DOT Roadside Inspection Blitz Next Week

From the archives.

Just curious, do the inspectors set up inspection operations at night during this blitz, or is it only.during the day?

They are notorious around here for setting up at the border crossing into the states over night. When I ran nights, I'd get pulled in there about once a month at one in the morning.

I remember that. If I remember correctly it was the first scale crossing into Indiana from Illinois on I-94. I got pulled in but just had in cab paperwork and logs checked. In and out luckily.

A couple years ago, Indiana was doing inspections at 2 or 3 in the morning.

From the archives.

I was hoping nobody would notice!

I remember that. If I remember correctly it was the first scale crossing into Indiana from Illinois on I-94. I got pulled in but just had in cab paperwork and logs checked. In and out luckily.

For me it was the one on 65 at the 241 mm. I think I had to weigh, but didn't have to pull in for the probing.

In 5 1/2 years I've yet to get inspected. I'm not concerned when the time comes because I make sure my equipment is safe but understand things happen in transit. I'd be more annoyed by the time spent getting the inspection done. Several of our drivers got pulled in the past couple weeks and most had clean inspections. It still shows our out of service vehicle violations higher than the national average because we're a smaller fleet. An out of service violation carries more weight than for mega carriers. Our on-site shop is great at fixing issues after we get back IF the driver writes it up so it likely just comes down to driver laziness since almost all drivers make it back daily.

Monday and Tuesday I ran in town, 3 to 4 trailers each day with about 100 miles. Tomorrow I'll run Cedar Rapids and work my way west of Waterloo. No weigh stations to deal with. Again, not concerned about my equipment just don't want to deal with the delays involved.

I'm off to Europe for two weeks...problem solved

The inspectors were throwing a party at a southbound rest area in northern Michigan today. Luckily I was going northbound. I don't have Rob T.'s streak of five and a half years, just five and a half months. Thought today would be the day!

A few hours ago I was coming across PA on I-80 originating from just south of Newark and I saw numerous vehicles pulled over. I received a bypass notice for most of the weigh stations. Two of them I had to pull in, but it was pass right through. The trucks I saw getting inspected were over-size/over-dimension and older trucks where it's obvious that something could be out-of-compliance from just a glance. One of the inspection points was a pop-up type set up at a rest area. I saw a truck blow right past it, even though there was signage indicating all trucks must pull in. A few minutes later, I saw the truck pulled over with LE pulled up behind.

All of the things we need to be mindful of are largely common sense. Even still, when in doubt, ask questions. Whether posting questions on here, asking a company safety officer, or asking a DOT officer, it's never a bad idea to ask rather than take a chance with a guess. Even when pulled in for an inspection, if there is anything a driver isn't sure about, ask the inspecting officer about it. They are going to give you the correct information.

Be safe drivers.

My day started out near Springfield, OH at 0100. Destination Gaylord, MN. So I went through part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and up to near Mason City, IA. Got weighed at 3 open stations and green lighted. No special activity at all. I guess where I’ve been nobody told the blitzers about the blitz , lol.

You'll hear some drivers complain about the DOT and inspections but I'm extremely thankful they get some of the idiots in unsafe equipment off the road. I get a kick out of the Iowa DOT Facebook page, and honestly it's one of the only things I look at on there. They've shared a few pics of stuff they've found in the last 2 days.

They uploaded a pic with a guy that passed his inspection likely to shut up people in the comments complaining it's about revenue. They discovered some devils lettuce in a truck, and another guy that had his CDL suspended for drug/alcohol violations in the clearinghouse.