I can tell none of the posters here have ever been to Maine.If your there is a questionable entry in your log within 15 minutes time your truck is hauled away to the impound yard and you are brought to jail and charged with a felony.Anyone that thinks this nuts can thank your local Wal-Mart for these insane laws,it's because of one of their drivers we have these laws and the PATT group.
It was not long ago the fine for being 20,000 lbs overweight was a small fraction of what a log book ticket was,now they are just about the same.

 

Driven since '78 and never took a Load to Maine ops:

 

Dont even think about Maine,let alone go there. :P

 

Up untill that famous Wal-Mart crash happened there Maine was a great state to truck in and out of.The DOT where regular blue collar workers just doing a job,like the rest of us.This is just one of the many,many reasons I will not haul for or shop at any Wal-Mart.It's like the saying goes,"you are either part of the problem or, part of the solution"Wal-Mart is not part of the solution.

 

Maryland. Sons of Guns. I will drive 400 miles out of the way to avoid crossing a Maryland scale, and I have.

Or the rest areas. And it's a moving violation, because you're disobeying a highway sign.

But everybody knows this, so don't park there, stupid. That's the part I don't get. How can they keep writing ticket after ticket, night after night? Hasn't everyone figured this out by now? Apparently not, because the rest areas are always full all the way a mile in either direction of the ramps every single night.[/b]

 

SC is only truly truck-friendly state on the east coast. Only two real weigh stations, truckstops everywhere up the gazoo, friendly cops, friendly people. South Carolina is the best state I know about to truck in. I've never been west of Cleveland, OH or Villa Rica, GA, whichever is further west, though.

Of course I guess it was friendlier before they closed all those parking areas. I guess the goodbuddies were hanging out there or people were pissing everywhere or something. I don't know the story.

Only part of SC that sucks is US 17 and 483,000 stoplights between Charleston and the NC line. (Which is a lot better with SC 31, but not better enough.)

 

I think that most scales are not going to bother you much as long as you have a good attitude. Missouri used to be bad at Odessa. I am not sure that I would consider any state which has lane restrictions for trucks all that friendly. SC has lane restrictions. I do think that those in the Southeast and West are the friendliest. Unfortunately, with state tax revenues having a short fall, some states are beefing up their DOT and doing more checks. I was in Texas a few month's ago and there was a scale opened that I have rarely seen opened. They had DOT checking logs and trucks packed the scale. This was on I-20 East. It was the Westbound scale that was opened. Occasionally the Eastbound is open, but very rarely is the Westbound. I think it is going to get worse. Texas and other states have hired hundreds of new DOT people. They need to pay for those salaries, somehow.

 

Texas was very truck friendlly years ago-Now It's horrible-Each County-City has their own version of the DOT.

 

I guess they do come up with stuff from time to time. One thing about Texas,is that you don't have to worry about the chicken coops :P at the state lines. Well,El Paso has one south of town,but that's El Paso :P . Every so often,the DOT will have their portables set up at the rest areas,but don't have to worry about running across the scales when ya come into the Lone Star State :P

 

isn't that a dickweed infestation in that picture :shock: