Heavy Haul, ie, the moving of over sized material and equipment is done with a very specific set of rules and laws. Its the very nature of the beast. For the sake of public safety, the safety of the driver and the security of the load, these laws MUST be followed and no-one is exempt from them.
There are people that seem to think they are and while this might surprise those that do not work in the field, local police are the top of the list.
Here is the story, in all it's gruesome (and slightly amusing) details.
We loaded in Delcambre LA yesterday morning, but due to a scheduling mix up, our escort did not arrive until 2:00PM. It's a bit over an hour and a half to Port Allen LA from there, getting us into the Baton Rouge curfew at 3:30 PM. The load is over 12 foot wide (13 foot even) so we have to wait it out until 6:00 PM. Law requires that we are safely parked out of public traffic by dusk. Per the national weather service, dusk on the 23rd of Sept was at 6:54 PM. This gave us roughly an hour to get though Baton Rouge and out to Hammond so we can get a good start this morning.
Heavy Haul drivers plan movement to the moment, trying to get the most work done in the shortest amount of time. Curfews and daylight rules make this a very important skill. But then you get to Murphy's Law, a set of rules that doesn't give a ***** about State and Federal Regulations or the convenience of the driver.
We left Port Allen on time, 6:00 PM exactly. At the end of the ramp, we find ourselves in a traffic jam. Now we had expected heavy traffic, but not what was to follow... In the next hour and a half, (remember we had 1 hour) we managed to cover approx 16 miles, getting us to exit 10 on I12, the beautiful town of Denham Springs LA. There is a Pilot truck stop there and not much else in the way of services for trucks. We HAVE to park, there is no choice in this matter. For those of you traveling on I12, just pass right by exit 10, the Pilot is a total waste of time. I had to park on the side of the ramp and send my escort into Denham Springs to find a place to park. No parking at the Pilot, no trucks allowed in the Bass Pro lot, no other place to park. But We MUST, it's full dark at this time. My escort found a dirt lot, next to a hotel with room for some trucks. The escorts are going to need rooms anyway and the lot had one truck in it, a day cab the we figured was rooming in the hotel. (wrongly assuming this was their lot) We got in the lot safely and shut down. Our second truck was a few minutes behind us but we got him in the lot by radio.
Now we are going to learn something about Denham Springs LA.
This is BMW country, these people, their elected Mayor, the city counsel, DON'T LIKE TRUCKS, period. At 4 AM this morning I am awakened by the sound of a siren. I look out my window to find that day cab frantically trying to back around the front of my truck then there is a very loud banging on my right door. When I look out that side, I find one of Denham Spring's "finest" screaming at my partner to get the truck out of the lot. When he notices my face in the window, I get some of his "oh so professional" treatment.
Not a good start sonny, It's 4 AM and I'm not afraid of you.
I get my shoes on and hit the ground, but Barney Fife is gone somewhere by this time. I do notice at least 8 more trucks very quickly leaving the lot. I gain a bit of understanding as to why Barney might be in such a bad mood. He just got to talk to 8 to 10 roadside lawyers. Walking around the front of the other truck, I find Barney in his car, on the other side of the street, watching me. We are the only trucks left and we are not moving. Here he comes, in a very safe peel and slide maneuver into the dirt lot, sliding up to within 4 feet of me. Citizens of yuppyville, you deserve this clown. The highly professional screaming starts again. Staring him in the eye, I sighed and waited for him to wind down. This got an immediate response. "I want your license, YOU are getting a ticket for improper parking!" "Not a problem buddy, let me go get my wallet" "GO GET IT!" I returned with my wallet and handed him my license. "The name is Smelser, that's S.M.E.L.S.E.R" The lack of fear on my part got another immediate response, he calmed down a bit. "You HAVE to leave this property NOW." "I'm very sorry sir, I would love to, but state law does not allow me to. I must wait for daylight."
Observe the following exchange, I wish a local Constitutional watchdog had heard it;
"I don't care about state law, there will be no parking of 18 wheel trucks in Denham Springs!" "Excuse me?" "There will be no parking of trucks on private property or on the sides of the roads in Denham Springs, Get these trucks out of here NOW" " Again sir, I can not, at the very least I will need a State Trooper here to advise me and with luck escort me to the state scales down the road."
In the mean time, exchanges were taking place between Barney and my partner Jess and my escort operator. While this is amusing in retrospect, it was not helping. He was calm speaking to me, and heated speaking to them. I explained the traffic issue that landed us in his nasty little town to begin with, our remorse for not getting where we wanted to be and the simple fact that the private property he was so professionally defending, is NOT posted in any way. He threatened to tow us. (not with out permits you won't) He stated the mayor didn't want trucks in his town, He stated that the lot had the logs laying around it to keep people out and someone had moved the one where we entered. (while possibly true, these were LOGS, nothing short of chaining on to one of them with a tractor would move it and there is NOT an extra anywhere in site, that entrance has always been there.) He even stated that the trucks were damaging the lot. (It'd DIRT! how the hell is anything short of a chemical spill going to damage it?) I explained the laws that we were bound by, and that we would have to take the parking ticket before we could violate them.
Finally, after all this screaming, he did what he should have done 30 minutes before. Visibly shaking himself, he ignored Jess and the escort. Addressing me, he very mildly ask; "Daylight?" "And not a moment longer bud." "Ok, I'll give you till daylight so you can move legally" "Thank you sir."
We never did get those tickets.
Here is a point that I am quite certain of; Barney has absolutely NO idea that there are special regulations concerning trucks marked "Over Sized Load" . While we were "possibly" trespassing, (unposted lot) we had tried to take the high road concerning public safety and the observation of the laws and regulations governing our chosen field. If you are reading this and you are Barney of the Denham Spring LA Police Department or you are a local police officer or a sheriff's deputy, please let me pass on what is meant to be friendly and very professional advise; If you find yourself in the ugly situation above, call the Highway Patrol and request the advise and assistance of a DOT officer.
Friends, I will NEVER stop in that town again, not for so much as a cup of coffee at the Pilot. I request you consider doing the same. They don't want you, they don't need the money from sales taxes or fuel taxes but most of all, they very much don't like you. So much so they force what might be a decent law man to ignore state law and the safety of the motoring public.
Tags: Barney Fife Boycott Clueless Denham Springs Heavy Haul Police DOT Regulat
