Drivers License Requirments

[Rob Petrie E395]

I cant speak for any other states but in the great state of IL if your trailer is 10,001 lbs gvw you need a non commercial class A or if you are a business you need a CDL class A the tests at the secertary of states office are the same just the fees are different. I have paid the bill from the lawyer, and seen the ticket for no CDL and ticket for passing the scale house on I64 just east of St Louis form a couple of years ago to prove it. Which brings up another thought EVERY scale house in IL has a big sign that reads "ALL TRUCKS OVER 8 TONS MUST WEIGH" and they mean it. Just because you ran by it one time and got away with it does not mean you will every time as thats how we got busted. My buddy was driving home with me in the passengers seat of my 98 GMC crew cab (10K gvw) pulling my then 28ft trailer (12K gvw) we went past the scales as we had done for years and the state boy came and pulled us over to ask why we neglected to stop at the scales. Escorted us back to the scales and wrote the tickets I have a class A cdl so the let us go after that fun couple of hours. We got my buddy the proper license and a lawyer and went to court. The lawyer got it taken care of but the judge did not want to hear about the Federal exemptions for racing as he thinks its a business. In the end it was expensive as a good lawyer is not cheap.