Weigh Station ??

When you aren’t sure abut a state’s rules I suggest complying with the sign.

Commercial vehicles only. If you happen to be towing your bike or car home from the race track where you could have won a prize then technically you are commercial.

That isn’t what the chart says for Mississippi that was posted by rgatijnet1.

Lwiddis wrote:
When you aren’t sure abut a state’s rules I suggest complying with the sign.

What is the penalty for stopping when not required? Worse thing could happen, they find you are over your tire ratings. The fine might sting, but the reduction of ignorance about a real danger would be worthwhile.
OTOH, if you pass a scale when you are expected to stop, even if everything else is legal, that fine can get pretty high. And it won't be any of the COMMERCIAL ONLY keyboard lawyers paying.

Hi,

I always thought that the weigh stations only applied to commercial vehicles.

So item #3 in the "Weigh Station Rules" link posted above states:

"Passenger or specialty vehicles that weigh over 10,000 pounds must stop for weighing in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Pennsylvania."

Having lived in Massachusetts all of my life, I can't remember even SEEING a weigh station here, let alone it being open. Most of the ones I've seen in New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut & Rhode Island) that are still there are closed almost 100% of the time we go by. And in my opinion, there are very few of them in New England to begin with. I'm sure an over the road trucker would be able to chime in with more experience here.

As for checking if we were over the weight of our tires for safety.... Is that even a possibility? Most of the weigh stations I do see usually have the trucks rolling along and not even stopping. How the heck could they weigh an RV and then make a determination that it was over its axle ratings or tire ratings and was a safety concern.

I always assumed that the commercial vehicles had maximum weight ratings specified by the D.O T. for the type of truck and number of axles. They didn't check to see if the rig was "safe" carrying that weight.

But I could be wrong, and would love to hear from those with more experience with this. Both from RV'ers and OTR truckers.

~Rick

Weigh stations are for commercial vehicles.I’ll agree some states poorly word their signs . If you are for profit or a racer in California with paid sponsor stickers all over you are “ maybe” a target. California loves to target racers . Note … Commercial vehicles have their paid load ratings on the side of the cab. Do you? And their IFTA number that’s all they are interested in . If you as Joe rver pull in you will be hurried through as they don’t want you there and have no interest or knowledge of your truck or Rv’s ratings. Now if your pulling a house that’s dragging the ground and a officer pulls you over that’s a different matter. Otherwise stay out of the weigh stations! As a side note if your pulling a water craft you may have to go in for an inspection at some weigh stations. You did clean the hill .. right?
40 years a commercial truck driver .. if you have a cab you’ll hear them all laughing and making fun of you. Just saying

Generally if you blow past a weight station and you should have stopped they will chase you down and either escort you back or porta-scale you.. Generally. Unless they are having a bad day... Then.. Good luck.

But that only works once.

Know of a Driver who had a "Permitted" load. Well he went to visit his sweety then he took a shortcut (not on the permitted route) then he met one of my Motor Carrier officers and the fine... Well he paid that MCO's wages for about the next two years. (OUCH) it was a very heavy/wide load.

I’m guessing the sweetheart wasn’t worth the fine?

Rick Jay wrote:
Hi,

I always thought that the weigh stations only applied to commercial vehicles.

So item #3 in the "Weigh Station Rules" link posted above states:

"Passenger or specialty vehicles that weigh over 10,000 pounds must stop for weighing in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Pennsylvania."

Once I had 3 of my trucks captured in a county just east of home. My lawyer did not know how things would turn out, so I went to court with her. (Legal tickets, we where stealing. I had promised my hands if they run fat I pay 70% of the fine) But for the sake of discussion, over half of the defendants where guys that did not license their pickup heavy enough for the GCVW of pickup and boat. Now we where all caught by portables, not a scalehouse.

As for checking if we were over the weight of our tires for safety.... Is that even a possibility? Most of the weigh stations I do see usually have the trucks rolling along and not even stopping. How the heck could they weigh an RV and then make a determination that it was over its axle ratings or tire ratings and was a safety concern.

At any time, a switch can flip, stop part of that line. So the possibility is there. Is it probable? No. Most likely outcome is you get waved thru. But if the LEO thinks you should of stopped, runs you down, the fines or lawyer fees will add up.

I always assumed that the commercial vehicles had maximum weight ratings specified by the D.O T. for the type of truck and number of axles. They didn't check to see if the rig was "safe" carrying that weight.

Axle spacing is more important than weight rating when it comes to legal weight. When it comes to trucks, (Not tractor/simi-trailer) tire rating is most likely to be issue on steering axle, because everybody has tires on the other axles for the 20,000 limit. But you better believe that the trucks are subject to safety inspection at the scale. If weight watcher sees number on the scale that looks big for the size of your tires, you will have a issue. Of course, just like "If we don't test we won't find cases" Just because you don't know the weight on your tires, the tire does. Bang is always inconvenient, but can be deadly.