weight police?

I know of two cases in Washington state where a non-commercial was pulled over for "over weight". However the citation was for "unsafe vehicle operation", not weight

In one case it was a neighbor with enough dirt in is truck that the wheels were rubbing on the flat-bed and smoking.

Me Again wrote:
....

Some states like Washington license tonnage for private trucks. So you can be ticketed for being over our licensed weight or maybe over our tire ratings.

Chris

Could you tell me where that is in the RCW? I've owned four trucks in Washington and other then the GVW (weight) tax am aware of no such thing.

JIMNLIN wrote:
All vehicles on the road come under some type of weight regulations.

Its rare someone pulling/carrying a RV would be pulled over for too heavy a load unless their rig was over weight to the point the combo was all over the road and creating a hazard to other vehicles.

One caveat I can think of that's pretty common in almost all states, and that's "implements of husbandry". You can get away with a =lot= with farm vehicles; height, weight, oversize, etc., so long as you're doing it "safely". :-)

Lyle

jerem0621 wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:

NorthwestBound wrote:
Wow, i would have thought, with all the weight concerns posted here and on other sites, that there would be strict enforcement of some kind of weight regulations.

LOL...your catching on. People here fear monger a LOT. The fear mongerers = weight police.

When you point out there really are few to no weight laws that apply to non-commercial drivers while towing, they change the subject to civil law suits.

And then I ask the same question you did here...show us one example. Just one, to crack the door open for us to consider this as reality.

IMO, even in a civil case, if you had proof someone was towing over any OEM rated capacity (NOT payload...but the ones that matter on a scale...GVW, GCWR, axle ratings, tire ratings) does that mean they were truly negligent and caused the incident? That is VERY difficult to prove unless there is very obvious, gross negligence.


Now, when I saw things like this, those same fear mongering people continue on and finally accuse me of advocating towing over OEM ratings. Well, I said no such thing, nor do I advocate doing so.

I simply have a problem with the unjustified fear that if someone does exceed a rating (knowingly or not) and be involved in an accident, their life is over.

Yep..100% agree...and I have the position that if you cause a wreck and are UNDER all ratings...you are still open for civil suits.

Can you imagine..."Officer, I was under all my weights before the accident." officer..." Well that changes everything! You were under your weights...we are good here." And then the officer says to the family whose lives you just destroyed..."I'm sorry...he was under all his OEM ratings...there are no ramifications for him because he is rig was under all weights."

Absolutely NOT....If you cause wreck you are open to the vengeance of the legal and civil system....towing or not...overloaded or not.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

You don't even have to cause anything. In fact, you don't even have to be =moving= to get on the wrong end of a civil suit.

Lyle

JIMNLIN wrote:
All vehicles on the road come under some type of weight regulations.

Its rare someone pulling/carrying a RV would be pulled over for too heavy a load unless their rig was over weight to the point the combo was all over the road and creating a hazard to other vehicles.

I think JIMNLIN hit the nail on the head.
Not likely to get pulled over unless dragging tail, or all over the road with sway.

As for a crash, I would believe that if you were over GVWR on the VIN sticker, it would need to be proven to have been a contributing factor, but I am not a hungry lawyer.

We all know a good lawyer can prove you were in the wrong if you hit someone turning left in front of you. Even though you had a green light and they had a red light!!!

All vehicles on the road come under some type of weight regulations.

Its rare someone pulling/carrying a RV would be pulled over for too heavy a load unless their rig was over weight to the point the combo was all over the road and creating a hazard to other vehicles.

Down here in Texas if Bubba can hook it on his Dodge he will try to tow it!

Hondavalk wrote:
This is from Ohio revised code:

GROSS WEIGHT: The weight of a vehicle
combination without load plus the weight of any
load thereon. the maximum overall gross weight
of vehicle and load imposed upon the road
surface shall not exceed eighty thousand
pounds
SINGLE AXLE WEIGHT: The total weight
imposed upon the road surface by all wheels
whose centers may be included between two
parallel transverse vertical planes forty inches
apart, extended across the full width of the
vehicle. The maximum single axle weight shall
not exceed twenty thousand pounds
TANDEM AXLE WEIGHT: The total weight
imposed upon the road surface by two or more
consecutive axles whose centers may be
included between parallel transverse vertical
planes spaced more than forty inches but not
more than ninety-six inches apart, extending
across the full width of the vehicle. The
maximum tandem axle weight shall not exceed
thirty -four thousand pounds.

Kinda dought many RVs have much to worry about.

Those a repeated from the federal bridge weight laws. Most states have the same in their code somewhere.

Some states like Washington license tonnage for private trucks. So you can be ticketed for being over our licensed weight or maybe over our tire ratings.

Chris

This is from Ohio revised code:

GROSS WEIGHT: The weight of a vehicle
combination without load plus the weight of any
load thereon. the maximum overall gross weight
of vehicle and load imposed upon the road
surface shall not exceed eighty thousand
pounds
SINGLE AXLE WEIGHT: The total weight
imposed upon the road surface by all wheels
whose centers may be included between two
parallel transverse vertical planes forty inches
apart, extended across the full width of the
vehicle. The maximum single axle weight shall
not exceed twenty thousand pounds
TANDEM AXLE WEIGHT: The total weight
imposed upon the road surface by two or more
consecutive axles whose centers may be
included between parallel transverse vertical
planes spaced more than forty inches but not
more than ninety-six inches apart, extending
across the full width of the vehicle. The
maximum tandem axle weight shall not exceed
thirty -four thousand pounds.

Kinda dought many RVs have much to worry about.

The RCMP periodically will pull over non commercial trucks and check for weight violations particularly if they see more than one snowmobile on a standard box half ton or an oilfield pickup sitting on the spring blocks, those guys are always overloaded. Normally they leave us rv'ers alone but do conduct random roadside checks, we have been stopped without problems. However if we were to get into a pileup and were shown to be overweight, rest assured charges would be laid and the mandatory government insurance agency would bail on us.