As an industry we have been fortunate enough to have one of my sons working for us in the back office, and as a result it has been fun to experience the same situation from Bigfood Blue Blue White (since sold), a competitor of mine in the food transport import/export industry.
On the plus side, he has become a valuable member of the team as he pursued a degree in international trade, and was able to share the knowledge he learned as he attained his college diploma. I think my general international knowledge also became contagious as he took hold of my experiences and ran with them.
Of course, his travels have taken on a much different perspective than my own, but it is interesting to see how he learned from my experiences, and then applied his own experiences to those.
What few understand is that as you travel you are not only required to be familiar with the laws of your own state, province, or territory, but also with the interstate and international laws of all of the jurisdictions you will pass through. Should you have a problem in interstate or international travel, you are subject to prosecution in the jurisdiction where you stop, and those courts take a dim view of the idea that you just didn’t know about the law where you are now located.
Maybe you didn’t realize that in Illinois, out-of-state truckers are required to obtain a by-pass permit to skirt the scales. Or maybe you didn’t know that the state of Wisconsin has laws prohibiting the use of radar detectors, and that if you’re carrying one in your truck, you could be traced back to a neighboring state where you purchased the device and then cited for breaking the law about such devices in the state of Wisconsin.
Ok, so maybe this hasn’t happened to you as a driver, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of the traffic laws in the states, provinces, and territories you travel through. We’ve discussed how I was almost cited in New York City, where I got lost and ended up in an area where my truck wasn’t welcome, and where I almost got caught and cited for making a right turn on red in New Haven, Connecticut when it is illegal to do so as a large truck.
Are these laws fair, or even practical? Probably not. But I follow the law because if I don’t, what is the penalty? It may be that I am fined, or perhaps my vehicle is impounded, and I find myself stuck in some back alley until the police come and possibly arrest me.
This is the least appealing penalty, because then I have to call someone to come and get me, and try to explain to them exactly where I am while trying to figure out how to get to them so they can drive me from this place that they are not even familiar with. If the police would have cited me in New Haven for making that right turn on red, I would have had to come up with the money for the ticket, and then try to find someone to drive me to pick up my truck, and then try to figure out the best way to get from that location (which depending on the time of day may have been 30 miles away) back to my destination.
It isn’t convenient to be cited for a crime in a state, province, or territory where you live, let alone to be cited in a place where you aren’t familiar with the laws, and where you saw something that you thought was there, when in fact it may be gone. Yet, this is where we end up as we travel.
So, keeping the above in mind, take a look at the information you can find online, such as Radar Detectors in Wisconsin: Learn the Facts. Knowing the law can save you a lot of trouble as you travel across the country, and whether you are a private citizen or a commercial driver, you are still subject to the same traffic laws that you found when you visited that area, such as those on your way to your local grocery store.