On 2010-03-06, Pete C. wrote:

"Pete C." wrote:

Ignoramus28336 wrote:

On 2010-03-05, Wes wrote:
Ignoramus28336 wrote:

details later

Well since you managed to post this it sounds like you are walking free. Curiousity
piqued.

I rented a lowboy and picked up the mill. I was going slowly and
stoped to check that the straps are tight. A police car pulled by and
the officer asked if I was OK, I said yes, thank you Sir. After a few
words exchanged, I continued on my way. The policeman followed me a
bit and then flashed his lights. This time he asked for DL and
insurance, which I produced. He told me that my truck was missing some
kind of sticker about its certification to carry weight. I do not
remember what it is exactly and will find out.

Then he came back and told me that my class D drivers license allows
me to only pull vehicles with total weight rating of up to 22,000 lbs
(says on the license), and the capacity of my vehicle and trailer was
26,000 lbs. So, according to them (another one pulled up) I was in
violation and not permitted to drive this weight rating due to
deficient drivers license. My trailer was to be impounded (it is a
rental!) and the impound fee was $500.

I was, as you can imagine, very excited about the prospect of this
mill being snowed on in the impound lot while I find ways to get it
out or get a Class C license. The impound fee was what I paid for the
mill.

Then a tow truck pulled by to impound my trailer.

I asked the police officers "are you sure about this" and they said
yes, and yet I wondered how a rental agency would let me rent this.

I had a laptop with me and it had a special wireless broadband
card. So, I googled "Illinois class C license weight" and found this
page:

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/de...nse_class.html

It said that Class D license allows: ``Any single vehicle with a GVWR
of 16,000 pounds or less towing any vehicle providing the GCWR does
not exceed 26,000 pounds.''

I was not exceeding that. The rental guys did not give me a trailer
that I could not tow.

I showed this to the police officers , they talked a bit and then told
me that they are giving me the "benefit of the doubt" and that
Illinois is all screwed up because of conflicting laws. I ended up
still being fined with that sticker fine, but let go. Not many people
drive away happy because of a police stop and a $75 fine.

So I wonder whether this was an honest mistake on their part, or
not. I tend to think that it was an honest mistake on their part.

i

Fun stuff.

Probably a good idea to print out all potentially relevant laws and keep
them in the truck for any future fun.

I haven't heard of a class D license before, both states I've been in
didn't have anything below C. You should probably look into upgrading to
a C. I expect it's just an excuse to charge more for the upgraded
license, but it will at least put you on par with what most states have
as the base license.

You should also investigate that mysterious "weight sticker" thing. 90%
probability you will find that it is not applicable to non-commercial
vehicles.

Yes, I will check, but I have a "D" plate, so here the policeman may
have been right

i