DOT police going to Charlotte

[Michael Pliska]

Originally Posted by 63corvette

The officer also told him the gross weight listed on the tires added up for a total is the GVW for the trailer no matter what the trailer was tagged or what the manufacturers sticker said. Now that made no sense to me but that is what he was told along with the axle GVW as the reason for the overweight ticket even though the trailer did not weigh that much it was tagged for less than its GVW.

Oh, that's brilliant, encourage people to run tires with a minimal load rating. By running tires such that you are near the rated limit, you will have many more failures and potential accidents.

When I lived in NC I called NCDMV to ask about licensing several times, I got a different answer just about every call. Since I wasn't racing at the time, I just licensed my dually with car plates for a while.

Here in Oregon there are two different licensing schemes. A trailer can be licensed as a "light trailer" up to 8000 lbs. The law is unclear even on that one, as it states that as a load on its axles. What about tongue weight? One person at DMV said to add tongue weight, the other said not to. If you go over the 8k limit then it must be licensed as a "heavy trailer", where the licensing on the trailer is free but you must license the truck as a commercial vehicle and spend a LOT more.

[Chris Williams]

This is all just a complete mess, and it varies by state, jurisdiction, and even the attitude of the given cop on the given day. There is absolutely no way to get it right in every case. Some go by registration state, some go by their state. Some go by commercial vs. non-commercial, some go by plates, or by the placards on the trailer and truck. Some go by the license in the hands of the person at the wheel.

As far as I can tell there are only a couple of ways to be relatively safe. Don't have any kind of marking that can vaguely be considered commercial on the rig. Don't speed (by much), and obey all the rules such as signaling and such. Avoid all the weigh stations as if you were supposed to, they just attract attention. And when you do get pulled over, be the nicest guy the trooper ever met. They are always right, you are just trying to get where you are going, whatever you say sir. Smile, offer them a look at your cool race car.

We were pulled over in Iowa on our way from Illinois to Seattle with our new trailer, and this worked for us. The trooper said "well, you're over our commercial limit, but since you're clearly not commercial, I'll let you go." And off we went.

[Rich Biebel]

One word covers it........."Revenuers"

It's rediculous but they have the badges and the authority...


Some years ago a friend was towing another friends rig to Florida and got the same story and a ticket and fine. I am not sure what state it was but I think it was Georgia.Truck has to be registered for the total weight of truck and trailer. It was a dually and box trailer, nothing really all that big..I don't even think that is possible to do here in NJ on a NON commercial registration. Makes no sense to me other than the "revenuers" spot an out of state plate and decide to ruin your weekend....

Add in the stories of people getting their stuff robbed down in Charlotte for the second year in a row and it doesn't paint a real nice picture of racing down there....

[Mickey Whaley]

I went to charlotte this weekend no probs koncen was in maryland must be a problem?

[cal]

Originally Posted by Mickey Whaley

I went to charlotte this weekend no probs koncen was in maryland must be a problem?

No Dale was in Charlotte, went 3 rounds in S/G. He is from MD.
He was stopped 45 minutes from the track. Said the guy checked everything,
Lenth, weight, Lic, ect... The really wild thing is it was his first trip outta town with
the new trailer.

Cal
HR 177X

[koncenracing]

hey mickey i talked to ya several times. i talked to people in nc they said i needed weighted tag on duelly there but wasnt sure bout md. just got home from state police barracks they did not have an answer why i got ticket not being commercial.they called scale opperaters they didnt know either. i got 1 more phone number of the head of dot in baltimore but hes away from desk right now. so far they have said if im not commercial im good but wont confirm it. dale

[THE LEGEND]

But you are commercial. you are racing for money right? You have sponsors on your car right?
We are on the same team here but thats what they are going to say.
Chip Johnson