hitting backroads to avoid scales
 

anyone here have experience getting caught by dot for taking alternate routes to avoid the scales? i've heard some rumors like if you get caught, they'll escort you to the scales, give you tickets, etc..... i decided to try it yesterday because i heard they had cameras and wanted to see for myself, after all, i'm legal. i took the exit before the scales went around it and saw a camera on the side of the road with like a height thing that i assume only a big truck will activate it. so i'm guessing it's dot watching me on the backroads? anyway i didn't have any problems getting back on the interstate and kept on trucking.

Yep--DOT weighed you on their invisible scale, took a picture, got your plates, and your ticket will be arriving in the mail in 2-3 weeks. (and even though you were legal, their scale data said otherwise.... :shock: )

Just kidding! :P

I expect the DOT to be using cameras, invisible scales, and issuing tickets somehow, someway in the coming future....

Running backroads can be interesting and allot of fun. Doing it to dodge a scale, well, many do and get away with it, and many get caught. Just the luck of the draw. Many states have DOT units with portable scales, some will just escort you to the nearest certified scale if they believe you to be overweight. Most try to dodge the scales when their log books and paperwork are not in order, not neccesarily because of weight.

Attempting to dodge scales in the state of Ohio, legal or not can net you a large fine and level 1 inspection. There are a few other states, but since I am just going back OTR after a couple of years running local, I cannot remember the areas.

Good luck and have fun with your adventures.

I've done it a time or two in my day but just beware that sometimes the DOT might be watching whatever escape route you happen to be on and Intentionally Avoiding a scale and getting caught can be costly and no matter what excuse you throw at them they've heard it before :P

"I just wanted to see what the back side of that inspection house looked like. Even when you guys pull me in there and pull on those arm-length gloves they use to check if cows are pregnant, I still never see it from that angle. The architecture is fascinating from over here. You guys should be really proud."

OK-that's a New one :P

scales...
 

I tried it once, got stopped, got escorted back to the scales. They checked everything while I sat in the now CLOSED scales with trucks running by for almost an hour. It was a WASTE of my time.
If you are smart enough to get around a scale, you are smart enough to get accross it.

I've actually done that. Guys telling us that the DOT is out. Luckily for us, on wheat harvest, we are on the backroads. :P

interesting. the scale i bypassed btw was the brand spankin' new super coop that just opened last week , over there by madison, wi (they tore down the old one and made it new at the same spot) on the east bound side of 1-90. the bypass route i used was rt 51.....check it out, you'll see that camera i'm talking about. still wondering if it's dot watching me :twisted:

I was once over gross and ran around the scales between Chicago and Denver. Almost got busted in Nebraska at a portable scale but they had filled up and the DOT officer motioned me to keep going. :oops:

Dodging scales is just silly! When you get paid shortest straight line distance - 10% anyway, why give more time and money away?!?!?! I've never understood this mentality at all.

It has been my experience that the best way to dodge a scale is to have a good poker face and roll right through it. 8)

Try calling up the scale(s) in question before you cross them to see if they are open or closed. And, if open, when they will close.


I will be compliling a list of numbers shortly.

Cost a friend of mine $1100.
But he was waaaaay overweight and obviously dodging the scale.......which, BTW had an "open" sign but no one was there. I guess he found out where they were!

hahahaha that reminds me of a story of a local scale.

Guy called up pretending to be a mennonite, put on the accent real thick.

says "When do you close? Very very heavy today"

So the lady at the scale stayed open for an extra 2-3 hours.

Finally the guy showed up(he was legal of course) went inside and asked if the mennonite rolled through the scale or not!

She was PISSED!

Some of us get paid by what we haul, not by the mile...

For GREAT info on the weigh stations Click Here

In some places, they DO have cameras and detection equipment set up on the back roads. You can't just look at the atlas and know. Sometimes there are weight limits, low bridges, back doors into the scale. That's why I have a membership.

Only scales that I'm really familiar with are the ones on I-94 at Chesterton, IN. The eastbound ones are almost always opened. The ones on the west bound side have been open a lot lately as well. The deal with the west bound scales is that there used to be a sign saying if it was open or closed but they took it down about six months ago so I always play it safe and roll across them nice and slow like.

PrePass, just roll right on by.

And? This means that you can drive all over hell and half of Georgia burning up fuel tires and time and magically somehow stay more profitable than someone who can run legal and the shortest route? :shock:

I have another story amusing coop story.

A few months ago when one of our drivers was rolling past the coop in Truckee of WB I80 in CA another line driver said "Con-Way Door 2" on his CB at just the right time as he is rolling past.

So he rolls around to get inspected and once they tell him they did not call him around he realizes he has been had.

I love my "Prepass"..... 8) 8) 8)

Besides, I'm essentially too unmotivated to actually try to go around a scale. Besides...if you run into a DOT guy, and even its not illegal to go around a scale, its highly probable that you will spend a while settin' and chewing the fat with him....and then he'll weigh you and give you a Level 1, or just mess with you... Not worth it to me.

I agree with Chuck about the poker face. Everytime I roll thru a scale I have sunglasses and a hat on in the daytime, only a hat at night. My eyes and the direction of my head are strait forward. I have been pulled in 3 times in the 1 1/2 years I have driven trucks and never been cited. Just greet and treat the dot man with respect, and if your logs in order and your truck is pre-tripped you are golden.

This is hard to believe, but I agree 100% with Fozzy, hope its not a sign of the apocalypse :D

I agree. Even when they do bring you over for an inspection or stop you for a ticket and you know you are not totaly legal, keeping cool with the dot can help you out and help things go smoother. I heard a driver on the cb on time say that he was speeding with no seat belt and was pulled over. He knew that he was caught and just started letting the officer have it as soon as he walked up. The officer got red if the face and told the driver "well I usually don't give drivers too much trouble, and all I was going to do was give you a ticket for your seatbelt and let you go, but now, you are getting a ticket for everything!". The driver said now that he wished he had just kept his mouth shut.

I sometimes run around the one on 95 in
Maine on the way back from poland spring. Its closed alot, but the reason I run it is because there is really no where up there to scale the load after 5 pm. A few times up by the scale on 95 in ct I just park on the side of the road and when the sign goes to closed then I go past. It fills up really quick and I never had a problem doing it. Some others do it too. :wink:

I run mostly at night and very seldom ever see a scale house open.... maybe someday in the normal traffic I will try what I seen alot in the past on scales without a prepass site is just roll on by while their busy witth a line of trucks at the window..... I ran by one that was opened and I stopped waiting for them to get me and nobody showed up so I rolled...

72 hrs out of service
 

I had little printing and drawing error in my log book at Windsor. She gave 72 hrs out of service. I feel it is ridiculous.
Can we do something about it?

"We" can wait the 72 hours, get a sharper pencil and don't make the same "mistake" again.