Driving on the highway comes with a significant measure of risk for a truck driver. Hence the need for truck stop scales on the freeway. Truck scales are essential to the trucking business, and truck drivers need to understand how they work. While driving on the highway, drivers are likely to see trucks go through the weigh checks, where their loads are measured by truck scales so they will not be delayed by the highway security. 

Truck driving is one of the most dangerous jobs, and cargo weight is a critical safety factor. Truck scales are essential in keeping truck drivers, other vehicles, and the road safe. Hence the need to understanding how these scales work. Read on to learn how truck stop scales work and their importance to the trucker.

How Truck Scales Work

Truck scales are mostly made of steel and with additional concrete and connected to a slope. The slope enables the weighing device to be situated under as the trucks are measured as they rise. With a pit, trucks stay on the same level with the street surface and the weighing process in the channel.

The Trucks

Business vehicles and RV trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds are required to stop to measure that weight at assigned locations. When drivers arrive at this location, they might stop so each axle (the bar that attaches wheels) is weighed individually, or the truck is weighed independently. Some truck scales are advanced, which allow vehicle’s weight to be measured as they are in motion, allowing for greater efficiency.

The Scales

Technology has really helped how truck scales work. Before now, these scales work with levers and balance beams. But now, trucks use sensors, electric current, and technology to measure the truck’s weight:

• Loading cells: Loading cells made of steel or cement.
• Strain gauges: Strain gauges comprise wires that send a small electric current. As weight triggers the load cell, the strain measures wires are changed, similar to the current flowing in them.
• Sensor box: These wire changes are communicated as signals from each load cell to a sensor box that detects the changes in the current. 

The truck scale calculates the amount of weight based on this interaction.

Methods of Weighing Trucks

Truck drivers need not worry about being delayed whenever they stop to weigh their trucks. There has been tremendous improvement in the precision, safety, and efficiency of truck scales. Now it takes about three to five minutes for weighing trucks. However, experts state that the delay in weighing time is about a ten-dollar productivity loss, this is significantly lower due to upgraded truck-weighing techniques.

There are three essential methods of weighing trucks:

1. Weigh-In-Motion (WIM): This is the most suited for truck drivers. The axle weight is measured as the truck driver drives over a sensor pad. This method is efficient for drivers since they do not need to stop their vehicles while weighing.

2. One-Stop: As against the WIM method, the truck must be stopped to be weighed. This allows the weight to be measured. The overall weight is measured with many scales connected to one sensor box that adds measurement of the axle weights.

3. One-Axle: This is the least of the three methods. Here, each axle is weighed by stopping on the scale for all the wheels. Then the axle weights are then added together to get the total measurement.

Importance of Truck Scales

Without truck scales, transporting goods (especially across state lines) would be chaotic and unregulated. This would put truckers, other road users, and commerce at risk. The following are reasons truck scales must be used:

• Road safety: All states have safety guidelines for their roads. If a truck goes beyond the established weight (80,000 pounds), then roads and highways are no longer safe to drive, and risk being damaged.
• Revenue: Truck drivers pay taxes on transported goods, depending on the cargo weight. The use of truck scales enables accurate measurement of freight weight so that exact tax fees can be captured and recorded.
• Road user safety: It is a fact that to deliver the cargo on time, truck drivers forget driving breaks, and even fall asleep while driving. Overloaded trucks add such danger and reduce vehicle performance. The truck scales monitor appropriate cargo weight for safe driving conditions. Drivers and trucking companies can be fined if cargo weight exceeds regulated weights.

Final Thoughts

Innovation and improvement in transportation processes have contributed enormously to how trucks are weighed and towards hauling cargo. This is why trucking companies and drivers should balance effective delivery of goods, the safety of other road users, and state transportation regulations.

Although, truck drivers should not be bothered by checking with truck stops scales because innovation is helping with concerns over the delay. In all, truck scales are fundamental in safeguarding this balance, and knowing how they work is paramount for truck drivers.