$590.00 fine yesterday for not enough license

[CUMMINZ]

Yesterday I visited the NC tag office and inquired what a 26k tag for my truck would be. She said $400. 00 plus a few. I don't remember. I could upgrade that day for $200. 00 plus. These are cheaper than my fine. Bad thing is I tow RV 99% of the time and only need a 10k tag. I am going to get my class A NC license.

 

[SRath]

With increased fuel prices, folks have been driving less and driving more fuel efficient vehicles. Fuel sales, and the accompanying revenue to the states, has declined. Now we have drastic drops in manufacturing and along with that comes even less commercial truck revenue. Many states are raising their registration fees drastically. My brother tells me kalifornia doubled theirs and he now pays nearly $800 per year to register his cummins dodge pickup.



States are turning to private vehicle inspections and fines to generate revenue rather than cutting their own costs as we all must. The laws are intended to be confusing and there is no set standard.



As a professional driver, I can assure you there is no DOT officer on the planet who will not claim to be able to find something "wrong" with any vehicle or load or driver.



This all about stealing your money. "Safety" is the excuse because you simply cannot argue with it.



And if you think these weight and license regs are confusing, just try hauling haz mat. Those DOT cops are out there trying to save their jobs and budgets... at your expense. They get paid to hold you up for hours. If you get paid by the mile, you lose money. And not just the 2 hours of missed miles either. Oh, no sir! While they hold you up, the new Hours of service clock keeps right on ticking. It is extremely difficult to make a living on these reduced hours. If you now cannot complete your trip because of a "routine inspection", you just lost more money; maybe a customer. You also have to cancel the pickup on your next load, and maybe so on down the line.



"This will only take an hour or two, so let me do my job. " translates to "We are the government and we are here to insure you go broke. "



The day will soon come where they realize that folks with big diesel pickups and big 5th wheel RV's tend to have deep pockets, and they WILL begin to target them, too. They simply cannot allow all that money to drive by without helping themselves to it.



I stopped at the welding supply store a couple days ago to buy a roll of mig welding wire. Thats all. Just wire. They tried to charge me an extra $9 for "haz mat fee". I told them where to stick their wire and to close my account.



I have a Class A CDL with all endorsements and no restrictions. I'm legal for anything on wheels. Not just legal, I'm experienced, too. There's the real difference in "safety". But I will not haul haz mat anymore. I have never received a dime extra for doing so. The brokers and trucking companies are ripping folks off by charging extra. Now the retailers, too.



Thank the DOT.



Many highly experienced senior drivers are refusing haz mat loads because of the tremendous hassle and targeting by DOT. That leaves the inexperienced drivers to haul it. That should make you feel all warm and fuzzy as you share the road with the next placarded vehicle.



Things are getting slow at the paper mill I haul out of now. They supply the paper and boxes for manufacturers of everything under the sun from truck parts to food products. Times are getting very tough and we see that immediately as a decrease in demand for packaging. My wages have not changed since gasoline cost $1. 35 per gallon. Only working 60 hours plus per week keeps my mortgage paid. now the DOT is doing all it can to make sure I cannot make a living.



I'm pulling the plug after nearly 3 million professionally logged SAFE, zero-accident miles. Don't know what I'll do, but anything is better than having a low-paying job that comes with a whole special police force to steal your money. Let the ragheads and wetbacks pull our freight for peanuts. The laws of this country don't seem to apply to them. They can drive an 80,000 pound vehicle without even needing to be able to read or speak english. Like road signs.



The DOT is a joke and rip off. Start raising hell with your state legislators about cutting their budget and downsizing them. Point out how unfair and confusing the regulations are. If you don't raise hell about vehicle regs and fees and enforcement, it will only get worse; and fast!



As "the cost of compliance" skyrockets in this country, more manufacturers are taking our jobs overseas. Just what this country needs now that Socialism is here with a vengeance. As it gets more and more difficult and expensive to transport raw materials and finished goods here, our jobs will go away and our economy will continue it's downward plunge.



Fight bad government. YOU are paying for it.



So continue your arguments about GVW's and class A, B, and Z. When the dust settles, nothing is settled. Follow the money if you want real answers.

 

[Diesel Power]

So what was the issue?



licence



trailer tag



truck tag

 

[Diesel Power]

With increased fuel prices, folks have been driving less and driving more fuel efficient vehicles. Fuel sales, and the accompanying revenue to the states, has declined. Now we have drastic drops in manufacturing and along with that comes even less commercial truck revenue. Many states are raising their registration fees drastically. My brother tells me kalifornia doubled theirs and he now pays nearly $800 per year to register his cummins dodge pickup.



States are turning to private vehicle inspections and fines to generate revenue rather than cutting their own costs as we all must. The laws are intended to be confusing and there is no set standard.



As a professional driver, I can assure you there is no DOT officer on the planet who will not claim to be able to find something "wrong" with any vehicle or load or driver.



This all about stealing your money. "Safety" is the excuse because you simply cannot argue with it.



And if you think these weight and license regs are confusing, just try hauling haz mat. Those DOT cops are out there trying to save their jobs and budgets... at your expense. They get paid to hold you up for hours. If you get paid by the mile, you lose money. And not just the 2 hours of missed miles either. Oh, no sir! While they hold you up, the new Hours of service clock keeps right on ticking. It is extremely difficult to make a living on these reduced hours. If you now cannot complete your trip because of a "routine inspection", you just lost more money; maybe a customer. You also have to cancel the pickup on your next load, and maybe so on down the line.



"This will only take an hour or two, so let me do my job. " translates to "We are the government and we are here to insure you go broke. "



The day will soon come where they realize that folks with big diesel pickups and big 5th wheel RV's tend to have deep pockets, and they WILL begin to target them, too. They simply cannot allow all that money to drive by without helping themselves to it.



I stopped at the welding supply store a couple days ago to buy a roll of mig welding wire. Thats all. Just wire. They tried to charge me an extra $9 for "haz mat fee". I told them where to stick their wire and to close my account.



I have a Class A CDL with all endorsements and no restrictions. I'm legal for anything on wheels. Not just legal, I'm experienced, too. There's the real difference in "safety". But I will not haul haz mat anymore. I have never received a dime extra for doing so. The brokers and trucking companies are ripping folks off by charging extra. Now the retailers, too.



Thank the DOT.



Many highly experienced senior drivers are refusing haz mat loads because of the tremendous hassle and targeting by DOT. That leaves the inexperienced drivers to haul it. That should make you feel all warm and fuzzy as you share the road with the next placarded vehicle.



Things are getting slow at the paper mill I haul out of now. They supply the paper and boxes for manufacturers of everything under the sun from truck parts to food products. Times are getting very tough and we see that immediately as a decrease in demand for packaging. My wages have not changed since gasoline cost $1. 35 per gallon. Only working 60 hours plus per week keeps my mortgage paid. now the DOT is doing all it can to make sure I cannot make a living.



I'm pulling the plug after nearly 3 million professionally logged SAFE, zero-accident miles. Don't know what I'll do, but anything is better than having a low-paying job that comes with a whole special police force to steal your money. Let the ragheads and wetbacks pull our freight for peanuts. The laws of this country don't seem to apply to them. They can drive an 80,000 pound vehicle without even needing to be able to read or speak english. Like road signs.



The DOT is a joke and rip off. Start raising hell with your state legislators about cutting their budget and downsizing them. Point out how unfair and confusing the regulations are. If you don't raise hell about vehicle regs and fees and enforcement, it will only get worse; and fast!



As "the cost of compliance" skyrockets in this country, more manufacturers are taking our jobs overseas. Just what this country needs now that Socialism is here with a vengeance. As it gets more and more difficult and expensive to transport raw materials and finished goods here, our jobs will go away and our economy will continue it's downward plunge.



Fight bad government. YOU are paying for it.



So continue your arguments about GVW's and class A, B, and Z. When the dust settles, nothing is settled. Follow the money if you want real answers.

You are 100% right, keep putting democrates in office and this will continue.

 

[FFeiller]

102" is the width that is considered max for a normal load in CA. if you measure your dully the fenders; at least on my '03 and '05 was exactly 102".



my dump trailer and my enclosed auto carrier trailer are both 102"

 

[CUMMINZ]

So what was the issue?



licence



trailer tag



truck tag

My original post, was issue with my truck tag. I only had 10k worth of license. I tow an RV so I don't need a bunch of license. One of the few times I haul a utility trailer I get a fine for $590. 00. Because my truck tag is not enough for both truck and trailer weight.



Most fifth wheel and bumper towing RVers are probably not legal using regular class C license and RV sellers I am sure are not telling the customer the truck.

 

[FFeiller]

we aren't getting socializism we are getting full blown communism and the majority of people just don't get it.



just to comply with the basic laws in CA it cost over $900 to register my 5500, they bleed us and bleed us under the guise of protecting and providing for us.



you can write, email or call your representitives until your are blue in the face; most are only concerned with their double and tripple retirements and are already bought and paid for by special interest.



good luck

 

[HBarlow]

Yesterday I visited the NC tag office and inquired what a 26k tag for my truck would be. She said $400. 00 plus a few. I don't remember. I could upgrade that day for $200. 00 plus. These are cheaper than my fine. Bad thing is I tow RV 99% of the time and only need a 10k tag. I am going to get my class A NC license.

You'll find it very easy to do. Pick up a copy of your state's commercial driver handbook, read it carefully thinking about many of the issues you are already familiar with plus pay attention to following and stopping distances, then go take the written test. In TX the test cost $75, IIRC, and was taken at a computer in the office. Borrow a flatbed gooseneck with a GVWR of 20k or enough to put your gross combined weight rating (whan added to your truck's) above 26k, and take the driving test. You won't be able to earn the air brake endorsement but you won't be driving an air brake truck so don't need it. I have a Class A CDL w/o air brake endorsement. I took the air brake endorsement written test and passed w/high score but didn't have an airbrake truck to borrow to take the test so my air brake endorsement exam score expired two years ago.

 

[HBarlow]

Scott,

It is a sad day when a guy has to give up his honest, chosen occupation because of misguided or corrupt government.

Just pin on a nobama campaign button and go to your local democrap/socialist/communist party political office and sign up to join the communist party. You'll become immediately eligible for a do-nothing goverrnment or communist party job with benefits. Maybe they'll ask you to be an acorn team leader and you can go around through the cemeteries in your home town registering people for the 2010 census or registering them as communist party voters for the upcoming congressional election.

 

[Diesel Power]

My original post, was issue with my truck tag. I only had 10k worth of license. I tow an RV so I don't need a bunch of license. One of the few times I haul a utility trailer I get a fine for $590. 00. Because my truck tag is not enough for both truck and trailer weight.



Most fifth wheel and bumper towing RVers are probably not legal using regular class C license and RV sellers I am sure are not telling the customer the truck.

So my truck and a race car trailer is fine?

 

[BRobertson]

Damn, I am glad I live in Alaska!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I guess next time I drive to the lesser 48

I will have to have a lawyer lined up in each State I will be driving thru!!!!!!!!!!!!





Bob

 

[RollOver_Pete]

I have a Class A CDL with all endorsements and no restrictions. I'm legal for anything on wheels. Not just legal, I'm experienced, too. There's the real difference in "safety". But I will not haul haz mat anymore. I have never received a dime extra for doing so. The brokers and trucking companies are ripping folks off by charging extra. Now the retailers, too.



Thank the DOT.

After 26 years of being able to haul anything except people, I've also let my haz mat endorsement go.

Last August while renewing my CDL, DMV tells me that I need to have a background check. I think to myself, no big deal. When they say that I need to cough up the extra $100. 00 or so for the background check, I politely tell them that I don't think so. If DMV wants a bg check, then DMV pays. Hell, all that needs to be done is for someone to get up from their coffee break and get on a computer and check my background. With a huge data base as the DMV has at their finger tips, why do I need to pay for someone to do a search? DMV rambled on about homeland security and bla bla bla... .

So, this background check proves what? That I'm not carrying IED's or ragheads or wetbacks? That I'm not a sex offender or cross dresser or homosexual? That I one day might finally get p. o'd enough to do a kamikaze attack with my truck through the WB Banning scale house? It proves nothing. It doesn't make me or you or anyone else any safer. The only thing a background check proves is that I'm gullible enough to give even more of my hard earned money away. Its bad enough that I need to pay someone to hold onto my sac while I cough every other year. But now another extra DMV/DOT/state/fed/homeland security fee?

I'd rather give cash to my Dr. /medical card person. At least I can get just a little bit of satisfaction out of that office visit.



Sorry bout the hijack/rant.

I'm sure everyone will eventually get over it... .

 

[CStringer]

You'll find it very easy to do. Pick up a copy of your state's commercial driver handbook, read it carefully thinking about many of the issues you are already familiar with plus pay attention to following and stopping distances, then go take the written test. In TX the test cost $75, IIRC, and was taken at a computer in the office. Borrow a flatbed gooseneck with a GVWR of 20k or enough to put your gross combined weight rating (whan added to your truck's) above 26k, and take the driving test. You won't be able to earn the air brake endorsement but you won't be driving an air brake truck so don't need it. I have a Class A CDL w/o air brake endorsement. I took the air brake endorsement written test and passed w/high score but didn't have an airbrake truck to borrow to take the test so my air brake endorsement exam score expired two years ago.

I did exactly what you said in OH approx 2 years ago. I got stopped by a sheriff, the "commercial vehicle enforcement" kind, and was alerted to the fact that I was not correctly licensed. I had a 07 CC, with a tag of 12k (b/c thats what the door sticker says) pulling a 25' gn w/ a gvw of 14k. As has been the case of many posting in this thread, I was unaware that truck was to be licensed for truck+trailer+cargo on trailer. And, to legally license it this way, my good 'ol standard OH dl was not good enough. So, I got my truck re-tagged @ 28k, went the DMV and got my cdl packet, when to the HP office and took my written test. I had to take a generic operators test, a commercial operators test, and then any endorsements I wanted (so I took the combination, double/triple, and air brake endorsement tests). Passed all, set up appointment to do my pre-trip/maneuverability/driving test.

Went and took the test with the same set up... . 07 3500 CC tagged @ 28k, 25' gn tagged @ 14k. Passed everything (after having to do pre-trip twice... alot less to point out on a p/u than a big rig!!) and went again to the DMV to get my CDL. The took my picture, handed me my new license, and I asked the lady what endorsements I had. She said combo, d/t, AND airbrakes... note that I did not take the driving test with an airbrake truck.

So CUMMINZ, if I were you, get every endorsement under the sun, when you do your written part, and save em for a rainy day!

#ad

As you can see, my only restriction is "B" which is corrective lenses (which they didnt even bother to ask if I wore contacts... . ) If I werent allowed to operate a truck w/ airbrakes, I would also have the restriction "L" placed on my license
#ad

 

[HBarlow]

Congratulations, you hit a homerun. You can legally drive an 80,000 lb. OTR tractor trailer even if you've never stepped into a cab.

Your post will probably annoy a professional truck driver who paid several thousand dollars for company training to get his CDL A.

 

[Pavemen]

Ohio has no restriction for tractors? Here in CA, you have to test in a tractor or you get a TT restriction that limits you to pickups and vans

 

[CStringer]

Your post will probably annoy a professional truck driver who paid several thousand dollars for company training to get his CDL A.

The intent of my post was to share my experience with the system. Was I trying to use a loophole to game the system? NO! I was trying to cover my own butt and to operate legally.

I had the opportunity to work with a buddy hauling trucks to port. So, I did what I did to allow myself to be put into a training situation, if I were to choose that

You can do the same freakn thing. (at least under ohio law. ) YOU have your class A, never stepping inside a t/t. All you would need to do is go take the WRITTEN air brake test, and voila, your legal as well.

 

[CStringer]

Ohio has no restriction for tractors? Here in CA, you have to test in a tractor or you get a TT restriction that limits you to pickups and vans

apparently not. I was a little amazed at that myself...

 

[SRath]

CStringer, You did the right thing: played the game to win. But what you did also PROVES the licensing is truly a joke as far as safety goes and is intended only to generate revenue since the CDL and each endorsement costs an additional fee.

Now consider just how many big rigs are currently being driven by folks, many of them non-citizens, with exactly the same endorsements and lack of actual knowledge and experience as CStringer has.

Trucking companies LOVE foreigners because insurance companies LOVE their lack of any driving record at all, which is a "clean" driving record in their misguided eyes.

Accidents because of this are inevitable, and we all pay the price. Some with their lives. Especially real truck drivers who must endure ever more "regulations" (revenue generating). The entire system is a broken failure designed to create more failure.

 

[SRath]

Rollover Pete: I clicked your link. Wow! You earned that handle the hard way! My current employer does not haul many haz mat loads. Fine by me. But I told them if they wanted someone with haz mat experience and a haz mat endorsement for those rare loads, THEY would have to pay for my "background check". They declined, so I told them if the day comes where they need me to haul such a load, I will require 4 times the fee I paid UP FRONT before I'll bump the dock in addition to double the normal mileage rate. I'm in this for profit, too.

Maybe I'll go over to the Dark Side and become a DOT officer... Job security. Fantastic benefits. Perks. A gun on my hip. The ability to take my mood out on someone else. POWER.

 

[CStringer]

It amazes me day after day some of the drivers I see on the road. No I dont run a t/t, maybe someday after good training, but there are so many just like you said srath that are just accidents waiting to happen.

Im only 24, but I have approx 250,000 safe, accident free miles. Not alot to most drivers, but to me its a big deal, BECAUSE of the all the jokers runnin around out there... not just truckers, but the four-wheelers are HORRIBLE!

I give applause to all the guys who run legal, run safe, and put up with what goes on.

As you say srath, the system is a joke... and the bad part is, its only gonna get worse...