Survey - who has had a citation for RV overweight?

CWSWine wrote:
When I sat on a jury we had to fill out form stating what factors caused an accident and one of the questions was "Was the Vehicle Operating within manufacture specs - Yes - No What percentage of cause do you assign" or sometime to those words.

Who is the manufacturer... the truck manufacturer that simply assembled the parts, or the manufacturer of the axle?

My Ram 2500 rear axle is rated to 6,500 lbs. In a Ram 3500 SRW, the same exact axle is rated to 7,000 lbs. AAM, the manufacturer of the axle, rates it at 10,120 lbs.

My Ram 2500 with a 10,000 GWR is rated with 6,000 lbs front axles and 6,500 lbs rear axles, for a total GAWR of 12,500 lbs (18" wheels). A 3500 is rated 6,000 lbs front axle and 7,000 lbs rear axle, for a total GAWR of 13,000 lbs.

Again... which rating is the one considered "manufacturer specs"? If I am the one getting sued, I am arguing that AAM believes the axle can hold more weight. I am certainly arguing that with a different spring pack (but everything else EXACTLY THE SAME), Ram believes it can hold more weight. If I were to ever go over my 10,000 lbs rating, I would have registered for more than 10,000 lbs and argued that the State of Maryland allowed me to register for the additional weight. Now you, the person suing me, has to PROVE beyond a preponderance of the evidence that me being 1000 lbs over the GVWR assigned by Ram, yet under Rams own axle ratings and under AAM's axle ratings was a direct reason as to why a collision occurred.

Lets face it, it is FAR easier to prove negligence of the driver (speeding, distracted, driver error, etc) than to prove that being overloaded was the cause of the collision.

As you noted though, that is but one single piece of the puzzle. Being overloaded while driving in excess speed, while distracted by something, while following too closely, while running a red light is certainly enough to be civilly liable. But any one single thing is likely not enough to prove negligence.