is it nessasery to stop at weigh stations?

ugh wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:
For those of us in Washington State, When you feel you may not be compliant, you can stop at any weigh station and ask for an inspection. you can go to any state police inspection station and do the same. When you feel you have a brake problem, they have heat cameras to see if your system has a faulty brake. They are your public servants, use them. I'll bet other states have the same service, even those with mandatory annual safety inspections.

Sure. We can use them, but they are required to enforce the laws. That means writing tickets and maybe even force you to have it towed. Not a good idea to use them to make sure you are compliant because they have to follow the law.

They could but never do. When they find a dangerous safety issue, wouldn't you want it repaired before you tow or drive it? If you were to have a accident after knowing the problem was not safe, you be in much more trouble than having it towed.

Tom/Barb wrote:
For those of us in Washington State, When you feel you may not be compliant, you can stop at any weigh station and ask for an inspection. you can go to any state police inspection station and do the same. When you feel you have a brake problem, they have heat cameras to see if your system has a faulty brake. They are your public servants, use them. I'll bet other states have the same service, even those with mandatory annual safety inspections.

Sure. We can use them, but they are required to enforce the laws. That means writing tickets and maybe even force you to have it towed. Not a good idea to use them to make sure you are compliant because they have to follow the law.

We traveled 7K miles last summer over 7 weeks in 13 states from Indiana to Oregon and back and never pulled into a scales anywhere.

I like to stop at closed scales when I have time (which is not often) and sometimes, the scale readout is visible through the window. We got our loaded weight going out on our last trip, but didn't take the time to get all the weights as the scale only has a small pad (only one truck axle at a time, both trailer axles fit on)... it was good to get some weights the way we are currently loaded. It would have been simple to undo the WDH and get the weights, but it was a hundred degrees out and we were running late already. I wish we had taken the time coming home since we were loaded differently (could tell by the way it handled). Too much traffic to exit left and get back on highway after done..

For those of us in Washington State, When you feel you may not be compliant, you can stop at any weigh station and ask for an inspection. you can go to any state police inspection station and do the same. When you feel you have a brake problem, they have heat cameras to see if your system has a faulty brake. They are your public servants, use them. I'll bet other states have the same service, even those with mandatory annual safety inspections.

ksss wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
Frankly, the chance of those rv delivery drivers being overweight per say, is pretty slim and none.

They will probably get ticketed with some other infraction that is checked at those stations.

There might be a type a MH or two that come from the factory overweight per tire sizing and weight per axel......that should be at expense of maufacture, not the driver to correct etc.

Reality is, how many of you have more than 10K lbs per axel on a single wheel setup? Or for that matter, how many have more than 19-20K per dual wheel setup? not too many, so the chance of you getting a true overweight ticket is slim and none.

marty

All that is true, however the book containing rules and regs as it pertains to US DOT is thick. If they want to cite you, be assured you will get cited. There are reasons why even small trucking firms hire someone simply to ensure they are in DOT compliance (as much as possible).

Maybe not stated as well as I should have, but from a weight standpoint, probably not an issue. From another standpoint, if they want to get you off the road, they will! I've had a number classes put on by cveo's here in Washington state. I am not going to say I know all the rules. But from a general weight stand point. no issues as long as my paid for license is large enough, I am under the 20K per axel or 500 lbs per inch of tire. I am good from an overweight stand point. Otherwise......oh the things they can get me on......ie see highlighted red in initial post.

marty

blt2ski wrote:
Frankly, the chance of those rv delivery drivers being overweight per say, is pretty slim and none. They will probably get ticketed with some other infraction that is checked at those stations.

There might be a type a MH or two that come from the factory overweight per tire sizing and weight per axel......that should be at expense of maufacture, not the driver to correct etc.

Reality is, how many of you have more than 10K lbs per axel on a single wheel setup? Or for that matter, how many have more than 19-20K per dual wheel setup? not too many, so the chance of you getting a true overweight ticket is slim and none.

marty

1st run across the scale was 19800 rear empty :E

blt2ski wrote:
Frankly, the chance of those rv delivery drivers being overweight per say, is pretty slim and none. They will probably get ticketed with some other infraction that is checked at those stations.

There might be a type a MH or two that come from the factory overweight per tire sizing and weight per axel......that should be at expense of maufacture, not the driver to correct etc.

Reality is, how many of you have more than 10K lbs per axel on a single wheel setup? Or for that matter, how many have more than 19-20K per dual wheel setup? not too many, so the chance of you getting a true overweight ticket is slim and none.

marty

All that is true, however the book containing rules and regs as it pertains to US DOT is thick. If they want to cite you, be assured you will get cited. There are reasons why even small trucking firms hire someone simply to ensure they are in DOT compliance (as much as possible).

Frankly, the chance of those rv delivery drivers being overweight per say, is pretty slim and none. They will probably get ticketed with some other infraction that is checked at those stations.

There might be a type a MH or two that come from the factory overweight per tire sizing and weight per axel......that should be at expense of maufacture, not the driver to correct etc.

Reality is, how many of you have more than 10K lbs per axel on a single wheel setup? Or for that matter, how many have more than 19-20K per dual wheel setup? not too many, so the chance of you getting a true overweight ticket is slim and none.

marty

45Ricochet wrote:

ACZL wrote:
Personally I've never seen a RV having to pull into a weigh station.

There is a scale house on I90 just east of Spokane and I use to chuckle when I'd drive by and see RV's in the line to get weighted. Then one day I realized that they were delivery drivers with a DOT number on the truck :W

Correct!!!