deerslayer1979

Hell, all you need is a farm! I have agp plates on my truck and it is only $50 a year to liscense the truck for 10,001. I can get away with it since my dad has a farm and my truck stays there almost all the time. Besides the only time I use it is when I have to haul something for the farm.
DS79

LeonT

No wonder they call Ted Kennedy a "lion". He devours your money like it was fresh red meat.

In Arizona they register our 1 ton trucks as "commercial" vehicles but I pay the same fees as anyone else and no need for a commercial drivers license, health card, etc. We can still carry guns here too.

RickG

The MA inspection is not actually a DOT inspection but a state inspection recognized by the FMCSA as an equivalent so no actual DOT inspection is required . MA inspections can only be performed by approved inspection stations .
http://www.mass.gov/rmv/inspect/commercial_regs.pdf

CD in NM

BINGO - ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.

ALL of us drive a vehicle that is looked at like a 'private' vehicle but in reality if you go further into the DOT laws they can enforce the medical card because our vehicles run on DIESEL regardless of the GVW. Eons ago, when the DOT laws were written, private citizens did not own diesel trucks, commercial truckers did, the fuel was connected in 'thought' to trucks and commercial use. They have never changed those laws, they still exist, and could be used if so desired to force all licensing as commercial and further force the medical card on us.

I cannot remember which state it is/was - but when people started buying diesel cars back in the 70's they had to get a 'truck' plate. It was a real mess regarding registering cars at that time.

Registering below the CAPACITY of our trucks, basing it on unladen weight to save a few bucks on registration can come back to haunt you the first time you decide to haul something. The ticket for being overweight is a LOT more costly than paying for the gross your truck is capable of. My truck as it sits with a full tank of fuel is just over 8600 pounds. That leaves just under 1400 pounds to be over 10K. It doesn't take much to hit that number when you haul stuff, and IF you happen to get waived into one of those roadside DOT checks with a load on, you're leaving with a costly ticket, guaranteed.

Another place that the DOT has 'chosen' to ignore Joe Motorhome or Jim Dually is in regard to drivers licenses and axle totals. Technically, most states drivers licenses laws license you for a 3-axle combo not to exceed 10K. When you hook a SRW to a dual axle trailer to you truck, you are actually a 4-axle combo. Each pair of wheels that hit the ground are called/considered an axle. A dually already has 3 axles on the ground, so when hooked to a dual axle trailer the count is 5 axles. I ran into the axle count thing when paying toll fees on I-80 in Iowa, had to pay for the axles on the ground. I was driving an SRW truck pulling a 3-axle trailer, paid for 5 axles. The toll booth attendant told me that 'technically' I should not have been pulling that 3-axle trailer with an SRW - ther is a law that states for every axle being pulled the tow vehicle must have the same amount of axles.

Weights, axle combos, and type of fuel ALL add up to a maze of laws that COULD be applied if someone felt compelled to do so. They have you at your every turn but choose to give you a break or leeway when you are not commercial. The second your state requires a commercial/truck plate, then you have to comply with all this stuff even more attentively. Some states DO have some strange laws and when you travel in them you could get hit with a ticket that's all about that state.

Someone here got a ticket in Colorado because the didn't have a front plate even though their state only issues a rear plate. They would have had to pay the ticket anyway BECAUSE Colorado requires a front plate.

CD

RickG

In all the thousands of posts I have read in dozens of forums I have never read so much misinformation in one post .

Tray

I agree. I'm honestly not sure if DOT ties anything at all into fuel type, I don't think so, but I can't honestly say for sure. I'm fairly certain that DOT strictly goes by weight rating regarding classifications.

I have been put under the impression that you only have to have DOT numbers if you are using the truck in furtherance of a commercial enterprise. I'm told that driving to work actually counts, but that would mean that the soccer mom with a suburban would have to have DOT lettering if she drives to work. A health card is not needed.

What I am certain of, is that one state cannot ticket you for something that is legal in your state. My state of Oklahoma does not require you to have a front license plate. They don't even give you an extra plate. I can go into any state I want without a front plate and nothing can be done about it. You CAN however, get a ticket in most states if you work in that state for more than 30 days without registering your vehicle in that state. Some states, Wyoming for instance, will issue you a temporary tag for that purpose.

I'm also pretty certain that you are not required to have the same number of axes on the tow vehicle as the trailer you are pulling. A toll booth attendant is not someone I want to take legal advice from.

CD in NM

You know Rick, did you READ what I was saying and GET that I was talking about all the OLD DOT stuff that is still on the books somewhere but is NOT being enforced because of the new rules, regs and the simplifications that have come about over the years???

Dis-information - NO, old information that COULD come to haunt us - YES.

At one time one of the New England states DID have a problem with registrations due to their specific laws regarding 'diesel' - I am just someone old enough to remember this happening, and the only reason I actually knew about it was because of a friend who purchased one of the early diesel vehicles and lived in the NE.

As far as the axle numbers, that information IS spot on, I ran into that situation just a couple years back. All I can go by is what the toll booth person told me AND what fee I had to pay - I did question it, and I was told that IF I didn't want to pay for the axle count, I could park it right there, it would go nowhere.

Our 4x4's have a straight axle up front, counts as an axle, nowhere in the DOT do they only count DRIVE axles or powered axles, the use the two wheels on the ground as constituting an axle.

So far, in my lifetime of doing a ton of driving in most all the states, I have watched a lot of things change to what we have today. The biggest reason the DOT is/has been changing things is to simplify and standardize the rules, and also to get the states to fall into the fed regs and be more compliant in the overall, believe me when I say that a day will come where we will all be in the same categories nation wide, and furthermore expect that to be the most stringent, not least.

I did not even address how farm plates are NOW being viewed, but I can tell you that you can travel freely intra-state with a farm plate, but there are NOW limitation as to how many miles you can travel into a bordering state, and some states do not allow farm plated trucks to travel into them from adjacent states.

I appreciate you opinion, please take mine into consideration as well. Before you call someone's comments dis-information, do some homework and also READ the mindset of what they are telling you., my comments came from a lot of experience and historical information, whether it will be used by some officer who has you at their mercy - well, that may be another story.

CD

oldmikegraham

I'm inclined to believe the "old language" in the law CD. From my experience in a patrol car letter of the law and spirit of the law are sometimes far apart.

I asked on of the guys in our license and weight unit about two wheels on the ground make an axle, he did not agree. He told me an axle is wheels on each side, a dually is a two axle truck, a tractor truck three axles etc.

As far as the front license plate deal. Where I work we are trained if your private vehicle meets your states requirments it is good with us. The only cite title I would come up with is unregisterd motor vehicle if you are living in Texas and running expired out of state plates.

I'm in agreement with you overall, there are so many laws nobody can know them all! I would encourage anybody that is given a ticket to ask "Is this reasonable?" If not fight it in court and demand a jury trial.

All tickets stick like glue unless challenged in a courtroom.

*DISCLAIMER* Free advice from a layman.

CD in NM

oldmikegraham.

If I recall correctly, it was our member here 'anabelle' who got the ticket in Colorado for the front plate. He is from New Mexico like I am, and we only have a rear plate. Also as memory serves me, he didn't challenge the ticket, he just paid it, too much hastle going back to Colorado to fight it.

I like your term 'old language' and also your reference to 'letter of the law' vrs 'spirit of the law' . . never shall the twains meet, eh?

The 'wheels' on the groud theory that I got out of that Iowa tool booth employee kind of caught me offguard that day, I would have interpretated an axles AS being a physical axle and the connection of the wheels BY a physical axle, which DOES occur with our straight axles. When I got into the 'toll' payment for axles, I was actually driving a Ford with IFS, and it was a 2WD truck with a SRW. I gotr charged for 6 axles BECAUSE the trailer had 3 axles and some law about the tow vehicle had to have as many axles as the trailer. Since I did not want to 'park it', I paid the fee. Kind of like anabelle's decision, would have been more hastle than the return to fight it OR get a 3-axle truck to move my trailer out of Iowa.

Years ago someone made a joke about Iowa - it went something like 'Do you know why the wind in Minnesota alway blows from north to south?' answer 'because Iowa sucks'. I got that joke in that tool booth that day in Iowa. Must have been some state dot law the booth operator was referring to, I don't know, I only know that was what I was told and paid.

I have spent some time trying to understand all of these 'trivials' that we all could get caught up in only because of my Iowa experience. There ARE a lot of these OLD trivials still no the books, they could come up in some circumstances, I just want to avoid the circumstance.

I joke about the need for running boards, nerf bars, or steps simply to cover that 'old law' that is still on the books stating that 'all cars and trucks MUST have running boards'. I know that no one, state or fed still enforces that law, but the fact is - it's still on the feds books.

I also like your disclaimer - free advice from ths layperson too. And of course I'll add that in my office where I charge fees for my services I also have a sign that says 'SARCASM one of the FREE services I offer.


CD

rich

when i get a visit from the friendly dot man and he wants see just how much i am carring or what brake issuse's or tire issues he has this is how he see' s my truck with a gn and the second is his view of my pete with trailer.
x x xx 2nd view x xx xx each x represents an axle wether it has power to it or not. i have been on numerous toll roads and have never been told my truck and trailler have to have the same number of axles. if you dont fight the the ticket and prove them wrong then that doesnt make it right or forcable. they will bet on the fact that if you are from aout of the area you will just suck it up and pay its called easy money. as far as fuel law issues that is done by IFTA before that you had to get fuel permits by each state you where running in had nothing to do with the DOT

chaikwa

You're right about a lot of old laws being on the books still. When I was still in a cruiser in my hometown back east, the town 'fathers' were on a tangent to make sure the police officers were doing work instead of hanging out at Dunkin' Donuts, aka; 'Station 2'. They questioned everything and tried to make us 'prove' we were doing something.

Now in our town there was, (and still is), a law which states that every vehicle left unattended within the confines of the town square shall be secured to a hitching post to avoid instances of run-a-ways. This was a leftover law from the horse and buggy days. Apparently at one point in time, probably around the time the automobile was being introduced, they'd had problems with people leaving horses and wagons unattended and unsecured. There were quite a few incidents of spooked horses running off and causing injuries, so this law was passed and enacted. So anyway, me being who I am, decided to enforce the town laws right to the letter just to prove I was doing my job. I went into the square and ticketed every vehicle that was parked there for not being secured to a hitching post, 30 or 40 in all. Man, a lotta people were royally miffed! But it was a long before the town fathers got on us again for not doing anything!

chaikwa.

chaikwa

If I read that post correctly, I think the 'axle count' was tied into the amount of tires on the ground. So if you had a dually the back axle actually counted as 2 axles because there's 4 tires on the ground. Am I right CD?

chaikwa.

rich

then their axle count is incorrect all the weight stations across the country are doing itthe way i show it if thats not right then i guess they are doing it all wrong wrong. then i guess all big trucks haveabout 16 or 17 axles then never have seen any signs at toll booths showing that many axles

annabelle

I have a friend that got a ticket it CO. for not having a front plate.(We had to follow the State Trooper to the Judge.......we were given the option of paying a fine or spending 3 days in jail.....late 70's) His car was registered in NM where NM only requires a rear plate. A DOT officer told me that if you drive a diesel, you are tech. considered commercial and that they were going to require you to meet commercial requirements by 2010.......just what I was told.......... He said if it ran on diesel it would be considered commercial period, no weight specs would factored in. This was a DOT officer who pulled me over to inspect my utility trailer....was at the TX, NM border.

deerslayer1979

You can't listen to the DOT guys either. They believe they know all, and are god. They don't even know how to do the Fed. tech inspections, they will do whatever it takes to make a buck, like fill regular people full of garbage like that.
DS79