How to deal with a ticket for an overweight truck on bridge

[riverrat78]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kentucky
I received a ticket for exceeding the 3 ton weight limit on a bridge in Livingston county. The portable scale had already left, and the make and model of my truck was not on the list that the cop consulted in determining my weight. He merely compared it with other trucks he deemed to be similar. I offered to drive to a weigh station at the time to prove that I was underweight, but he wrote the ticket anyway. Since then, I have had my truck weighed, and it is in fact under 3 tons (although by a mere 100 lbs) How do I plead not guilty and prove that the ticket is a bogus one without hiring a lawyer?

 

[CSO286]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kentucky
I received a ticket for exceeding the 3 ton weight limit on a bridge in Livingston county. The portable scale had already left, and the make and model of my truck was not on the list that the cop consulted in determining my weight. He merely compared it with other trucks he deemed to be similar. I offered to drive to a weigh station at the time to prove that I was underweight, but he wrote the ticket anyway. Since then, I have had my truck weighed, and it is in fact under 3 tons (although by a mere 100 lbs) How do I plead not guilty and prove that the ticket is a bogus one without hiring a lawyer?

Get it weighed officially--at a DOT weigh station--and bring that proof when you go to court over your ticket.

 

[justalayman]

given the small amount you are underweight, I suspect you will have an argument on your hands.

Diesel fuel weights 7.3 lbs/gal and gas ~ 6.25 lbs/gal.


so, if you had 14 gallons more of diesel or 16 gallons more of gas in your truck, you would not be underweight. They also do not know what you had taken out of your truck prior to weighing it as well.

So, rather than arguing your truck weighs less than 3 tons as evidenced by the scale, you need to argue the cop did not weight your vehicle and therefore there is no basis for the ticket. You can use the actual weight to show it is possible your truck could have been under 3 tons but that is only if the judge wants to agree with the cop about your truck compared to other trucks and starts ignoring the fact nobody weighed your truck.

 

[startedone]

Get it weighed officially--at a DOT weigh station--and bring that proof when you go to court over your ticket.

Good idea for an affirmative defense. But as far as a standard defense the OP needs to prove nothing. The state needs to prove he's overweight.

The OP should prepare a list of questions to cross the cop with & decide what ? to ask based on his direct examination testimony & then after the state rests ask for a summary judgement .... if denied then present a defense to include the scale reading.

 

[HighwayMan]

What kind of truck? And what about your cargo?

You getting it weighed after the fact won't help your case.

And obviously YOU didn't even know the weight of your truck so why are you tempting fate driving across 3-ton bridges?

 

[HighwayMan]

He merely compared it with other trucks he deemed to be similar.

How do you know that??

 

[davew128]

so why are you tempting fate driving across 3-ton bridges?

Said the same thing to my best friend when he got married. What happens when she rolls over?