California speed limit for motorhome with toad

Just to spread the wealth among Leos, we hear complaints all the time about OR and WA picking on CA drivers, guess afraid we are coming to take over!

Anyways any time you are stopped it is always your assumption they are picking on you/me.

Now you want to lose that feeling get caught in one the speed zones where they bring in the fixed wing and a dozen or more ground units. The planes spots and clocks the cars and ground units write tickets for however long the are assigned to that area, may be a couple hours to a full shift.

They did this a few years back near me on the 101 through Thousand Oaks CA. for eight hours and wrote something like 750 tickets! The ground units were lined up on onramps and sometimes all the units on that side of the freeway were sent at once as they pick 6 or more cars out of the pack! BTW that 3-5 mile stretch of 101 is one of the highest avg speed chunks of highway in the state, 6 lanes each direction and averages between 75-85 mph.

Tom/Barb wrote:

BobGed wrote:

You ran with the same five trucks, which apparently were all base plated in CA, from Bakersfield to Mt Shasta, around 500 miles, at 65 mph? Too bad you didn't have a dash camera. You could have submitted the adventure to Ripley's Believe It Or Not. :R

You make 2 assumptions that lead to the wrong conclusion.

8 hours in the truck is not an impossible task.

I don't think I assumed anything, but what I posted was somewhat in jest. However apparently your new year is not off to a comedic start, so allow me to explain. You said:

Tom/Barb wrote:
We in our 2002 Dodge ram diesel towing a Big Foot 25 had been running with 5 semis from Bakersfield all day at 65, I have 2 trucks in front of me and three behind, we come thru Mt Shasta and a CHP saw those Wa. plates and the red lights came on pulling us out of line. $385.00

Point 1. You can't drive that route all day at 65 mph. Can you average 65 mph? Certainly possible, but there would have been times you were doing way more than 65 mph.

Point 2. You ran with the same five semis all the way from Bakersfield to Mt Shasta at 65 mph? (This is one for the dash camera)

Point 3. If Point 2 is correct, then one is to assume all five of those semis (keeping in mind they were all doing 65 mph all day long with you in the middle) would have to have been base plated in CA, and were therefore ignored by the CHP who instead picked you out of the bunch just because of your WA plates.

Point 4. Elevation of Bakersfield is ~500. Mt Shasta is ~3,600. Five semis maintaining 65 mph for that ascent? (Again, another one for the dash camera).

C'mon lighten up and get the new year off to a good start. :)

In parts of Texas the speed limit is 80 mph. I don't recall any 'truck' speed limits. In that case, I would go no more than 65 mph as that's the limit on my toad (which I don't think really matters) and it's my comfort level at a steady speed.

It's the long hill downgrades that make it difficult to resist as my computer says I'm getting 150 mpg. The engine brake works great and would keep me out of trouble if I would let it.

I come from a family of law enforcement officers (two brothers, one brother-in-law) and I respect their careers. Seeing the 'bad' guys all the time would really skew my view on humanity.

In the motorhome, I'm really not in that big of a hurry.

MM.

They pull over and ticket many drivers from Calif . Traffic flows so much better out of state without the trucks and rvs driving 20 to 30 miles an hr less then the flow of traffic!

My neighbor was CHP for 27 years. I once asked him, out of all of the speeding tickets he had written, what was the best and worst excuses he ever heard. He thought for a second and replied:

"I don't know, I never listened."

Basically, he explained, whether you were going to get a ticket or not was already determined before he got off the bike or out of the cruiser. Traffic and weather conditions along with the severity of the speed usually were factored in along with the drivers attitude.

We spend a fair amount of time driving in California and lived in San Diego for 50 years, rest assured if you are towing anything, 61 mph will likely get you a ticket. I always kept my speed under 60 when towing. We are Toadless in our C but I still find 60 to 62 to be plenty fast enough and my mileage is much better. :C

Just got back from Death Valley from Oregon. I can tell you that no truck drivers were going 65 MPH in California while I was on the road.

Most ran right with me at 57-58 and some right around 60. CHP were all over the road and many 4 wheelers were pulled over along the route.

Roads still very bad in Ca.

Pogoil.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,

My wife got pulled over while driving in the left lane, going about 65 passing a bunch of trucks. She should have known there was a CHP around because the two right lanes where full of tractor trailer trucks going 55 MPH. And Interstate 10 had just dropped from 4 lanes to 3 lanes eastbound just east of Palm Springs. She only got the ticket for driving in the left lane, not going 65. We where towing a car behind our motorhome.

Fred.

Good info! Didn't know this one applied to MH's. Interestingly, I've been in the 3rd lane in the presence of CHP before. I guess he wasn't in the ticketing mood. I mostly drive at 60 mph when towing. Occasionally at 65.

Tom/Barb wrote:

BobGed wrote:

You ran with the same five trucks, which apparently were all base plated in CA, from Bakersfield to Mt Shasta, around 500 miles, at 65 mph? Too bad you didn't have a dash camera. You could have submitted the adventure to Ripley's Believe It Or Not. :R

You make 2 assumptions that lead to the wrong conclusion.

8 hours in the truck is not an impossible task.

google says...

Bakersfield, CA

7 hours 15 mins

Mt Shasta, CA

BobGed wrote:

You ran with the same five trucks, which apparently were all base plated in CA, from Bakersfield to Mt Shasta, around 500 miles, at 65 mph? Too bad you didn't have a dash camera. You could have submitted the adventure to Ripley's Believe It Or Not. :R

You make 2 assumptions that lead to the wrong conclusion.

8 hours in the truck is not an impossible task.

I was given a big break in CA many years ago. I saw the "autos towing / 55 MPH" but felt like I could argue the point should I get pulled over and just cruised along at 70 between LA and Vegas. Heck, it's the middle of no dang where anyway, so who would really care. Looking in the mirror I saw a trooper coming with lights on and figured I was a dead man. As the trooper approached he pulled in front, slowed to 55 for a bit and then turned off his lights but stayed pretty close in front of me. I was not sure what was going on but I knew he wanted to let me know the speed limit. A few minutes later a Mercedes flew past at what I would guess to be around 85 and the trooper took off and lit him up. I believe he was using me as his blind spot waiting to this driver to arrive. In any case, I appreciated the consideration (or being used) and I now travel the CA roads around 60 MPH.