Take Your Time
Topic 16248 | Page 1
Ouch man that sucks. You are correct tho rushing to try to make more money will always cost you more in the end. That's what I don't get about the guys that are speeding all the time.
Oh man that's a bummer. Discipline, man. Discipline. Always make the safest, smartest decisions because like you said, if you gamble out there it's going to catch up with you. But hey, this was just an overweight ticket. There was no accident, no injuries, no damage to anything. You'll have to put in some free work is all. That's ok. Just make sure from now on you make disciplined decisions out there.
Another example of where that will get you is taking potential shortcuts. Famous last words - "I think I know a faster way to get there" - don't do it!!! If you know a sure way to get somewhere, even if it's a bit longer than the potential shortcut, take the sure way.
Easy lesson learned this time. That's ok.
Sorry to hear that gladhands, I too was in a similar situation a couple of times loading out of Henderson, NV. The only scales are about 13 miles north, across the other side of Las Vegas, and I usually have to head south, but I always make the trip for fear of exactly what happened to you. Yeah, it pulls about an extra hour out of my day to make the trip there, scale, then have to double back to get on my route, but, I feel it's better than risking it.
This is, however, another experience tool you can put in your toolbox, and by reading it, I can also put it in my experience toolbox.
Ouch. Thanks for sharing your story with us though. I'll add you to the voices in my head. You're in good company. I already hear my DM telling me to GOAL. My FM tells me to slow down. Errol tells me to check the street view and mapping before heading to a customer. G-Town has me doing a thorough pre-trip. Brett says that when something small goes wrong, don't let it turn into something big. I think you see where this is going.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Fm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
If I don't know a weight on the truck, I set the pins to California length - hole #8. Many times that will be legal on the scale.
Also, you don't need to sweat (much) for loads under 30,000 lbs. Almost all these pass under the Sign of the CAT with ease.
Once I had a load that totaled like 79,940. I couldn't get the axles to match - off by just a few pounds. That was a 45k load, so I kept the scale ticket if I needed to convince some shipper I was over weight.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Gladhand....The MAC 22 is your FRIEND! For the non-Swifties, that is our running late macro. Scaling a heavy load is a Legit reason for running late. It will save you from a service failure 99% of the time. Over Sleeping in the "Reason" line will NOT!
I been rushing myself a lot lately and doing things I shouldn't, well it finally caught up with me. Got a nice $1000 overweight ticket that I owe to the state of Illinois. Got into a rush because I had to wait on my pick up, so I didn't scale. It would have only taken a little time to go north 11 miles to scale, but I decided not to, since I was headed south. Well pull into the scale and get cited for being 4289 over on my trlr. My tandems had to be slid all the way back to be legal... man I should of just scaled. Guys don't make the same mistake as me, find the nearest scale and make sure your legal!
If your tandems are all the way back, would you be illegal anyways because they can only be a certain distance for the states your driving through?
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Daniel C wrote:
If your tandems are all the way back, would you be illegal anyways because they can only be a certain distance for the states your driving through?
Yes even in Illinois this is not legal. Illinois has a maximum legal distance of 45'6" from the kingpin to the center of the rear axle.
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Dang man, that sucks. Learn from it & move on.
New Reply:
New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features
Preview:
This topic has the following tags:
CSA DOT Hard Lessons Learned
Why Join Trucking Truth?
- The High Road Training Program
- The High Road Article Series
- The Friendliest Trucker's Forum Ever!
- Email Updates When New Articles Are Posted
Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth
Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:
TT On Facebook
I been rushing myself a lot lately and doing things I shouldn't, well it finally caught up with me. Got a nice $1000 overweight ticket that I owe to the state of Illinois. Got into a rush because I had to wait on my pick up, so I didn't scale. It would have only taken a little time to go north 11 miles to scale, but I decided not to, since I was headed south. Well pull into the scale and get cited for being 4289 over on my trlr. My tandems had to be slid all the way back to be legal... man I should of just scaled. Guys don't make the same mistake as me, find the nearest scale and make sure your legal!
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".