I was eating lunch at subway today and there were a couple officers talking about the possible new requirements with DOT about SUVS over a certain weight. Hummers, Surburbans were some of the ones they were talking about.

I broke into the conversation and they had these 3 page pamplets about the possible requirements. I didn't read it but the lowdown was as they explained it, like a partial commercial license. Plus the penalties of getting in wrecks were more severe. Seems that DOT finally got to acting on the increase in accidents caused by the larger vehicles.

I couldn't find anything online about this but that doesn't surprise me with DOT. Anyone know anything about this more than it being a concept?

[Edited on December 5, 2005 at 4:27 PM. Reason : (spelling)]

12/5/2005 4:26:58 PM

its a good concept
but with how easy it is to get a license in this state it would just end up being pointless and a huge waste of time

12/5/2005 4:32:23 PM

it'll never fly. too many richies have bought their teenage daughters their own personal death machines for this to become a reality

12/5/2005 4:32:51 PM

Quote :

"Seems that DOT finally got to acting on the increase in accidents caused by the larger vehicles."

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

12/5/2005 4:39:38 PM

Quote :

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people"

yep

12/5/2005 4:41:55 PM

Quote :

"but with how easy it is to get a license in this state it would just end up being pointless and a huge waste of time"

you are exactly fucking right. first off, DOT needs to teach DMV on how to teach drivers how to drive. it amazes me the lack of knowledge people have about laws regarding driving. hell, most of the accidents are caused due to the lack of general driving knowledge.

12/5/2005 4:45:31 PM

itll make those enviromental chaco wearin' granola eatin' faggots happy

12/5/2005 4:48:01 PM

I'd be all for it, but it'll never happen and if it does it will be so poorly implemented that it won't matter.

12/5/2005 5:24:46 PM

I drive better than 95% of you fuckers on the road and I have an SUV now.

I mean, lets face it, a suburban is a 1500 with a hard top. They going to make all the people in pickups take the same class, because if we're going to use gross tonnage as a measure of how deadly the machines are, lets throw them in there.

You think that all the small businesses that have fleets of contractor-toting-pickups rolling around all over the state will find it convenient to have all of their employees go get another drivers license.

DMV needs to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants or people that can't speak a lick of english before they do anything.

12/5/2005 5:33:54 PM

Why does everybody think they drive better than everyone else?

12/5/2005 5:53:49 PM

^ cause sometimes it takes a little more for some people to make up for their tiny penii...

12/5/2005 5:55:36 PM

because I drive an automatic

12/5/2005 5:57:00 PM

Quote :

"You think that all the small businesses that have fleets of contractor-toting-pickups rolling around all over the state will find it convenient to have all of their employees go get another drivers license."

I've seen plenty of piss-poor driving from people in work trucks. Better question, why wouldn't a company want their drivers to prove that they are better prepared than the absolute minimum required to get a license? They are the ones with a lot to lose if one of their drivers fucks up.

Quote :

"DMV needs to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants or people that can't speak a lick of english before they do anything."

I agree, but I think they should be able to multi-task.

12/5/2005 5:59:41 PM

multi-task?

its the government, I don't want them to fucking single-task something that they are completely incapable of accomplishing with any modicum of quality.

12/5/2005 6:01:48 PM

Quote :

"too many richies have bought their teenage daughters their own personal death machines for this to become a reality"

12/5/2005 6:10:26 PM

Quote :

"its the government, I don't want them to fucking single-task something that they are completely incapable of accomplishing with any modicum of quality."

Well yeah...

Quote :

" it'll never happen and if it does it will be so poorly implemented that it won't matter."

12/5/2005 6:12:28 PM

<-- enviromental chaco wearin' granola eatin' faggot

Except I'm heterosexual, don't like granola, and don't know what chacos are.

But other than that, yeah.

12/5/2005 7:02:51 PM

^best post/response/comeback


ever

12/5/2005 7:22:45 PM

That's what I was going for! Thanks!

12/5/2005 7:24:42 PM

This could suck...

Working for the DOT I had to/got to drive a suburban/carryall for work. If I had to get another license to drive that thing, it would've taken about 30% of my job's work away (since one of the big things I contributed was driving back home in the afternoon).

If they did it, I hope it's the sort of thing that you can pay a small fee for, get access to an online course, read through a bunch of chapters, then take an exam, go to the DMV, drive a big vehicle around to prove that you know how to drive a big vehicle around, then get your license (or something).

Really, I just hope they don't do it and that they make it harder to get a license. That would fix more problems.

12/5/2005 7:54:15 PM

its like he's saying hes an orange and not a banana when i made fun of bananas in the first place and didn't mention oranges...

12/5/2005 9:58:59 PM

Quote :

"DMV needs to stop giving licenses to illegal immigrants or people that can't speak a lick of english and women before they do anything."

12/5/2005 10:06:00 PM

Let me clarrify. I think it was additional testing or qualification that goes on your current license. Like motorcycle and normal.

I can see how this would be easily monitored and paid for.

1) If you own an SUV or work vehicle you would recieve a notice that within the next year you need to renew your license or "upgrade" your license with a test at the DMV. Random people are selected to test drive a larger vehicle. The cost would be $5-$10 in addition to current license requirements. That would more than pay for the additional hiring of people for testing.

2) Insurance wise, the DMV can view what you are insured for and verify whoever is under that insurance has the proper license for it or are fined $100 after the grace period of 1 year. If your teenage daughter is getting an SUV, she has to have the license level for it.

3) If you are pulled over and you are driving a vehicle that is over your limit on your license you get a $100 fine after the grace period of 1 year. This isn't something that RPD or Hwy Patrol have to enforce except during a traffic stop.

This would all pay for itself and increase the competency level of drivers who own SUV's over a certain size. Ford explorers don't bug me, but those god damn surburbans driven by 5 foot people...

My goal isn't to stop you from driving them but make sure you are capable OF driving them safely.

I don't see how this couldn't pass into law.

12/5/2005 10:28:07 PM

it seems we have the law writer in our midst

12/5/2005 10:34:35 PM

the dmv test will be a joke
and it will just be a waste of money

12/5/2005 10:37:03 PM

Quote :

"it'll never fly. too many richies have bought their teenage daughters their own personal death machines for this to become a reality"

thats cause they can't drive little pos hondas around cause they'll end up dead for sure. Atleast SUV's have a chance when they run in front of 18 wheelers.

12/5/2005 10:40:03 PM

^^^ *note* I said i could see how this could work, not that it was the law being submitted. Heh. I just thought it was a good idea and worthy of garage posting.

12/5/2005 10:45:10 PM

they need to teach everybody how to drive better

not just SUV drivers

12/5/2005 10:45:57 PM

What they really need is a driving test (actually driving) for each class of vehicle you drive. Its retarded you can get a license in a borrowed metro and then drive the biggest land barge you can find.

When I first got my license, I had to have my own car (parent's dictation) and take the test in that car. Was never allowed to drive my parent's car until much later. So I ended up taking it in a 77 coupe deville. I failed the first time because the guy said I pulled back and forth too many times to parallel park the land yacht. The cones were set up civic style and I got in there without hitting anything, but what are you going to do.

12/5/2005 11:09:40 PM

You had to parallel park to get your license? Damn. I didn't.

(Which is good, because I would have had the same trouble you did in my '79 Malibu...)

12/6/2005 12:52:01 AM

^ Grew up in Washington State. It was part of the test. I have only been required to take the written here so I assumed it was the same. Guess not.

12/6/2005 12:56:02 AM

i pretty much hit the curb on my driving test, damn near lost a hubcap, and still passed. dude asked me why i did that and i said well you told me to!?!?!

12/6/2005 1:39:55 AM

lol I ran over a curb too, and almost got t-boned, they shrugged it off and I was good to go

12/6/2005 2:15:28 AM

I stalled the car twice (manual with a new clutch), and backed into the wrong lane on the two-point turn and still passed.

12/6/2005 6:41:14 AM

Quote :

"I drive better than 95% of you fuckers on the road and I have an SUV now."

teeheehee

tad, your "SUV" is roughly the size of my civic. i dont think this thread is about you.

12/6/2005 8:27:11 AM

yeah but its still weights like 4300 lbs GVW.

Also I wonder if you're gonna get a whole buncha DWI's out of this.

"My buddy here woulda been drivin but he dun got a S-YOU-VEE drivers license occifer!"

12/6/2005 8:32:01 AM

psh if you can afford having an SUV you can afford $5 at the fucking DMV.

12/6/2005 10:24:31 AM

i think this is an awesome idea.

12/6/2005 10:40:11 AM

thats just like saying,

"If you make a million dollars, you should pay a higher percentage of income tax than someone who doesn't make as much"

oh shit, I guess that is reality. Thats fucked up.

12/6/2005 5:02:09 PM

don't bother me a bit, i already have my class A CDL, so i would hopefully be exempt.

btw, its scary how easy it is to get your cdl, never looked at a book and passed the general knowledge, passenger, air brake, and hazmat tests all in one afternoon.

i shit you not one of the haz-mat questions was,

if you are transporting class 1 flammables, and you have a cargo fire, should you
a. pull off the road and open the doors to allow air in the trailer.
b. pull off the road at the nearest gas station and call for help.
c. pull off the road in an isolated area, and immediatly contact emergency services with your location and all your cargo information before trying to contain the fire yourself.

[Edited on December 6, 2005 at 5:14 PM. Reason : typos like crazy]

12/6/2005 5:13:49 PM

^pop quiz hot shot.

A loaded truck will take _____________ to stop than an empty truck.

A: a longer distance
B: a shorter distance
C: the same distance
D: none of the above

12/7/2005 6:03:10 PM

everyone knows it always none of the above

12/7/2005 6:10:15 PM

not this time.

12/7/2005 6:34:59 PM

this is absolutely ridiculous. you would be talking about vans, cube trucks, 1 and 2 ton trucks-etc... there are some blurry lines there. you can't legislate the fact that a lot of people don't have sense enough to drive. Of course, the money hungry politicians in Raleigh would probably love to find another way to get some more money to waste

12/7/2005 6:38:15 PM

This is stupid. SUVs aren't to blame for bad drivers.

12/7/2005 7:36:46 PM

i think its a good idea, as mentioned before, you can take the test in a geo, and drive anything up to 26,000 lbs pulling a trailer up to 10,000 lbs, doesnt make sense. i could definately see like a class d cdl for 8,600 gvw up to 26,000, basically for what the dmv considered commercial or weighted vehicles, also exempt from emissions inspections. that would include most full size trucks as suvs

12/7/2005 8:23:11 PM

It would be better to lower the limits on the current class C classified license, so if people needed to drive larger vehicles they just get a class b or a classified. No need for a CDL to drive personal vehicles...

12/7/2005 8:40:10 PM

i think thats a federal dot thing though

12/7/2005 9:22:42 PM

what?

12/7/2005 11:39:22 PM

you know, the federal DOT man. dont you know about the federal DOT?

12/7/2005 11:45:21 PM