Last week I was in Maryland and rather than backtracking to get down to 95 I headed west on Hwy 1. I got pulled in for inspection just over the Conowingo Bridge and ticketed for being on a restricted route with a truck over 48'. The fine is $1010 which just blew my mind! There were no signs and I had no idea that I was on a road with a length limit. Of course ignorance of the law doesn't get me anywhere, it just irritates me that these states makes these laws and then basically hide them.

I talked to a lawyer in Maryland and he said that he talked to one driver that had gotten a ticket for the same thing and he just paid the ticket. A few days later he got a letter from the courthouse saying that by paying the fine he had admitted that he knew about the law and knowingly drove on the road anyway. Because he admitted guilt his license was being revoked for one year.

I'm wondering if anyone has heard of someone losing their license after paying a fine like this. Hiring a lawyer will cost me nearly as much as the fine and I have to get my butt from Utah to Maryland for court which will cost another chunk of change. I don't really trust lawyers so I'm not sure if this story of the driver losing his license is true. He might just be telling me that so he can get some of my money. Paying the fine is irritating but I'm more worried about the possibility of losing my license.

If anyone has any experience with this please let me know.

dig out your ticket and then go to Traffic Citation Information

follow the instructions to see how much your fine is and if points are involved. from what i can see the fine is $530 and no points, but then i'm only working off the idea that you got one ticket only. if you still have questions, call the court clerk, they are a great resource without having to pay a lawyer

and no maryland did not "makes these laws and then basically hide them". Truckers Map is the free truckers map available online, it took me @ 2 minutes to find and download. it clearly states that it is a restricted route. look in box 4.

Vavega.....The only thing I see is referring to height and weight. Am I missing something?

what you're missing is that box 4 tells you that rt 1 is not listed on the md truck route system. then in red below..."the following combinations, regardless of allowable width, are required to operate the system".

1. truck tractors pulling a semitrailer exceeding 48' in length not exceeding 53'.

I've never heard of the license revocation before, but as soon as you said Conowingo, I knew what was coming. I've heard about that one before.