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Weigh In Motion. Does Louisiana DOT know how to use them or does the officers need more training?
That’s the question I pose on the supervisors and transportation commissioner in Louisiana. It’s got to where, no matter how much my rig’s gross weight is, I’m still having to drive through the Weigh Stations. I don’t have a prepass and even when I did, the weigh station on I-12 still gave me a red light even if my trailer was empty.
Weigh in Motion works like this; when approaching a WIM area, there’s a scale across, mainly, the right lane. When a driver drives his/her rig over this scale, it sends the weight back to the scale house. The Weighmaster can then decide to allow the truck to bypass the Weigh Station either by roadside signs saying “Truck May Bypass Weigh Station” or by a green light from a prepass box in the cab by a signal sent from the Weighmaster in the Weigh Station.
From as early as I can remember, last year until now, Louisiana DOT Officers that work in the Weigh Stations only have been using an automatic feature that sends a red light to all trucks and/or the roadside signs displays “Trucks Must Exit To Weigh Station”. Making every truck with and/or without a PrePass go through the Weigh Station is ridiculous especially if they are empty!
The Ultimate question is, “Is the officers working in the Weigh Stations trained to use the Weigh in Motion scale or do they just not care?” We may never know the answer.