is it nessasery to stop at weigh stations?

Just to make thinge clear.

You don't have to stop at weigh stations unless directed to by a law enforcement officer.


IN most cases you DO have to stop at Agricultural Inspection stations.

You have to stop at any Border Patrol Stations, including those inland.

Not normally required to stop.

However, sometimes here in Western PA they will denote ALL trailers or RECREATIONAL VEHICLES. When they do this, you basically do a drive thru, they only stop the really dangerous looking set ups, then give advice on how to properly tow or tie down, etc...

You didn't ask, but I will speak up anyway----

I wish they would run RVer's thru the scales MORE OFTEN. We have all seen boaters with innertubes flying on a bungee cord, trailer tongues darn near dragging the ground, and people who generally have a dangerous towing situation.

Many simply do NOT know any better, or have a general disregard for the safety of fellow highway travellers. Getting to that CG on Friday night, is all they care about. Gets worse on a holiday weekend.

If THEY (whoever they are), cracked down a bit more---we would see a lot less coolers, chairs, plastic tables, etc... on the side of the road. Items that someone else probably had to avoid.

I won't even go into the actual SCALING of recreational setups....that would cause to much ire from those claiming I am trying to be the weight police.

EDIT: Almost forgot----

I asked a Motor Carrier Safety Officer why they do NOT check RVer's. Simple answer, they do NOT have the authority. Federal Law provides that commercial vehicles are subject to inspection. Mr & Mrs Private Citizen has a right against unlawful search, etc.... They have to witness a violation to pull you over. They can re-direct traffic, slow it down (make you enter the scale house) but need to SEE the violation.

With most state laws being very iffy on the subject of travel trailers, boat trailers, etc...(just do a search on here, everyone has their interp of the law)... what is/isn't a violation?????

He shrugged, said it is not worth the aggravation of pulling over recreational vehicles unless there is a clear safety concern.

Personally I've never seen a RV having to pull into a weigh station. Not saying there may be a couple states here or there, but most stations are for semi trucks. Johnny law doesn't want to deal w/ RVers for a couple reasons. 1. RVers vote. 2. More $$$ in ticketing semis who are overweight. Yes we all know that there are some RVers that are overweight and that usually doesn't come into play unless they are involved in some type of rear end accident where the RV rear ended another and smashed the other vehicle pretty good/serious injury resulted. Read =Sue Happy Lawyer.

IMO, if you see a weigh station that reads "Open", that's for semis as the sign should read "All trucks must stop". Trucks meaning semis. RVers can "keep on trucking".

Trackrig wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:
Not unless you are a commercial truck.

X2

X-3. Unless scale station sign says "ALL TOWED VEHICLES".

I doubt you'll get "yelled" at.

You'll likely get yelled at if you do.

Tom/Barb wrote:
Not unless you are a commercial truck.

X2

Not unless you are a commercial truck.