Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
this sounds sooooo familiar
There was a time when I was working in Hawthorne, NY, so I would leave Danbury, head down 684 and cut across down the Sawmill Parkway in my Toyota Takoma Xtracab.
One night on the way home, I get pulled over by a Peace Officer, why? ... because I'm a commercial vehicle!
"Officer", I say, "I'm from Connecticut, and these are Combination Plates...
"Well", he says, "New York interprets Combination Plates as Commercial Plates. It's only a $25 fine and no points on your license, so what do you care?"
He goes on to explain that to drive any pickup on the Parkway, you need:
1) passenger plates
2) at least two permanently fixed seats in the back, with seat belts
3) a cap with four feet of clearance between the floor of the bed and the ceiling of the cap.
This is to turn your truck into a 'commuter vehicle'. So even though I had seatbelts for five in the cab, a tonneau cover on the bed, and combination plates, I still wasn't legal on the parkway. Since you can't get passenger plates for a truck in CT, there was no way I could be legal even if I wanted to!
The officer had the nerve to suggest I rethink my vehicle, and purchase something else!!!!
They have since changed the law, but this went on for years and years, so NY had CT beat by a mile for being screwed up.
A lot of my friends got to hear me threaten to 'borrow' an 18 wheeler and wedge it under one of the Sawmill's bridges so the troopers could see a real commercial vehicle. The other idea I entertained was to find an old run-out Suburban for $300 and let it fumigate the highway twice a day with black smoke.
So now we find out that CT is busting people for driving the pickup of their choice. The first step is to know the law. Does anyone have the facts? Second step, fight it every step of the way. Tell legislators that this will affect how you vote. Get the facts. What is the GVWR of an excursion? Get the media on the story.
Drag them kicking and screaming into the new century!
Matt
There was a time when I was working in Hawthorne, NY, so I would leave Danbury, head down 684 and cut across down the Sawmill Parkway in my Toyota Takoma Xtracab.
One night on the way home, I get pulled over by a Peace Officer, why? ... because I'm a commercial vehicle!
"Officer", I say, "I'm from Connecticut, and these are Combination Plates...
"Well", he says, "New York interprets Combination Plates as Commercial Plates. It's only a $25 fine and no points on your license, so what do you care?"
He goes on to explain that to drive any pickup on the Parkway, you need:
1) passenger plates
2) at least two permanently fixed seats in the back, with seat belts
3) a cap with four feet of clearance between the floor of the bed and the ceiling of the cap.
This is to turn your truck into a 'commuter vehicle'. So even though I had seatbelts for five in the cab, a tonneau cover on the bed, and combination plates, I still wasn't legal on the parkway. Since you can't get passenger plates for a truck in CT, there was no way I could be legal even if I wanted to!
The officer had the nerve to suggest I rethink my vehicle, and purchase something else!!!!
They have since changed the law, but this went on for years and years, so NY had CT beat by a mile for being screwed up.
A lot of my friends got to hear me threaten to 'borrow' an 18 wheeler and wedge it under one of the Sawmill's bridges so the troopers could see a real commercial vehicle. The other idea I entertained was to find an old run-out Suburban for $300 and let it fumigate the highway twice a day with black smoke.
So now we find out that CT is busting people for driving the pickup of their choice. The first step is to know the law. Does anyone have the facts? Second step, fight it every step of the way. Tell legislators that this will affect how you vote. Get the facts. What is the GVWR of an excursion? Get the media on the story.
Drag them kicking and screaming into the new century!
Matt
), but it may not be too late for the rest of us CT bombers. I want to know what my rights really are on the Merritt. 
)
I can only make left hand turns in this state. 
and like it. 
