A new low for the FDOT MCC.

News-Flash-Chanel-3-News-6PM 9-24-07

A Florida DOT officer issued a local farmer in Jay / Santa Rosa county a 1,000.00 citation for overwidth. Yes, a local peanut farmer shows the ticket on channel 3 news at 6:00PM. He was traveling from one peanut field to another and was stopped while pulling his peanut harvester.

Great Job FDOT! Keep up the good work!

You guys should be very proud of yourselves.... You have officially reached a new low!

Maybe you guys should familiarize yourselves with F.S. 604.001. Common sense is the rule here.... and you don't have any!

I saw the story on the news, all I can say is I am glad I was not on that road coming the other way with that thing in my lane!

DOT Cites Farmers over Size of Tractors

Some farmers in Santa Rosa County are outraged after they were pulled over and slapped with a thousand dollar fine by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Channel Three's Erin Ovalle is live in Jay with our top story.... Erin?

We're here along Highway 4 in Jay where a handful of farmers were fined because the DOT says their tractors are too big to be on the road.

The tractors behind me are about nineteen feet wide and the DOT says that they can't be any wider than 12.

Farmers tells me it's put their their crops and livelihoods at risk.

Steven Godwin is a third generation farmer in Jay and has been using equipment like this his whole life.
He says the cotton and peanut combines have always been more than twelve feet wide and law enforcement has never stopped him before.
"Nobody has ever said a word to us about nothing."
He was recently fined a thousand dollars and told by the DOT he was not allowed to drive his tractors on the road. He says that's the only way to get to his crops and he's about to lose everything he has.
"Right now I have a gross amount of over a half million dollars worth of crops in the field that I need to get to, because I have bills to pay and I can't get to the field to harvest them.. This will financially ruin me, if they shut us down."

He says dozens of farmers are in the same boat and if the law doesn't change the county could lose millions of dollars.

"We are talking about a seventy-two million dollar industry, that Santa Rosa County can't do without."

Farmers say their business already takes a hit from mother nature with hurricanes and drought and this law is making it almost impossible to work.

" It's postponed a lot of stuff because we're scared to move up and down the road.">>

Farmers have voiced their concern to county commissioners who are currently drafting a letter to the governors office in hopes of changing the law.

Our calls to the DOT regarding this law and it's enforcement, have not been returned.

Reporting live in Jay Erin Ovalle Channel Three News.

Word has it that the Legislature will address this issue in special session by restricting the FDOT's authority to enforce laws that relate only Commercial Motor Vehicles. The way it should be!

:shock: Take a look at FL Statute 316.515(5). The line has to be drawn somewhere. If there were no limit to the size of such an implement of husbandry (for those of you in Santa Rosa Co, husbandry is defined as the science or art of farming (Webster)), these vehicles would be all over the place. Where does it stop? Get a permit and then if you exceed the permitted width pay the piper or get a smaller piece of equipment. That would make your $1M dollars worth of goobers go a lot futher if you decreased your overhead expenses.

This is about power and abuse thereof. There is no reason for a FDOT officer to be targeting farmers for God Sake! There are semi-trucks / dump-trucks and all types of Commercial Motor Vehicles that should be targeted for inspection.

I don't want to hear your story about it could cause vehicle accidents. FDOT does not respond to accidents period! They refuse to answer any calls for service or to assist any other agency in this area of the state. Why are they targeting farmers? It's simple... they have nothing else to do. There are usually more FDOT officers working SantaRosa County (7-8) than there are deputies or troopers.

Honorable Governor Charlie Crist...... If you or any of your staff read this forum please look into this abuse of power. Please stop this abuse and realize this is an area of the State Budget that you should consider trimming.

There is absolutely no need to have 7-8 or more FDOT officers working one county in this state. Check into it.

Shame on you FDOT! Shame on you!

I agree with a previous post that a violation of Florida law is a violation plain and simple. The problem is this, in Dade County this has already been addressed. The overwidth violation is a non-moving traffic violation $74.50.

It is not..... I repeat.... It is not a violation of CFR because the definition of Commercial Motor Vehicle as defined in Florida Statute 316.003(66) does not fit a Farm Tractor pulling a peanut picker. Therefore, the enhanced penalty of $1000.00 for a safety violation under CFR is not applicable. Someone should look into this as soon as possible to avoid embarrassment.

WHY DON'T YOU GUYS START STOPPING "COMMERCIAL VEHICLES" AND LEAVE THE FARMERS ALONE THAT ARE TRYING TO MAKE AN HONEST LIVING.

DID YOU HOLD A GUN TO THEIR HEAD WHEN YOU DEMANDED THEY PAY A ONE-THOUSAND DOLLAR FINE?

YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE CITIZENS OF THIS STATE OF WHICH YOU WERE SWORN TO SERVE!

hey you know what everybody i have ever wrote a citation to said the same excuse "im just making a living" well guess what thats what the problem is here in florida is that to many officers that are generally in the good ole boy network beleve in not enforceing the law on some people just because there making a living but i guess it would have been ok if that farmer would have caused and accident and killed an entire family because of his oversized tractor because he's just making a living i think thats a bunch of crap good work officer for acctully doing your job.

WHY DON'T YOU GUYS START STOPPING "COMMERCIAL VEHICLES" AND LEAVE THE FARMERS ALONE THAT ARE TRYING TO MAKE AN HONEST LIVING.

DID YOU HOLD A GUN TO THEIR HEAD WHEN YOU DEMANDED THEY PAY A ONE-THOUSAND DOLLAR FINE?

YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE CITIZENS OF THIS STATE OF WHICH YOU WERE SWORN TO SERVE!

I am not a DOT officer, I have been a Deputy Sheriff in Polk County and recently retired from a Police Dept in Hillsborough County. I agree with them regarding issuing citations for oversized farm vehicles
.
While with the Sheriffs Dept, my former FTO will killed by running into the rear of one of these vehs at night. It had no taillights and was on a dark stretch of road.

I agree the fine should be less, but the DOT officers don't make the fine.