HEADS UP cops are in a ticket writing frenzy (insurance, crime)

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by dhanu86

They are! last sunday I was driving a U-haul 14 foot moving truck down the GardenstateParkway around exit 110 I got pulled over and ticketed by a trooper, he said commercial trucks arent allowed on the GST north of exit 105. How was I suppose to know that? especially when the toll people let me pay my way through.

There are signs ALL OVER that say no trucks after 105. You paid a toll at the Asbury toll plaza which is at milemarker 102. Pay attention.

[JERSEY MAN]

Originally Posted by ottomobeale

Got 6 peeps where I work in past 2 weeks. Got me today. Sigh registration expired (transfered- thought it was good for a year)

One guy got for brake light then registration was missing.

One guy 2 mi over speed

They are using any excuse

I find it hard to believe any cop would write a ticket for 2 mph over the speed limit. I would fight that because it would be laughed out of court. When I was in patrol and doing radar I would set the radar at 50MPH in a 25MPH area and I would estimate that 40 to 50 percent of the cars were doing over 50. I never heard in over 30 years of ANY cop writing for only 2MPH over the limit. I mean, come on, the auto's on the parkway go 80 in the 55 area and the troopers go right by them. If there was a person who got a ticket for 2MPH over the limit, I would be the first person to call the cop a jerkoff.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by Badfish740

I wouldn't call that an excuse-an expired registration is an expired registration.



Again, if you have a brake light out you should replace it-the guy may have even gotten a break had he had his registration.



Or did he get nailed going 15 miles over or better and got a break?

I speed as much as the next guy but when you get caught, you get caught.

Kudos to you Badfish!! That about sums it up

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by JERSEY MAN

There are signs ALL OVER that say no trucks after 105. You paid a toll at the Asbury toll plaza which is at milemarker 102. Pay attention.

that's exactly what i was going to say...it's really as plain as day.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by njkate

Kudos to you Badfish!! That about sums it up

yup, bingo. i've gotten plenty of speeding tickets in my life, and the responsibility falls squarely on my shoulders, no one else's.

[joe moving]

This stuff pisses me off. I

A rented truck, operated by a private individual for personal use is a fine line but its not that fine. Your use for the vehicle is private, not commercial, I assume? You did not mention specifically. You could rent a truck to move yourself, that is PROBABLY not commercial. Or you could rent the truck to move stuff for your business. That is very likely commercial.

What was your ticket for? A 14 foot truck should usually not have a > 14,000 pound GVWR. Did it have 4 or 6 wheels? Did you look at the GVWR on the truck??? What about the registration? Did the cop??? What is the law exactly? Keep in mind there is a huge difference between GVW and GVWR. One is the ACTUAL weight of the truck and all of the crap in/on it, the other is the tagged rating on the door jamb. Is the law pertaining to 7 ton GVW or GVWR? Did the truck have "X" plates? Pretty sure rentals that small don't have X plates, but they might.

What do the signs say when you enter the parkway? Specifically. No trucks? No commercial trucks? No commercial above 7 tons GVW? No commercial trucks above 7 tons GVWR?

If the rule says no trucks over 7 tons and your truck has a 14,000 # gvwr, that is not OVER 7 tons, it IS 7 tons.

You are right, trucks are all over the parkway, just not commercial ones. Mom and pop pulling their RV, boat, etc. Joe blow moving from point A to point B. Give me a break.

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by joe moving

This stuff pisses me off. I spent quite a lot time researching the trucking industry...

Much of it has to do with the fact that the further north you go on the Parkway the more you run into clearance issues. If you notice many of the bridges over the roadway are old stone archway types. The clearance may be 14' or more (which is fairly standard for interstate highways) in the center-but not to the extreme left or right side of the roadway. This can obviously cause problems with both tractor trailers and straight trucks depending on their maximum height. Commercial bus drivers which traverse the Parkway are well aware of the hazard and avoid these lanes for this reason. Finally, the Merritt Parkway and other roadways around the country all do not allow large trucks.

[joe moving]

Pretty sure but don't know off hand that there is no overpass under 13'6" (Federal minimum for interstate highways) on the parkway.

Regardless of WHY they don't allow "trucks" (thats a very vague term), there's a lot of missing info here. The renter of the truck probably doesn't know any better and no reason why he or she should really. 7 tons GVW is not 7 tons GVWR, etc. "greater than" is not the same thing as "greater than or equal to". A 14' u-haul dually, i really have no clue but doubt it has a GVWR more than 14,000. So if the rule says anything about OVER 7 tons, and the truck's GVWR is exactly 7 tons, the ticket was unwarranted. There's lot of technicalities but rules are rules I don't make them up, just follow them.

EDIT I did some research and I think it's 3.5 tons, not 7 tons. Pretty sure that still only applies to CMV's.

EDIT the toll schedule doesn't say anything about commercial vs non commercial trucks:
http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/gsptollsched.pdf

So I am not sure how that makes a tour bus on the parkway legal.

My pick up truck weighed well over 7000 empty, BTW. I think this one comes down to a poorly constructed rule.

[Badfish740]

Originally Posted by joe moving

Pretty sure but don't know off hand that there is no overpass under 13'6" (Federal minimum for interstate highways) on the parkway.

If you look at the sides of most over passes you'll see signs that indicate 13' 2" or lower in some cases over the far left and right lanes. The Parkway is a roadway wholly owned and maintained by the State of New Jersey and receives no federal funding (completely paid for by tolls) so they do not have to abide by federal minimums.

Originally Posted by joe moving

Regardless of WHY they don't allow "trucks" (thats a very vague term), there's a lot of missing info here. The renter of the truck probably doesn't know any better and no reason why he or she should really.

The "NO TRUCKS" signs at every Parkway entrance north of 105 and the "ALL TRUCKS MUST EXIT AT 105" signs south of 105 are a pretty big clue.

Originally Posted by joe moving

7 tons GVW is not 7 tons GVWR, etc. "greater than" is not the same thing as "greater than or equal to". A 14' u-haul dually, i really have no clue but doubt it has a GVWR more than 14,000. So if the rule says anything about OVER 7 tons, and the truck's GVWR is exactly 7 tons, the ticket was unwarranted. There's lot of technicalities but rules are rules I don't make them up, just follow them.

The truck "ban" pertains to vehicles with a GVWR (meaning the maximum weight of the vehicle when fully loaded) greater than 7,000lbs. This of course encompasses most large SUVs and 3/4 and 1 ton pickups. My single rear wheel F-350 weighs 7000lbs unloaded and has a GVWR of 9900. However, none of these vehicles have the clearance issues that a 24' box truck, etc...would if it was traveling in the far right or left lane on certain sections of the Parkway. At best the law is antiquated and poorly written.

[joe moving]

So what about the tour buses and the boats and RVs?

The law and the signage seem to both be unclear.

Somewhere, I'm sure this stuff is listed very specifically, but it isn't even on the GSP website. If the person with the ticket chimes in, maybe it lists the statute (???) on the ticket??