General
flying the coop
What does flying the coop mean?
Driving straight past an open weigh station instead of pulling in like you're supposed to. Big fines if you get caught, and DOT will often radio ahead to a chase car. Sometimes done when you're overweight, out of hours, or just running hot.
"He was 2,000 pounds heavy so he flew the coop at Cordele and got chased down twenty miles up the road."
Origin
Plays on the older English idiom "flying the coop" (escaping). Trucker version reuses the chicken-coop = weigh-station metaphor: you skip the pen instead of pulling in.
Frequently asked questions
What does "flying the coop" mean for truckers?
It's blowing past an open weigh station without pulling in — illegal and risky.
How do you use "flying the coop" in a sentence?
For example: "He tried flying the coop and got pulled over a mile down the road."
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