Is PA "warning" Rvers. (license).

cbshoestring wrote:

DrewE wrote:

leggy wrote:
First I agree that CDL changes everything, however, the way my CDL class B reads is that I can not tow anything greater than 10,000 lbs. In fact I have a friend that was ticketed for pulling an equipment trailer more than 10k behind his pickup last year. Yes, it was with a contractor's truck so became a commercial situation. He was going to fight it but I'm not sure how he made out. This is the first time I have heard about it being applied to RVs. I am going to do some research.

CDLs are never required for RVs used for personal noncommercial uses. What a CDL applies to is regulated at the federal level, and RVs are specifically excluded.

Not true.

PA law clearly states the a class A is required for combinations over 26,000 trailer in excess of 10,000. The only class A one can obtain in PA is refered to as a CDL...DO NOT get hung up on the word COMMERCIAL...it is a weight thing, not a WHAT is being hauled thing.

Other states have similar laws---check our own states.

CDLs are also not required for pulling trailers greater than 10,000 pounds if the combined weight of the trailer and the tow vehicle is not more than 26,000 pounds. This leads to the rather odd situation where one can pull, say, a 15,000 pound trailer with a 10,000 pound tow vehicle without a CDL but not an 12,000 pound trailer with a 15,000 pound tow vehicle, even though the latter likely requires less care and skill (and is generally safer overall).

ODD isn't it.

You can legally drive any combination, as long as they don't exceed 26,000. Can you see an 8,000 truck being pushed by a 17,999 trailer.

Want to hear an equally odd fact...that 26,000 truck can have airbrakes, no knowledge on how those brakes work is required. Register that same truck at 26,001 and you will have to take a test proving your knowledge of air brakes.

I asked a Motor Carrier Safety Officer about this, since I see a lot of moving company trucks, with air brakes, being rented to ma & pa. He shook his head, said they have no authority over the "regular" licensed...but once you get that Class B, fed regs kick in.