I just got off the phone with Capt. Nichols of NCHP Motor Carrier Enforcement I was referred to him via my State House Rep. We had a good discussion about the tournament fishermen problem as well as the locals problems. In the last 12 months statewide his department has wrote less than 5 tickets for overwide. Most of those tickets were given to tournament fishermen that fish for a living and have sponsors on their vessels. He was also concerned about how this effects the tourist industry but the law cannot be enforced for one and not enforced for others. According to what I got out of our discussion the locals are not a target unless the boat is being towed in a unsafe manor. Safety is his main concern. He mentioned to me that a local at the coast was ticketed last year for towing a 16k boat with a F150 to a ramp. That driver deserved a ticket in my opinion. The Sunday issue will probably get looked at by the state house. The current law is very old and needs to be updated. He did not disagree with me on that subject.
Bottom line is that Capt. Nichols seemed VERY fair to me. He has a job to do. The job is enforce the law.
Maybe a new bill can be introduced to amend the current laws. That is the way to fix this problem.
BTW, If you tow a boat, camper, flatbed and it weighs over 10k you are required by NC law to have a class A endorsement on your license. I will be going next week to get mine.
EDIT:
This is the e-mail I received from Capt. Nichols after our conversation earlier today. He is a pretty straight up guy in my opinion:
Quote:
Mr. *********, It was a pleasure talking with you today on the phone regarding the problems that is occurring with North Carolina boaters. It appears that one of the biggest concerns among boaters is the fact that boats trailers that are over 102” (8 feet’6 inches) cannot operate on Sundays due to permit restrictions. However, there is another restriction that is applicable to the permit requirement that is under the Administrative Code with NCDOT. This restricts the movement of permitted vehicles to the following:
Permitted vehicles cannot travel on the following holidays from noon on the weekday before the holiday until noon on the weekday after the holiday: New Years day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas.
This is due to the fact that the boat trailer is considered a property hauling vehicle and not a recreation vehicle by general statute. When I discussed the issues at hand with Representative Wilkins today he assured me that he would be researching this matter with NCDOT. The State
Highway Patrol is currently providing this information to North Carolina boating marinas, and manufactures in an attempt to educate and raise compliance. I hope this has helped provide you with additional information as it relates to permitted vehicles. If you have any questions or concerns in regards to this email, please contact me or one of my staff members at our office.
Have a great weekend,
Captain W. M. Nichols
North Carolina State Highway Patrol
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I would hope my State House Rep will possibly introduce a bill to get the Sunday/Holiday issue straightened out. The ball is in the politicians court now.
I had a good conversation with Capt Nichols. He does his job well in my opinion.