Q: Which trucks have to pull off the road for the truck scales
and which don’t? Why?
Q: Which trucks have to pull off the road for the truck scales and which don’t? Why?
A: Trucks with more than two axles are required to stop at the truck scales, like the California Highway Patrol station on 101 just north of 152.
Two axle trucks, like the box trucks and U-Hauls you may rent or see along the freeway, are not required to stop at the scales, but many do to check their loads, said Officer Matt Ramirez of the CHP’s Gilroy station.
Trucks are weighed on all of their axles to ensure they are not overloaded, and officers make a quick visual inspection of the truck looking for things like tires that are going flat, tires with bulges or trucks with leaks.
They also have a Geiger counter in the station to monitor radioactive material in the event of a nuclear terrorist threat, Ramirez said.
“You’d be surprised how many big rigs out there have serious safety issues,” said Ramirez. “If they’re overloaded, it can affect the braking distance of the truck or cause tire failure. They weigh so much they also have a lot higher rate of fatigue failure. Big rig rims will start to crack over time.”
Trucks are regularly inspected, off the scales as well, with officers actually climbing underneath the truck to check things like brake pad wear, leaks and damages to the axles or wheels, said Ramirez.
Should a big rig or other applicable truck fail to stop at the scales, the driver could be slapped with fines of between $200 and $600 as well as the possibility of jail time, Ramirez said.
All load-bearing trucks, from pick-ups modified with flat beds to Mack trucks are eligible to weigh in at the scales.
Exemption signs are posted near the scales in various municipalities to inform motorists who needs to pull over and who doesn’t in any given state or county, said Ramirez.
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