Survey - who has had a citation for RV overweight?

spoon059 wrote:

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?

Is the axle the factor or is the frame, brakes and etc. The towing guides warns you not to exceed GVWR and GM even has page on their site not to exceed the GVWR Click Here YOu can argue all you want but you will to convince a jury of lay people that are not RVers that the warnings put out the Ford, Chevy and Ram are not a reason to go by. After sitting on a jury I will honor the manufacture specs. I don't want to spend legal fees to defend that either.

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.

CWSWine wrote:
I believe that the only time overweight will come into play is if you are in a accident that ends up in court. 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. I don't think that overweight will be on the only cause but one of many. The jury I was on spread the cause over several areas. Now I have seen a bill board that had on it if you been in a accident with a commercial or RV call this number of law office xyz. Over the last couple of years I have seen more and more ads from lawyers wanting cases with overweight RVs like the link below and most of the time are quoting GVWR like the one below. Got to be something to it if lawyers are taking the time to research and write ads.

RV Overweight Lawyer

An ambulance chaser like that will try to make hay over anything, and citing a hack's advertisement doesn't make a persuasive argument in the least. I started out practicing insurance defense after law school and hacks like that rarely try cases and just throw whatever spaghetti at the wall they can to try to maximize settlements. Being over a manufacturer's spec in and of itself means nothing. It also has to be a breach of duty on the part of the defendant and a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries (it's a little more complex than that and varies some by state, but for message board purposes that's good enough). In the end the most it would likely ever be is one of many factors discussed in a mediation or settlement that your insurance would pay. Even that's a bit of a stretch unless you're really grossly overweight.

I believe that the only time overweight will come into play is if you are in a accident that ends up in court. 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. I don't think that overweight will be on the only cause but one of many. The jury I was on spread the cause over several areas. Now I have seen a bill board that had on it if you been in a accident with a commercial or RV call this number of law office xyz. Over the last couple of years I have seen more and more ads from lawyers wanting cases with overweight RVs like the link below and most of the time are quoting GVWR like the one below. Got to be something to it if lawyers are taking the time to research and write ads.

RV Overweight Lawyer

Has anyone had a ticket or citation for an overweight RV rig?

" If a person hasn't actually studied the law then please quit giving their opinion or popping off with what they think because they simply don't know and it just spreads erroneous information."

Perfectly valid point....and I wish all of the armchair lawyers on here who are not admitted to practice would quit pontificating on what will or won't happen in a civil lawsuit and what factors will or won't be alleged as causation for the accident.

Wadcutter, are you by chance from Hainesville IL?

nevadanick wrote:
Federal regs now allow 24k on rear axle of mh and transit bus. Technically you cant go farther than a mile from the interstate. My mh is 21,300 on rear axle before i hook a trlr to it. In a year of travels as far east as East Texas and as far north As Fairbanks Ak, not once have i been stopped or questioned. This Ca link referances the 24k for mh.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/trucks/weight.html

That is a new one to me. With that said, there are a few variants to basic what you can and can not do. Tank truck and trailers are allowed a few lbs more than std, at least locally meaning Wa st.
As you also note. You.are not supposed to go more than a mile fr freeway. These types of you can, but really.can not rules are around. Like triples are not allowed in Wa st, but you can bring into Wa stat x miles to remove third trailer at reasonably closest stop, warehouse etc. Iirc <5 miles.....
Unfortunately, most info is still being related on a.commercial basis example......BUT, with this in mind, as wadcutter noted, I have to in the past, weight laws protect the road. That is the engineer spec you must follow, and get enforced on, not the.engineer that designs and specs your vehicle. Follow and think how these examples may effect you, in most cases not, you.realize, you have no.worries from an over weight.perspective.
Marty

Federal regs now allow 24k on rear axle of mh and transit bus. Technically you cant go farther than a mile from the interstate. My mh is 21,300 on rear axle before i hook a trlr to it. In a year of travels as far east as East Texas and as far north As Fairbanks Ak, not once have i been stopped or questioned. This Ca link referances the 24k for mh.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/trafficops/trucks/weight.html

blt2ski wrote:
Actually, in Wa st, EVEN if pulling for personal pleasure, one must stay under the FBL's, have a high enough paid for license. Follow the truck speed limit of 60 mph even if it is legal to 70 for cars, assuming over 10K in any way shape or form. Need to chain up when signs say to do so over 10K. This will also include those under 10K, but paid for license is over 10K, or the max sum of truck and trailer can be over 10K........You do not need to go to scales, make up a log book etc. BUT, from a weight perspective and a few other things, yes one must follow the same rules regs etc.

marty

Correct.
Everyone is subject to the weight limits. The weigh limits do not specify if someone is hauling commercially or private individual. They apply to every vehicle on the roadway. Think about the reason for the weight laws. The weight limits are in place to protect road surfaces. Doesn't matter who is hauling the weight, either commercially or private individual.
If you buy a D-10 CAT weight laws don't apply just to the trucker who delivers your D-10. If you then decide to load it on a trailer and move it to another location that D-10 is going to weight the same.
People spouting off what they think weight laws involve really ought to stop listening to the fat guy in a flannel shirt around the campfire. They need to read the law before the pipe in and show they really don't know what they're talking about. They don't know enough about the topic to realize how silly they look. Basic weight law class was 40 hours. If a person hasn't actually studied the law then please quit giving their opinion or popping off with what they think because they simply don't know and it just spreads erroneous information.