Yesterday afternoon, I had a discussion with a friend who happens to be a "Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Officer" ("D.O.T. cop") in the state of Kentucky. He told me about a "movement" towards reducing and restricting the numbers of "haulers", both "not quite legal" commercial haulers, as well as private haulers with trucks and trailer combo's that fall between the cracks when it comes to licensing (both drivers and vehicle), and truck/trailers that are borderline heavy enough to be pulling the loads they haul. It seems the general thinking amongst the "higher-ups" in DOT is that people are pushing the safe and reasonable limits of even 3/4 ton and 1 ton pick-ups far beyond what the DOT considers safe. There may be an effort in the future to restrict "non-commercial haulers" clear off the road. (I see some validity in that arguement, but I also see "big brother" overpowering the people they are hired to protect.)
For reasons I never did quite get a clear explaination for, it seems they want to target gooseneck trailers more than bumper pulls.
Now this COULD be "one mans opinion" more than actual fact, but it's not the first time I've heard this.
Thoughts?
(Since this ISN'T anything more than pure speculation at this point, no need to quote current laws. At this stage, I'm just interested in peoples opinions on how far the laws should extend into the non-commercial realm.)
(My personal opinion? Further restrictions should be limited to vehicles using interstate highways. Anything beyond that will restrict us "little guys" to hiring haulers every time we want to move our tractor across town, or else buying expensive truck/trailer combo's and becoming over-the-road truckers (CDL,Med card, costly insurance for commercial carriers, ect)