Truckers have had a free ride??
Fuel tax (@ 6mpg)
Highway use tax (lots and lots of miles)
USDOT authority (not free)
Special permit fees (such as oversized loads)
When truckers get caught overweight there are stiff fines. I got taken to a state scale near Chicago once. $1,400. My argument that road construction forced me to detour to reach the customer. Officer said it is my job to call the powers that be to find the legal route, and the weight limits for the roads. I told him “two tandem dump trucks in bumper to bumper traffic would put more weight down on the road in a span shorter than the semi” I was driving. He said, “that’s true, but they are two units, not one”. I don’t plan on making that mistake ever again.
I’ve hauled oversized loads that weren’t very heavy, but had to have permits nonetheless.
I was running the Amherst sd contaminated soil job.
They loaded my side dump heavy on the drives.
Nd dot pulled me over and scaled me.
Overall I was good but singularly I was a ton over on the drives.
Chewed some @$$ when I loaded again
So are you one of those truckers who drive 60mph right beside another truck going the same speed and blocking the interstate?
Or a double trailer driver texting and swinging both trailers across 2 lanes?
Is that you?