Wheels of Justice

Truckers' legal rights

I’ve just returned from the Truckers Legal Rights Seminar I give each year at the Louisville, KY Mid-America Truck-ing Show. It was a huge mass of people and new products, and show management reported that all the booth space was sold out this year and is sold out again for next year.

The total count is not in as of yet, but it appears that this truck show had the most CDL drivers ever in attendance. I know, since I was there trying to wade through all the drivers and their families. I’m going to speculate there were more than 66,000 CDL drivers in attendance. Several of those CDL drivers attended the seminar where we talked about the legal implications regarding the questions they had on such subjects as bypassing the scales, wrecker and towing charges, speeding three miles over the limit and others.

Here is a good example: a driver just left a shipper without scales, and on his way to the nearest certified scale he was stopped by a state trooper, who weighed his vehicle on the portable scales and issued a citation.

The driver respectfully asked the trooper to follow him to the certified scales, so he could weigh himself, as he did not believe he was overweight. The trooper refused the request, as was his right. Police officers are not required to do this, as they have legally completed their job as soon as the driver is issued the citation.

This brought up another issue of the so- called “15 minute rule” that supposedly allows a driver 15 minutes to bring his log up to date when an officer asks for it. Again, the answer is no—there is no such rule. An officer is not required to give you 15 minutes to complete your log, though he can do so if he chooses. Similarly, he is not required to follow you to the closest scale, but he can if he chooses to. This is where your people skills can either help you or hurt you. If you are un-friendly (and you know what I mean here) you are less likely to receive the benefit of the doubt than if you are friendly and non-confrontational. Your actions can assist the officer in his decision to allow you to bring your log up to date before he looks at it—or follows you to a nearby scale.

A number of different subjects were discussed at the seminar this year that just won’t fit into this article. Why don’t you come to the Mid-America Trucking Show next year and attend the seminar so we can discuss what’s bothering you?

Jim C. Klepper is president of Interstate Trucker Ltd., an organization that provides legal defense protection to commercial drivers. Jim is a lawyer who focuses on transportation law and the trucking industry in particular. He works to answer your legal questions about trucking, and he holds his Commercial Drivers License.