Weighstation Woes: Inconsistent Communication

I'm in Louisiana and I'm pulling a heavy load. I got pulled into two DOT stations to check the weight. Understandable. It turns out that the cat scale I went to originally gave me bad weight values. When I rolled into the first DOT weigh station behind another truck getting weighed, the green sign to go back on the freeway was on. I stopped on the scale, receive no signal other than the green sign telling me to go back on the freeway. So, I started rolling forward to go back onto the freeway. Then, the sign said stop in red letters follow with a “back up”. I did exactly that. I was then told to pull over in the parking area and come inside, which I did. The two men behind the glass window began berating me for not following the sign. I said I did follow the sign it remained green to go back onto the freeway even after I stopped on the scale. I also offered to show them footage from the camera that I attached to the front of the cab. I was then told that the green side wasn’t for me it was for the other truck and next time I need to wait. Fine.

Second DOT weigh station not far from the first weigh station and still in Louisiana, I get signal to go into the weighstation scale. I get it, I have a heavy load in there just making sure that I’m legal. No qualms there. So, I roll up onto the scale and the light is remaining Green from the previous truck saying to go back on the freeway. I think to myself I’ve got this, just wait for a signal. Nope. The DOT weighstation officer gets on the intercom and proceeds to talk to me like I am an idiot for not following the green sign that says to go back on the freeway.

Queue the flipping a table over meme.

I said as clearly and calmly as possible that I was told by the previous weighstation to wait for a signal change.

My question: what should I have done in this situation to have a better outcome?

I did inform the cat company regarding the bad scale readings after the whole ordeal if anyone is wondering. Thankfully, I did not receive a ticket in either situation.

To clarify, I corrected my tandem to the weight printout presented by the first DOT station, and reweighed to an acceptable weight distribution. I was legal by the time I got to weighstation two.

Jm, be happy they let you go without a ticket and forget about the way they talked to you. They can't help it. That's what they do.

Jm, be happy they let you go without a ticket and forget about the way they talked to you. They can't help it. That's what they do.

Yeah, I got you. I did say I am thankful. I need to travel through these parts again because I am OTR. I am not concerned with the fact they talked to me that way, rather, I don't want DOT officers thinking I am not following the signals. I am asking for future reference. Thanks.

Some standardization in how they communicate at weigh stations would be lovely. I don't remember where it was, but I hit one once that had a standard traffic light - green, yellow, red - and it was on red. I was trained if you get the red, you stop until you get green or told what to do, so I sat there. It flashed green quickly once, which apparently I was to take as a go signal, but growing up with sausage fingers I also take something like that to mean someone like me may be in there and bumped a button. So I kept sitting. Finally an officer came out, hurriedly waved me to get out of there with a nasty scowl on his face.

The only thing you can really do is make sure you read every sign you can and do the best you can. Probably another good reason to have a dash cam, too, as there's some grey area times like getting a red light on the bypass, only to watch the open/closed sign change to close ahead of you.

I always figure I'll do my best to interpret what I can, and if I'm wrong... well, they'll let me know.

Jm, be happy they let you go without a ticket and forget about the way they talked to you. They can't help it. That's what they do.

Ditto...agreed. They'd be hard pressed writing a citation for getting confused and erring on the side of caution by not blowing through a redlight. Don't sweat this.

Jm, be happy they let you go without a ticket and forget about the way they talked to you. They can't help it. That's what they do.

Yeah, I got you. I did say I am thankful. I need to travel through these parts again because I am OTR. I am not concerned with the fact they talked to me that way, rather, I don't want DOT officers thinking I am not following the signals. I am asking for future reference. Thanks.

Let me clarify that this has happened to me. Once I was following a truck across the scales at Truckee. The light stayed green for that truck and the one before it. I was creeping across and figured I'd get the green too. Then it went red when I was looking away from the light for a moment, so I hit the breaks. They yelled at me to go around to the inspection bay.

So my best advice is to keep your eyes on the light and do the best you can to figure out what they want you to do. Never assume they're going to do the same thing as the truck before you.

All I can say is maybe they don't do Randoms on these Folks like they do Drivers, how boring must it be it sit there all day and weight trucks! Kill ME !!!

Well, I guess things are the way they are out in these DOT stations. I gather I am not alone on the matter.

It's one of those "such is life" moments.

You did the right thing, waiting the second time until waved out - if you were UNSURE of what the signals were telling you.

Better to be WAVED OUT, than PULLED OVER down the road - because you rolled on "what you thought was a green".

Out of curiosity - how off were you on your weights? Or should I say - HOW OFF WAS THE CAT SCALE? Were you over on an axle set - or just off on the distribution? CAT will (supposedly) pay an overweight ticket if their scale was inaccurate - and even if you weren't cited - at the least they should refund the price of the weigh, and it gives them a heads up to go check that scales calibration.

DOT guys can get a bit testy. Best to be courteous, even if they act like a-holes. Could be the difference between getting testily waved out, and hauled around back for a Level I, where they WILL FIND something to write you for (real or imagined).

Let me clarify that this has happened to me. Once I was following a truck across the scales at Truckee.

Truckee scales probably write more citations than any other station in CA. It's about REVENUE (which is why most drivers hate Cali runs). Truckee coop has been notorious for decades. I think they screw with the lights, just to have an excuse to pull people in. CSA score doesn't seem to make a difference to them.

Rick