DOT INSPECTIONS - insane

[PROCUT1]

Outcome from the meeting

As expected there was an official and unofficial statement.

The State police boss was really cool and totally saw the stupidity of the situation.

The complaint against the towing company was retracted by the on scene officer.

The reason for the in-person meeting was to work this out face to face as nobody technically was wrong.

The DOT trooper technically was following the law and didnt do anything wrong by keeping the truck. However, he was pretty red-faced in the meeting and was told that he "has officer discretion" for a reason. He apologized to the on-scene officer and to my boss and stated that he realizes he was being a ***** and should have let it go.

The on-scene trooper who filed the complaint, retracted the complaint after hearing the whole story and didnt have too much to say. He did compliment the towing company for being "the best in the area" and he was really surprised that something like this happened as he has a lot of experience with the towing company and the response times and work is always awesome.

My boss conceded that during the urgent situation was not the time to get into a pissing match and that he should have dispatched another truck and then dealt with this problem after the road was cleared.

That I agree with too.

So it was basically

On scene trooper: Under stress with road closed and no tow truck.....Rightfully mad

DOT trooper: Bad day, was being a ****, realized it, and will use better discretion in future

Towing boss: Should have got the job done and dealt with these games later

Me: I WAS THE GOOD BOY!!! Respectful to both troopers, no personal complaints against me, both said I was respectful. I followed everyones orders including my boss.

Dispatcher: Should have just called next on the towing list instead of waiting an hour

Trooper boss: Didnt have to do anything but let the 3 guys at the table talk it out.

Overall.....I think it went good

 

[BoomerFF373]

Please do tell more on the loss of funding! I have to go to Parksville soon to pick up an evaporator (for making maple syrup), have to get off in Kingston I think and take 209 out toward Monticello. Im taking the 1 ton and 7 ton trailer, where do i need to be looking??[/QUOTOD

DOT usually sits in the tandem parking area as you get off the Thruway in Kingston. Seems like they have been there pretty regularly lately

 

[nedly05]

Please do tell more on the loss of funding! I have to go to Parksville soon to pick up an evaporator (for making maple syrup), have to get off in Kingston I think and take 209 out toward Monticello. Im taking the 1 ton and 7 ton trailer, where do i need to be looking??[/QUOTOD

DOT usually sits in the tandem parking area as you get off the Thruway in Kingston. Seems like they have been there pretty regularly lately

Thank you very much!

 

[tuney443]

Tuney

They were on the mid hudson and newburgh beacon on monday.

OK---Just reporting from a reliable source what I heard.Personally,driving just my pickup across the bridge and a friend who commutes every weekday from Highland to Poughkeepsie,we haven't seen them in about a month.So there must have been some truth to that story.Maybe,they found some money or they're just shuffling around the few teams still in the area.

 

[PROCUT1]

I havent seen them on the Mid hudson in a while. I work in Highland and commute from newburgh so im usually in orange county.

I had a truck I didnt want to chance on the Newburgh Beacon on Monday so I went up and over the Mid Hudson and they were set up on the Highland bound side with a full house. Thank god I was going the other way.

 

[nedly05]

I havent seen them on the Mid hudson in a while. I work in Highland and commute from newburgh so im usually in orange county.

I had a truck I didnt want to chance on the Newburgh Beacon on Monday so I went up and over the Mid Hudson and they were set up on the Highland bound side with a full house. Thank god I was going the other way.

Man that does bad things to your heart when you see them set up!!!!!

 

[tuney443]

No fine, not out of service, just has to be fixed before next dispatch. Our policy is to go back to the shop ASAP, and correct the problem that day. My next trip they were gone, but if he would have stopped me I was totally legal!!!

Nedly---You know as well as anyone---YOU ARE NEVER TOTALLY LEGAL WITH THE DEP'T OF TROUBLE!!! Thats like the good looking farm girl who tells her dad--''Well pa,I'm just a little pregnant.''

 

[BoomerFF373]

The DOT likes to either sit along 209 between Kingston and Ellenville as well as they patrol the area and will pull you over and find a spot and tell you pull off there and they will do their inspection

 

[PROCUT1]

Something about the whole DOT thing seems wrong.

To me it feels like the cops searching your house randomly to see if you are doing anything wrong.

We already have yearly safety inspections. If they are really concerned about safety, why not make the inspections every 6 months or even every quarter?

Its just plain and simple about money. Safely has little or nothing to do about it.

If it was about safety, the inspectors would be more of educators than just ticket machines.

Have something tied down wrong? Show the driver how to do it right. Without the tickets and fines.

Its just crazy that a local business trying to make a living, has to constantly get subjected to this crap.

I am all for getting unsafe trucks off the road. And that could be accomplished in other ways than this.

But sitting on the side of the road for an hour 2 or 3 times a week while someone's only mission is to try to find anything they can to suck money out of your pocket is crazy.

Just thinking about a route I took. The locals will know this.

Pougkeepsie to middletown to kingston.

Village of wappingers, local police has a very aggressive DOT unit almost 24/7

So hopefully you make it through that 1 square mile that has more cops than trucks.

Then there is a few miles down on rt 9 where more times than not they are set up at the DOT yard.
Then the village of fishkill that once a month or so has a setup in the plaza on main st.
This is all within 5 square miles.

Then go across I-84 and make it past the mobile guy who sometimes sits opposite the checkpoint going the other direction at the tollbooths. Then make it past exit 5 with the mobile trooper based out of montgomery who likes to hang on 84 between newburgh and maybrook.

Then another couple miles is the checkpoint at the rest area thats open 40% of the time. Get to middletown another couple of miles away and there is the mobile unit that hangs out on rt 17.

Deliver there

Go back the other way on 84 to 9w. Town of marlboro has their own DOT unit that just started. So make it past the old Dickies diner where they get you. Get up to highland and hopefully the checkpoint on 9w isnt open. Avoid the mobile guys between highland and kingston.

When you get to kingston, and go through the traffic circle hopefully you make it past the practically permanent checkpoint at the thruway exit.

Thats taking 9w the local road.

If you want to take the thruway, you are almost guaranteed to have a trooper at the newburgh entrance and if you make it past him, you wont make it past the checkpoint at the kingston exit.

Now...Not all of these are staffed all the time. But I make this run enough to see that MANY times it seems like dam near all of them are. I dont know where they get the manpower.

Without exaggeration I have been stopped 4+ times in one day and all within a 35-30 minute radius of my starting point.

You cant tell me this is anything other than an ATM for the state.

 

[Sam]

The dollar is fiat. The .gov has no money: federal, state & local. That includes the FDIC.

Only a couple of states are solvent. Search municide, and see if anything pops up.

With revenues shrinking & costs rising, they gotta get their money from somewhere. And .gov ain't got nothing, what they didn't steal. It is hard to escape the idea that what we are witnessing, is the de-construction of the Republic.

 

[tuney443]

Something about the whole DOT thing seems wrong.

To me it feels like the cops searching your house randomly to see if you are doing anything wrong.

We already have yearly safety inspections. If they are really concerned about safety, why not make the inspections every 6 months or even every quarter?

Its just plain and simple about money. Safely has little or nothing to do about it.

If it was about safety, the inspectors would be more of educators than just ticket machines.

Have something tied down wrong? Show the driver how to do it right. Without the tickets and fines.

Its just crazy that a local business trying to make a living, has to constantly get subjected to this crap.

I am all for getting unsafe trucks off the road. And that could be accomplished in other ways than this.

But sitting on the side of the road for an hour 2 or 3 times a week while someone's only mission is to try to find anything they can to suck money out of your pocket is crazy.

Just thinking about a route I took. The locals will know this.

Pougkeepsie to middletown to kingston.

Village of wappingers, local police has a very aggressive DOT unit almost 24/7

So hopefully you make it through that 1 square mile that has more cops than trucks.

Then there is a few miles down on rt 9 where more times than not they are set up at the DOT yard.
Then the village of fishkill that once a month or so has a setup in the plaza on main st.
This is all within 5 square miles.

Then go across I-84 and make it past the mobile guy who sometimes sits opposite the checkpoint going the other direction at the tollbooths. Then make it past exit 5 with the mobile trooper based out of montgomery who likes to hang on 84 between newburgh and maybrook.

Then another couple miles is the checkpoint at the rest area thats open 40% of the time. Get to middletown another couple of miles away and there is the mobile unit that hangs out on rt 17.

Deliver there

Go back the other way on 84 to 9w. Town of marlboro has their own DOT unit that just started. So make it past the old Dickies diner where they get you. Get up to highland and hopefully the checkpoint on 9w isnt open. Avoid the mobile guys between highland and kingston.

When you get to kingston, and go through the traffic circle hopefully you make it past the practically permanent checkpoint at the thruway exit.

Thats taking 9w the local road.

If you want to take the thruway, you are almost guaranteed to have a trooper at the newburgh entrance and if you make it past him, you wont make it past the checkpoint at the kingston exit.

Now...Not all of these are staffed all the time. But I make this run enough to see that MANY times it seems like dam near all of them are. I dont know where they get the manpower.

Without exaggeration I have been stopped 4+ times in one day and all within a 35-30 minute radius of my starting point.

You cant tell me this is anything other than an ATM for the state.

Procut---I feel your pain but I don't understand a few things.I never heard of a Wappinger DOT unit---I always thought by us,it's always the State Police although I've heard rumors of the DC Sheriffs Dep't. has a DOT unit.Nevertheless,I'm always in Wapp.--never seen them or ever been stopped.If you're going South on RT 9 to get to 84,why not just get off on 84 west in Fishkill? Why would you go through the village on 52 or pass 84 by going furthur South on 9 only to go furthur than you need to and then run right into the DOT???Maybe I'm missing something here or you have to travel like this for some reason.

Anyway,if I know the DOT is at their station there on 9 in Fishkill,I will outfox them by taking that long dirt road all the way around them.When I was fueling up once at the Hess station there,a DOT officer getting lunch there looked like he was actually salivating when he saw my loaded dump truck,thinking I was going South right into his trap.He must have been wondering why I didn't come through--so sorry to ruin his day.

 

[Steve Frazier]

Wappingers Village has a very active DOT unit, they set up at Home Depot quite often.

 

[nedly05]

The DOT likes to either sit along 209 between Kingston and Ellenville as well as they patrol the area and will pull you over and find a spot and tell you pull off there and they will do their inspection

Thanks for the good info!

PROCUT, I totally agree about the inspections every 6 months or every quarter. It sure seems like way more time elapses than what they show on the inspection report. It always seems like closer to an hour, and they show the inspection only lasting about 25-30 minutes. Maybe its just me???

Tuney, I know they will always find something to get you for. We had an old tandem we sold for 10 grand, because every time we went through DOT we got tickets. Now we have a tandem we payed close to 90 grand for and we still get tickets, although not as many and not as severe we still get them. Its to a point now where we talked about having a real mechanic come twice a month or so and looking everything over and helping make sure we are in good shape. At least the fix-it tickets dont result in a fine, although an excavator the next town over runs two well maintaned tri-axles.They have gotten stopped like 23 times this year. He got a warning letter from the state that the fix-it tickets accumulate points in Albany and after a certain amount of points they pull your registration as they think you are not maintaining your trucks properly. I would like to think that wouldnt happen, but you never know in this great state.:Banghead

 

[Steve Frazier]

Here's a couple for Tuney:




I attended an open house at a local upfitter where a NYSP DOT inspector had a booth to answer questions. He admitted he could go to a brand new truck and find something wrong with it. there's a math formula for calculating the length of mudflaps believe it or not, some kind of ratio having to do with the length and distance from the tire. Crazy! I'm convinced it's about job security myself, plus the revenue generating from some of the local stories I've heard told. I've been impounded once, I hope I don't have to go through that again!

 

[OneWelder]

Lucky us in N.H. we have both two inspections per year and roadside checks
get to many citations and you trigger a safety audit- when that happens their like the IRS.
it it will cost - they dig and use obscure rules - such as toll receipts not in the drivers file.

 

[PROCUT1]

I know I ranted before, and yes, I take routes to try to avoid them.....When I was typing it was a bad day..haha

It just bugs me that this is a money making thing under the guise of safety. In reality its not about safety.

Now Im the first to admit, yes I complain because I run older trucks. I dont run anything big. The biggest thing I run is a ford F-700 rackbody. Ive since sold anything bigger because I can get guys with tri-axles for 50-60 an hour, so its not worth me trucking 2 yards of topsoil even.

Im in the blacktop maintenance business so I run a lot of combination stuff. Smaller 1 ton and under trucks with various trailers and such.

DOT focuses on small contractors around here. Whereas I understand that in years past guys used to get away with a lot with the smaller trucks, it just seems overkill at this point.

I dont run junk and though we get stopped a lot, very very rarely do we get a summons.

So Im not complaining about getting tickets or Red tags.

But as a business owner, to have 2 rigs sometimes with 10 employees sitting at a checkpoint for an hour or more, gets expensive.

And then if there is some stupid minor problem, yet its an OOS violation, like some lightbulbs are, to take even longer for me to send the service truck out, or stop what Im doing to go out and change a light.

It just sucks that you have to be constantly on-edge while youre on the road doing your job, even when youre doing nothing wrong

 

[tuney443]

Here's a couple for Tuney:
View attachment 51135

View attachment 51136

I attended an open house at a local upfitter where a NYSP DOT inspector had a booth to answer questions. He admitted he could go to a brand new truck and find something wrong with it. there's a math formula for calculating the length of mudflaps believe it or not, some kind of ratio having to do with the length and distance from the tire. Crazy! I'm convinced it's about job security myself, plus the revenue generating from some of the local stories I've heard told. I've been impounded once, I hope I don't have to go through that again!

So besides being wary of the original black and whites in Wappingers,now I have to worry about the other black and whites in Wappingers.Wonderful.I guess I've just had the great fortune so far of never being in their radar.What I don't understand though is if they're called the NYS DOT,why then are local cops getting involved????

 

[nedly05]

So besides being wary of the original black and whites in Wappingers,now I have to worry about the other black and whites in Wappingers.Wonderful.I guess I've just had the great fortune so far of never being in their radar.What I don't understand though is if they're called the NYS DOT,why then are local cops getting involved????

Must be the Village of Wappingers feels it will be a money maker or they wouldnt be doing it. I feel that it should be something left up to SP, let them handle it, and the Village, Town and County Law Enforcement can just do regular cop stuff.

 

[grandpa]

Dont you guys think this country is headed towards a revoultion soon? I for one am getting sick and tired of paying for some lazy bas....d making a living off me.....

 

[Steve Frazier]

DCSO has a DOT unit which was active a couple years ago, I haven't seen them out in quite a while now. East Fishkill Police were putting a unit together, but I think there was too much outcry from area businesses, I never saw them with a road check. I know Westchester County has their own DOT inspectors as well as Nassau County.

Years ago I ran asphalt for a local paving company and would get pulled over by a State DOT cop once in a while. He'd pull the scales out of the trunk and I'd be weighed, then he'd write an overweight ticket for $200. He'd say "See you in a couple months" and send me on my way. That was the way it used to be, the boss called it "paying dues", every contractor would get a ticket every couple months and that was it.