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Southwest Iowa | A new officer moved into a near by town and hasn't seemed to bad until the last several months. Last week five were in town (multiple days) first thing in the morning hitting trucks hard all day long. State, county, and even gravel roads. Mostly farm trucks. Pickups, service trucks, Seed tenders, water tenders, etc. Anyway a farmer who owns a small feed (i am confident that is doesn't meet containment/runoff requirements) lot got tired of others and himself getting targeted by these guys for several days so he called several state and county representatives. He had a Major from the DOT call him back and kind of argued with him that they (DOT) are always right and our concern doesn't matter. His comparison of putting Pickups, trucks, trailers, tenders, out of service or fines was that it was the same thing as a DUI checkpoint and was saving lives. He could tell the conversation was going south very fast and told the officer to have a nice day and thanked him for his time. The next day the farmer recieved a call from the DNR, and they were coming to do a surprise inspection on his feedlot. Coincidence? I realize those guys have a job to do but to really hammer on us at one of the most crucial times of the year? I was stopped a couple months ago hauling grain and everything went smooth for the most part and the officer was respectful. The guys they were hitting last week they were threatening that if they or the other 4 officers saw them again that day or the next several to come they would stop them again and it wouldn't be as pleasant. I guess my question is the rest of the state this bad? How about other states? Do your states or officers tell you they have "gray areas"? Most guys try there hardest to keep things legal and up to date on service. There are always those few though. But why can't we voice our opinions or concerns without consequences? I dont want to sound whiny and have never been in their shoes. Just curious what you all think. Thanks for the read.
Heres a list they were either fining for or putting out of service.
One neighbor is waiting for his court date after crossing and bridge that has a lowered weight (which he has a permit to cross fully loaded from the county) with a grain hopper.
tractor pulling NH3 applicator and two tanks (more than two hitches?)
Running lights (out of service)
flat tire and turn signal on the tractor hooked to trailer - out of service
no strapping seed in the back of pickup, out of service
400 total pounds over weight on a hopper - ticket
seed tender no lights (implement of husbandry?) out of service in the day light
seed tender over weight behind pickup - out of service
one missing brake light on tender trailer (he was a half mile from repair shop) - out of service
the breakaway brake cable - battery was dead - escorted him to unhook trailer, out of service
checking fuel in all vehicles
cracked (new) air lines, and electric lines (you can see the wire braid in the new lines) - fines, out of service
checking old tickets and writing for less than 1000 over coming off the farm. - fines
pickup pulling nh3 tank - overweight - out of service
pickup pulling nh3 tank - no smv sign - traveling to fast
no straps on two bags of seed corn on flatbed pickup - $128 fine - out of service
seed salesman hauling his sold seed to a customer, pickup and trailer, no CDL, MED card, over weight - out of service
farmers hauling their own grain straight trucks and semis checking bridge and weight.
Officer argued with a buddy of mine that the dual hanging off the edge of the pavement (there was a washed out gully beside the pavement on gravel) meant he had suspension problems. After the officer let the truck pull ahead 50' both tires were level on the gravel and no problem was there.
and the list goes on.............
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Iowa DOT.. is the rest of the state this bad? sorry for the long post
