Okay, the secret is out. When it comes to overweight vehicle enforcement in Illinois, there is money in it for local government. What is not very well understood is where the fine money actually goes. Lots of rumor and speculation, so the article this week will delve into the quagmire of statutory fines for overweights. You may very well be surprised that it is not as lucrative for local government as you once believed. When discussing Chapter 15 overweights, there is a garde

There’s comes a day when all seems right with the world. Okay, maybe not, but in the midst of national turmoil, political unrest and ambiguity regarding Taylor Swift as a pop diva or country music darling, Illinois has something good going for it. Yeah, that’s right, Illinois has done something GOOD. It’s called Sign & Drive, and it has been a long time coming. But guess what else? It might not be as great for truckers as one may think. Here’s some background. Every time some

Let’s play a game of word association. We’ll say a word that has to do with trucks, you respond with the first word that comes to your mind. Ready? Driver’s, LICENSE. Good work! Let’s try another: semi, TRAILER. Excellent. One more: Gross Vehicle, WEIGHT? WEIGHT RATING? That’s right. Gross vehicle weight and gross vehicle weight rating may only differ by one word, but the two totally separate things. When they are misinterpreted by policemen and truckers alike, expensive enfo

On the road to maturity as a police officer, one quickly learns to quit taking things personally. Some take longer than others, but the sooner a police officer learns to judge the actions of a violator and not the actor himself, the easier life becomes. The reality is sometimes mistakes are made, but sometimes the consequences exceed the reasonableness of the offense. This can readily be seen in commercial driver’s license violations. The ITEA has a solution though…read on! E

The sticker shock of an overweight citation is remarkable. Whether it’s a $10,000 ticket or a $500 ticket, it’s a lot of money for a so-called “traffic” violation. Regardless of how robust a company is, every dollar counts in a weak, cut-throat economy. A confusing part of truck law is understanding how the total fines are calculated. Even more confusing is how the fines are supposed to be dispersed! The article this week will discuss an interesting portion of an overweight f

You’ve seen this situation play out in the movies a million times. Bad guy needs money, so he kidnaps an innocent person, usually the good looking family member of some rich dude. Why? Because people will do anything for a loved one, including pay loads of money to get them back. That’s what a ransom is: demanding compensation to settle an unlawful action. Unfortunately this happens in truck enforcement…and it is wrong. Plain wrong. Trucks are valuable items to those who own

Everybody likes a range. Police officers (and other gun aficionados) spend a lot of time on a range honing their shooting skills. Cowboys?  Well, their home is on the range.  A chef appreciates a good range on which to prepare meals.  If you are a carnivore, you may very well prefer the aforementioned chef to prepare your meal with free range chickens.  <insert reasoning as to what any of this has to do with truck enforcement>.  It’s no secret that many violations of truck la

Settle down. No one is claiming laws prohibiting distracted driving are dumb.  If the truth be told…  1) every driver agrees it is dangerous   2) every driver agrees it should be prohibited  3) every driver is guilty.  It’s not an easy problem to wrap up in a tight little package.  Come January 1st, 2014, all drivers, not just commercial motor vehicles (CMV), will be prohibited from hand-held cell phone use.  However, this is the third log on the cell phone prohibition fire f

You may find this hard to believe, but sometimes government does not function as well as you would expect.  The separation of powers between the legislature and the courts, no matter how well intentioned, do not always sync perfectly.  Occasionally laws are written which do not jive with court interpretations and rules.  This scenario rings true with citations for violations of local truck restrictions. The article this week will look into how the powers that be in Illinois h

The term “bounty hunter” brings to mind two different faces: a freakishly large man named “Dog” and Boba Fett, a fictional Star Wars character. In truth, they both represent the occupation of bail bondsmen. Illinois law prohibits bail bondsmen, but many states do not. However, all criminal and traffic offenses in Illinois still require bail, or bond. There is typically some confusion about this among law enforcement and the trucking industry as it pertains to truck violations

Hey…did you hear about the guy who got his CDL suspended because he was issued too many overweight violations? Well if you did, you heard a tall tale. There are a dozen or so immortal rumors that float thru circles of truck drivers, police officers, and even attorneys about truck law. Some of these stories have been addressed on this blog before. This week the rumor about CDLs being suspended for overweight tickets will be confronted. When this article refers to “overweigh

We like to think police officers hold a higher value in society than traffic signs, but in reality they both share a common authority to regulate traffic. The human police officer is granted this authority in the Illinois Vehicle Code (625 ILCS 5/1-162). Traffic signs, officially called traffic control devices, also receive their authority to control traffic in the IVC (625 ILCS 5/1-154). Traffic control devices include signs, lane markings and signals as well. When it comes

The ITEA partnered with the Illinois State Police, Illinois Dept of Transportation, Secretary of State, and Mid-west Truckers Association to introduce a Senate Bill that was signed into law in July by Governor Quinn (PA 97-0201).  This critical piece of legislation fixed confusing language from Public Act 96-0034 which intended to bring uniform weight limits to Illinois.  It also capped fines for overweight on registration violations and provided weight tolerances for Auxilia

Once the ITEA officially began, it was time to publicly expose the problem in order to get on the path to correct it.  The Illinois Courts were contacted to help interpret the Rules and see if the Rules provided for this method.  Law enforcement officials, private attorneys, and local prosecutors were also asked to weigh in, and no one could substantiate the practice.  While most everyone agreed the method of instruction was incorrect, the ITEA believed that the Rules should