasn't a 
>car in sight except that cop that was hiding behind a bush.
>
>The cop was a young guy.  He ran the plate on the trailer an he kept asking 
>me who owned the truck.  I kept telling him I did.  He kept telling me the 
>plate came back to Georgia Pacific Corp.  I kept telling him that was the 
>trailer plate.  He kept asking me where the tractor plate was.  I told him 
>on the tractor.  I never told him it was supposed to be on the front of the 
>tractor.  I never told him the title hadn't been transfered yet.  I just 
>kept telling him the tractor plate was on the tractor.  He never got out to 
>look.  He was scratching his head.  I was standing in the street.  He was 
>sitting in his cruiser with the FM radio turned up so he could hear his 
>music.  Finally I said.  "Look,  I was following that truck in front of me. 
>I don't know where to unload without following him and now he's gone and 
>I'm lost.  That's why I ran the light to begin with.  If you're going to 
>write me a ticket figure out what you're going to write it for and get it 
>done. Otherwise let me go so I can get back to work."    Danged if he 
>didn't tell me to go ahead!
>
>About 20 miles up the road where I needed to turn the other guy was sitting 
>by the road waiting for me.
>
>Charlie
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve W." <falcon at telenet.net>
>To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 1:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [AT] DOT Question
>
>
>>You were lucky, AS USUAL.... I usually got the guy who's wife was screwing 
>>around behind his back, his favorite dog just got hit by a truck and he 
>>had cold coffee to drink...
>>
>>
>>Francis Robinson wrote:
>>>So far I have found most cops to be pretty reasonable including DOT. Of
>>>course there are always a few that are a 4-wheeled ego trip but not that
>>>many.
>>>Some years ago I was pulled over by a lady DOT officer while on US-41 
>>>over
>>>on Indiana's south west coast that was so pretty that she was almost hard 
>>>to
>>>talk to.   ;-)   She was just wanting to know why the ton dually PU 
>>>didn't
>>>have a plate. I explained that it was plated as a semi apportioned out of
>>>Iowa and that I had left the trailer at the test plot site. I showed her 
>>>the
>>>paper work and said the truck plate was on the front as we were 
>>>instructed
>>>to mount it. She went up front to look and oops... I did not know that 
>>>the
>>>guy I was working with had mounted the "oversized load" sign right over 
>>>the
>>>top of it.   ;-)   She was quite good-natured about it and after she
>>>determined that it was in fact there she let me go on without even asking 
>>>me
>>>to move the sign.
>>>Another time on Indiana's south east coast a lady DOT officer noticed 
>>>that
>>>the company had allowed our plate to expire. She wrote me a ticket that I
>>>paid out of pocket to keep the rig out of impound. She then told me that 
>>>she
>>>was required to tell me that I must proceed to the next exit and park the
>>>rig and call for someone to come and get me. She then spoke very quietly 
>>>and
>>>said that she had to tell me that but that she definitely would not radio
>>>ahead and let anyone know I was going that way. She said that if I got
>>>stopped on down the road that I would get another ticket but whether I
>>>parked or drove on home was really up to me...   I made tracks for 
>>>home...
>>>;-)   The Iowa office paid me back for the ticket.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
>>>"farmer"  -  ***** H A P P Y   H O L I D A Y S *****
>>>
>>>If you cut a tree plant at least two to replace it...
>>>
>>>Francis Robinson
>>>Central Indiana, USA
>>>robinson at svs.net
>>>
>>>
>>>
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