Blue Ink Tech Blog

Scaling trucks has been a part of trucking since the mid-20th century, with weight restrictions going back to the very beginning of the industry before scales existed that could weigh an entire truck. Damage to roads and bridges has always been a concern. Since nobody wants to pay more taxes than necessary, trucks and their loads will continue to be restricted.

Getting a truck properly loaded and balanced is almost a science in the trucking industry. There are a lot of tools that help drivers understand how much they are hauling and how to adjust the truck and trailer to fit inside the required weight restrictions for gross and axle weights.

We recently compiled violation data collected by the FMCSA to show trends in enforcement over the course of the year. We are looking at overweight violation trends over the year and when compared to our "DOT Violations issued by State in September" post we can see a similar trend among all violations issued. 

If the data continues the following its current trend it's possible that the industry will be in a period of heavy enforcement over the next 3-5 months. Below you can see the overweight violations that were issued from 2021 to September 2022 and the trend that the data follows.

Below is the trend of overweight violations issued by each state so far this year. You can see which state are more aggressive or more lax when it comes to issuing overweigh violations for semi trucks.

These violations include overweight on axles, gross and tires load limits. 

Overweight violations are some of the more costly violations in the trucking industry. Depending which state you are in you could pay a lot for every pound you are over the required limits. If you have traveled over bridges overloaded the violations can cost much more.

Being sure to scale every load is an effective way to make sure that you are always legal. Onboard scaling systems can also help drivers know if they are above or below their legal limits. These scaling systems cost much less than the cost of getting an over weight violation.

If you are ever issued a violation for something that you know you were with in the bounds of the law then you can file a DataQ with the FMCSA and have it reviewed and removed from affecting your CSA score.

Alabama

Weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales are embedded scales that can weigh vehicles while they are in motion on interstate roadways. This type of scale works by using sensors in the road and imaging technology to tell what kind of vehicle is currently on the scale and how much each axle weighs. These systems can tell if a trucks load is properly balanced or heavy on an axle group which can affect handling. Some of the more sophisticated systems can tell which tires are low on pressure as well. The accuracy of weigh in motion systems are continuing to improve and can provide weights with 3% error or less.

What is the maximum axle weight for trucks?

By federal regulations, a load is overweight when it is: