Texas CDL Laws and Regulation Questions..

[BSeyler]

You don't have to have a medical card to keep a CDL, I haven't had a medical card in 15 years, and i still have my class A CDL

I was given a farm exemption and do not need a medical card to keep my CDL. Limitations are that I can only haul for myself and within 150 miles of home. If I hire out, I have to get a medical card.

 

[mfurrh55]

Yeah i have a farm exemption too,But i haul 1100 to 1200 miles, never been messed with, If it does end, i'll just get a reg. license and keep on going, Guess the Gastapo is catching up with all the states, We really need to stand up for our rights and STOP letting them do whatever they feel like, Our rights are getting SMALLER and smaller

 

[BSeyler]

Our rights are getting SMALLER and smaller

True statement!

 

[MMeier]

Can you say police state ?

 

[mfurrh55]

Can you say police state ?

Especially since ya'll have Harry Reid running everything in ya'lls state

 

[GAmes]

I am seeing more and more DOT guys with smaller trucks pulled over doing random checks...

I've been hearing the same thing for the last 11 years. In a half million miles of logged towing (I remove my DOT placard when empty) I have had exactly three level ones, and maybe four level three inspections. It has been over 2 years since the last inspection. I've never been inspected in TX.

 

[Wingate]

I've been hearing the same thing for the last 11 years. In a half million miles of logged towing (I remove my DOT placard when empty) I have had exactly three level ones, and maybe four level three inspections. It has been over 2 years since the last inspection. I've never been inspected in TX.

They have stepped it up here in north east texas. Have seen a 1 ton Ford/GN trailer with a single drill stem on in getting a roadside check the other day. On Hwy 59 between North East Texas and Houston they have also started more roadside checks.

 

[GAmes]

My point was there are always rumors of stepped up roadside checks, but even during the 4 or 5 day safety week in June I've never been checked. I20 on either side of Abilene was a hot spot for years, but I rarely see DPS along that route now. Besides, a trooper beside the road with a commercial vehicle isn't necessarily a random check, it might be a speeding or other moving infraction stop. The occasional traffic stop doesn't indicate to me that DOT is stepping up the game, it is the rest areas with a half dozen inspectors and a sign at the entrance directing trucks to enter.

 

[jgillott]

Not Texas, but I've been checked twice in the last 3 years in PA with my personal truck and trailer. Once on the PA turnpike with a load of fence posts and once with an empty trailer at a random roadside check on RT 70 near Washington PA. I don't know for sure, but my gut is that the increase in the fracking and gas line operations may be leading to the increased DOT action here.

 

[Wingate]

Not Texas, but I've been checked twice in the last 3 years in PA with my personal truck and trailer. Once on the PA turnpike with a load of fence posts and once with an empty trailer at a random roadside check on RT 70 near Washington PA. I don't know for sure, but my gut is that the increase in the fracking and gas line operations may be leading to the increased DOT action here.

Agreed, I was up there in Towanda, PA recently in my company truck (F550 with service bed) HOLY CRAP, they were everywhere like cockroaches scattering when you flip the lights on in a cheap motel. The Texas plates didnt help much. The trip up there and back was eventful as well, Kentucky and Maryland both weighed me multiple times. Once I made it to Arkansas they quit looking at me like I was an alien. I think they were surprised that I had all my teeth! hahaa.

 

[Wingate]

Not Texas, but I've been checked twice in the last 3 years in PA with my personal truck and trailer. Once on the PA turnpike with a load of fence posts and once with an empty trailer at a random roadside check on RT 70 near Washington PA. I don't know for sure, but my gut is that the increase in the fracking and gas line operations may be leading to the increased DOT action here.

Agreed, I was up there in Towanda, PA recently in my company truck (F550 with service bed) HOLY CRAP, they were everywhere like cockroaches scattering when you flip the lights on in a cheap motel. The Texas plates didnt help much. The trip up there and back was eventful as well, Kentucky and Maryland both weighed me multiple times. Once I made it to Arkansas they quit looking at me like I was an alien. I think they were surprised that I had all my teeth! hahaa.

 

[Wingate]

My point was there are always rumors of stepped up roadside checks, but even during the 4 or 5 day safety week in June I've never been checked. I20 on either side of Abilene was a hot spot for years, but I rarely see DPS along that route now. Besides, a trooper beside the road with a commercial vehicle isn't necessarily a random check, it might be a speeding or other moving infraction stop. The occasional traffic stop doesn't indicate to me that DOT is stepping up the game, it is the rest areas with a half dozen inspectors and a sign at the entrance directing trucks to enter.

Maybe not on the left side where you are, but on the right side over here things have definitely stepped up. They have had an inspection area south of Lufkin for years, and for years its always been closed when Ive passed it. Not any more, last trip out of Houston headed north there were 18 wheelers doing u turns and DOT had the entire shoulder of the hwy stacked deep. Some of the random crap they ask for these days... reflective triangles, first aid kit.. last one never even asked for my drivers license.

 

[jgillott]

Agreed, I was up there in Towanda, PA recently in my company truck (F550 with service bed) HOLY CRAP, they were everywhere like cockroaches scattering when you flip the lights on in a cheap motel. The Texas plates didnt help much. The trip up there and back was eventful as well, Kentucky and Maryland both weighed me multiple times. Once I made it to Arkansas they quit looking at me like I was an alien. I think they were surprised that I had all my teeth! hahaa.

The Texas plate probably didn't hurt you either. There are so many people here now from Texas, Oklahoma, etc. working on the pipelines, nobody even thinks twice.

Quick unrelated question for you, at any time when you were stopped in your company truck, have they asked for a log book?

 

[Wingate]

The Texas plate probably didn't hurt you either. There are so many people here now from Texas, Oklahoma, etc. working on the pipelines, nobody even thinks twice.

Quick unrelated question for you, at any time when you were stopped in your company truck, have they asked for a log book?

yep! Several states have asked for my log book. First time I got stopped(Oklahoma) I didnt have one and wasnt versed in the rules. Nice fine along with being downed for 12 hours truck was tagged out of compliance, I was escorted to a sleazy hotel in the middle of nowhere and told to stay there until I had a current log book, but no place in that community to purchase one! DOT officer was a douche to say the least.

 

[jgillott]

yep! Several states have asked for my log book. First time I got stopped(Oklahoma) I didnt have one and wasnt versed in the rules. Nice fine along with being downed for 12 hours truck was tagged out of compliance, I was escorted to a sleazy hotel in the middle of nowhere and told to stay there until I had a current log book, but no place in that community to purchase one! DOT officer was a douche to say the least.

Thanks. I was wondering if PA was the only one.

 

[RVTRKN]

Agreed, I was up there in Towanda, PA recently in my company truck (F550 with service bed)

Were you just traveling thru to a contract, kind of a weekly job, working local and driving to and from a hotel till the job was completed? That shouldn't define trucking as Over The Road, which would be required, as your a commercial vehicle traveling to your next job, not transporting merchandise. Yes, you need to cross the scales and be within the trucks axle ratings, but log book is questionable.

 

[GAmes]

Maybe not on the left side where you are, but on the right side over here things have definitely stepped up. They have had an inspection area south of Lufkin for years, and for years its always been closed when Ive passed it. Not any more, last trip out of Houston headed north there were 18 wheelers doing u turns and DOT had the entire shoulder of the hwy stacked deep. Some of the random crap they ask for these days... reflective triangles, first aid kit.. last one never even asked for my drivers license.

I travel on the east side too, not to mention all over the US and Canada. I'm not seeing anything other than the enforcement that has been in place the whole time I have been on the road commercially (11 years). If anything, I see less. Random intensified inspections occur in a lot of states, thus the previous reference to rest areas. The same is true in TX, one day blitzes at marked weigh stations. Fire ext, warning devices and spare fuses are the only things required by FMCSA. I have a 1st aid kit, but have never been asked to show it. http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/393.95

 

[Wingate]

Were you just traveling thru to a contract, kind of a weekly job, working local and driving to and from a hotel till the job was completed? That shouldn't define trucking as Over The Road, which would be required, as your a commercial vehicle traveling to your next job, not transporting merchandise. Yes, you need to cross the scales and be within the trucks axle ratings, but log book is questionable.

Oh its not questionable... have the fine to show for it. hahaha..

 

[RVTRKN]

Were you traveling from a job site to another job site, was it less than a hundred air miles? If over 10K GVW and over a 100 air miles from site to site, then a log book is required. Does that sound familiar?

I better be careful, I lease a house in Vegas, 250 miles away and if I take my 3500 (because it's a C&C, it's considered to be a true commercial vehicle, not a pickup) with my ladder rack full of ladders for painting and other work needed to get the house ready for a new lease, I'm in violation per what I've read, if I don't keep a log book.

You ran into a HBarlow of the DOT world who must be book smart only, what a jerk!

 

[Wingate]

Were you traveling from a job site to another job site, was it less than a hundred air miles? If over 10K GVW and over a 100 air miles from site to site, then a log book is required. Does that sound familiar?

I better be careful, I lease a house in Vegas, 250 miles away and if I take my 3500 (because it's a C&C, it's considered to be a true commercial vehicle, not a pickup) with my ladder rack full of ladders for painting and other work needed to get the house ready for a new lease, I'm in violation per what I've read, if I don't keep a log book.

You ran into a HBarlow of the DOT world who must be book smart only, what a jerk!

The 100 mile rule goes null and void when you cross a state line with DOT #s on the door and over 10K. But to answer your question I had traveled to Oklahoma from Texas to repair an engine, stayed the night in a hotel (with receipt) and was travelling back to Texas the next day. Pulled me over in the middle of nowhere, performed a full inspection of my truck (including griping about my POS Ford had signs of oil leak from plastic pan) and popped me for no logbook.