Talk:Weigh station

Wikified

Wikified as part of the Wikification wikiproject! JubalHarshaw 19:10, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Buses

When I saw a "Buses Must Enter" sign from Australia, I thought that buses might be asked into weigh stations, but based on this PDF, "Trucks Must Enter" but not "Buses Must Enter" signs are meant for weigh stations, so I am stopping mentioning buses for now. However, what are commercial vehicles may not be uniform, so if anyone can prove that buses are asked into weigh stations anywhere, please add with sources.--Jusjih 16:18, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Non-scheduled buses are required to report in Alberta. Out of province buses are required to report in British Columbia. Being a truckdriver, not a busdriver, I don't really know what a 'non-scheduled bus' actually is! I assume it refers to charter buses, meaning Greyhound and the like do not have to report, but I am guessing here. Dionysus ab (talk) 22:03, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Sources

Truckers often refer to weigh stations as "chicken coops."

the first state to implement a weight law, was Maine in 1918 set at 18,000 pounds

The federal maximum weight is set at 80,000 pounds.

Can be sourced Modern Marvels Truck Stops, I don't know how to do it right. --Seth slackware 00:46, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

=

Minor edits: added external links for Hours of service, DOT inspections, added to paragraph on inspections, and added to portable scales paragraph. A Barberian 16:51, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

changes: location, purpose how PrePass works

I changed the location in US as many states have WSs in the interior. Added that they were originally to collect taxes based on weight. PrePass transponders only have IDs. The est of the information is sent in when the ID is registered and then propagated out to the weigh stations. When a truck first gets a transponder, the data may not have propagated to the weigh stations and the truck will usually be red lighted. I also mentioned IFTA and will need to create an entry for it. I will also talk about the "bingo plates" that were in use before IFTA. Trucks had to plates, the license plate and another place with spots to put tax stickers from each stat on them. A truck entering a state without a current tax sticker would stop at the point of entry and buy a sticker. Saltysailor (talk) 16:00, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

All jurisdictions

"All jurisdictions employ the use of portable scales" That is a sweeping statement, I am sure there are some that do not. Mtpaley (talk) 20:06, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

You must have portable scales before permanent ones :) The law only requires that the property at which the inspection takes place be public. So that precludes setting up portable scales on a truck stop lot for example. Outside of that scales can be set up at any time for any reason (including no reason). Commercial vehicles can be inspected at any time for any reason (again, including none). Don't take my word for it - this is clearly outlined in the Federal Motor Carrier's Safety Advisory - the 'rulebook' if you will that all drivers are required to read and keep a copy of in their truck.

All the states and Canadian provinces (I understood the article to only be dealing with these) have portable scales and make use of them from time to time, particularly near mines and agribusinesses they have reason to suspect have been running overweight loads along a route that has no permanent scales.

Now, not all states use portable scales equally. New York uses them exclusively having no permanent weigh stations. Other states almost never drag them out - but that doesn't mean they don't have the authority to do so and haven't done so in the past.

This wouldn't be hard to dig up for certain though - Fines are a matter a public record and the location of the fine is recorded thereupon.

Mlmorris (talk) 20:56, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

"All the states and Canadian provinces (I understood the article to only be dealing with these)" - there is a section about Taiwan so clearly the scope of the page has spread beyond north America. Mtpaley (talk) 21:47, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I still find it hard to believe any jurisdiction in the world would mandate the use of permanent scales that could be easily bypassed and prohibit the use of portable scales, especially since portable scales are cheaper that permanent ones.

Mlmorris (talk) 22:18, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I still think that the word 'all' is unjustifiable. There is going to be somewhere in the world that does not use portable scales. I have never come across one (in the UK or France) but I am not a HGV driver so my knowledge of these things is iffy. How about a neutral phrase "Some jurisdictions employ the use of portable scales". An alternative would be "Some jurisdictions (such as those in the US+Canada) employ the use of portable scales" - that would seem to cover all possibilities and include the fact that US+Canada are known to use such scales. Sorry to be pedantic but this is supposed to be an encyclopaedia so it is worth trying to be annoyingly precise wherever possible. Mtpaley (talk) 22:36, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

The thing is, you can't have permanent scales without portables. It's not like the permanent scales cost $2,000 and the portables cost $10,000 or more - the reverse is true. If a jurisdiction has the wherewithal to purchase one they can have the other - or more likely they are using portable scales at a permanently location.

I was a CDL driver for 3 years. I'll tell you now that in most areas there is a route around the scale point. Drivers who know they are overweight can thereby avoid crossing scales. The only way to stop this behavior is with portable scales. Without them permanent stations are utterly useless.

So while they might not be used often (portables can be annoying to calibrate and setup) at least the threat of their use needs to be in place.

Mlmorris (talk) 15:06, 17 April 2010 (UTC)

Just to reopen a old argument about the phrase 'all jurisdictions' I can't prove a negative but just to think of some random candidates 'all' would have to include Tonga, West Darfur, Sagarmatha Zone and thousands of other regions that could fall under the definition of a Jurisdiction_(area). I don't see how 'all' can be justified. Mtpaley (talk) 23:14, 23 December 2013 (UTC)

Argicultural Stations

Both Florida and California have agricultural inspection stations at the borders along with weigh stations. Do they warrant mention here or elsewhere? Mlmorris (talk) 02:26, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

Improper merge request

I removed the merge request (February 2011) from both articles as being improper. If someone wishes to discuss a possible merge then do so according to Wikipedia policies and guidelines and not just place a tag. Otr500 (talk) 16:55, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Left Lane

Article stated the left lane is often thought of as the fast lane. The left lane is ALWAYS thought of as the fast (or passing) lane, NOT JUST OFTEN. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.70.157.181 (talk) 08:17, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Except when it's not such as countries where you drive on the left. Mtpaley (talk) 19:54, 6 March 2013 (UTC)