Starting a new job soon!
- Thread starter jthomas666
- Start date
She may be cute -- but please don't mix sex and work...never a positive event.
So one of the things I've since become aware of since I've come to drive a commercial vehicle is the amount of absolute bull truck drivers have to put up with. I'm diligent with my logs, physical, annual DOT inspection, general upkeep on the truck and what-not. Rule of thumb is to never leave your house scared.
But apparently DOT is blitzing right now.
Had a long one today. Drove to Norcross for tanks, then to Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee for 3 service calls, then back home to Birmingham. 3 weigh stations, in other words. Knew today was going to be trouble when I passed the weigh station going the opposite direction in Heflin (entering Alabama on I20 from Atlanta) and saw that the inspection lot was almost full with more trucks being redirected into it, and they had chase cars, plural, ready to go.
Hit the station in Lithia Springs, Georgia and they pulled me out of line to pull to the lot for inspection. Me, in my little 14500 GVWR box truck. I was surprised, to say the least. I get a level 1 inspection. 30 minutes of me, my paperwork, my load and my truck in general being examined by the DOT officer and I was sent on my merry way. Passed with flying colors, of course.
The truck driver behind me had decided not to enter. Oops. I passed him a mile up the road where a DOT/state trooper chaser had run him down. Glad I'm not that guy.
Get to Norcross and get things sorted there then tear up I75 to Chattanooga. There's a station at about Chickamauga just south of the border. They direct me into the lot again. Head hits steering wheel. No way. Surely they know, and I'm way underweight so there's no way I could have possibly tripped the weigh in motion scales for a close call on either axle. DOT officer comes to my window. I point out the sticker and calmly explain that this is the second time I've been pulled today. He's an understanding dude and we both have a good laugh out of it before he tells me to have a good one and sends me off.
Oh, and in the southbound lanes, some other poor fool attempted to skip the scale and got run down. LOL. Glad I'm not that guy.
Get my two calls done in Chattanooga, one a valve replacement (15 minutes), the other a minor bit of pvc plumbing (bit of PVC welding involved, but an hour of work at most) then head east to Cleveland, Tennessee for the last call. There's a DOT weight station, but it's mercifully closed and coned off, and it's been that way for a while. Hammer down.
Finish my work and hop back on the interstate heading home.
Hit a weigh station.
The arrow flips to the right.
I am now cussing up a storm. DOT officer comes to the window and I explain that this makes 3 today. He asks me to show him my logs, takes my word for it and again sends me off.
Jeez that made for a fun day lol. Got home an hour ago.
But apparently DOT is blitzing right now.
Had a long one today. Drove to Norcross for tanks, then to Chattanooga and Cleveland, Tennessee for 3 service calls, then back home to Birmingham. 3 weigh stations, in other words. Knew today was going to be trouble when I passed the weigh station going the opposite direction in Heflin (entering Alabama on I20 from Atlanta) and saw that the inspection lot was almost full with more trucks being redirected into it, and they had chase cars, plural, ready to go.
Hit the station in Lithia Springs, Georgia and they pulled me out of line to pull to the lot for inspection. Me, in my little 14500 GVWR box truck. I was surprised, to say the least. I get a level 1 inspection. 30 minutes of me, my paperwork, my load and my truck in general being examined by the DOT officer and I was sent on my merry way. Passed with flying colors, of course.
The truck driver behind me had decided not to enter. Oops. I passed him a mile up the road where a DOT/state trooper chaser had run him down. Glad I'm not that guy.
Get to Norcross and get things sorted there then tear up I75 to Chattanooga. There's a station at about Chickamauga just south of the border. They direct me into the lot again. Head hits steering wheel. No way. Surely they know, and I'm way underweight so there's no way I could have possibly tripped the weigh in motion scales for a close call on either axle. DOT officer comes to my window. I point out the sticker and calmly explain that this is the second time I've been pulled today. He's an understanding dude and we both have a good laugh out of it before he tells me to have a good one and sends me off.
Oh, and in the southbound lanes, some other poor fool attempted to skip the scale and got run down. LOL. Glad I'm not that guy.
Get my two calls done in Chattanooga, one a valve replacement (15 minutes), the other a minor bit of pvc plumbing (bit of PVC welding involved, but an hour of work at most) then head east to Cleveland, Tennessee for the last call. There's a DOT weight station, but it's mercifully closed and coned off, and it's been that way for a while. Hammer down.
Finish my work and hop back on the interstate heading home.
Hit a weigh station.
The arrow flips to the right.
I am now cussing up a storm. DOT officer comes to the window and I explain that this makes 3 today. He asks me to show him my logs, takes my word for it and again sends me off.
Jeez that made for a fun day lol. Got home an hour ago.
Last edited:
Smells like re-election time for somebody.
Doing 3 level 1 inspections on the same truck on the same day is simply a waste of citizens' time and DOT's officials' as well.
When I was an undergrad at Alabama, I used to hang out with a guy from Muscle Shoals. Sheriff in Muscle Shoals the previous summer had been up for re-election and wanted to raise his public profile, so his solution was to arrest people for j-walking. My friend from Muscles Shoals called his friends. Being smart-aleck college students, they all donned Hawaiian print shirts and went downtown in front of the local news cameras with signs that read "Book'em, Danno."
IDK what the tractor-trailer drivers are thinking, when they decide to skip in a 18-wheeler. I've seen a couple run down and I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end...
They do these blitzes periodically. They call it a "blitz week" but it's really only 72 hours. I just chose the wrong day to travel out of state, I guess. Just gobsmacked I got pulled 3 times. Not my day lol.
The reason I'm so diligent with it is because of my predecessor. He was extremely diligent because it got him burned one time. He got nailed just after he started out of ignorance. Blew a station, cc ran him down. If they have to come after you, they are NOT going to be happy. "What the HELL do you think you're doing!"
He had zero paperwork and they shut his ass down. He never made that mistake again.
He was on his way to assist on an install in Tennessee when he got shut down. They shut him down for 10 hours. The co-worker he was going to assist, Mark, who is still with us and covers Tennessee and surrounding areas to this day, came and retrieved him, took him to do the job, and they returned and retrieved the truck the next day.
With a corrected log-book, of course.
Speaking of Mark, he got shut down in the past for having a burned out tail-light. That one was different. One of those that must be fixed before the truck can be moved. He was going to walk to the nearest auto-parts stores, but the DOT officer was nice enough to give him a ride while he went to lunch.
I went to meet Mark a few weeks ago to transfer some tanks so he could answer an emergency DI call. Met him in Huntsville at about 11pm. Noticed he had a tail-light out, and I keep a spare on the truck. Swapped it there for him.
The biggest problem for the big truck drivers is that there's always going to be a violation if they want to find one. I'm lucky. Fairly simple E450 Super Duty with a box with very few moving parts. As long as my paperwork is straight and my load is underweight and properly secured, and it always is, I'm golden.
But if you’re driving a tractor with a flatbed or some such, there's a lot of complex moving parts and they can always find a problem they can write up if they, for instance, bend a pneumatic hose close to a fitting or some such.
They catch a lot of bad issues, sure, but they'll also nail a driver for little stuff beyond their control unless they know what they're looking for during pre-trip and are fully qualified mechanics willing to spend 3 hours under the truck before rolling. Sort of sucks.
But if you’re driving a tractor with a flatbed or some such, there's a lot of complex moving parts and they can always find a problem they can write up if they, for instance, bend a pneumatic hose close to a fitting or some such.
They catch a lot of bad issues, sure, but they'll also nail a driver for little stuff beyond their control unless they know what they're looking for during pre-trip and are fully qualified mechanics willing to spend 3 hours under the truck before rolling. Sort of sucks.
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