Anyone had their rig weighed by authorities in these areas?

[noteven]

Has anyone ever been stopped and had their RV tow vehicle & trailer weighed by enforcement persons in MT, ND, SD, MN, WI, MI, or ON?

Has anyone ever wrecked in the above states and province and had enforcement persons order all the wreckage shoveled up and piled on a scale so insurance could determine if you were 500lbs over door sticker?

[john_bet]

GaryInMaine wrote:

john&bet wrote:
I have driven thru by car or RV most of those states(lived in one for 9 years) since '78 and have never seen an RV accident.

I knew a guy who picked up his brand new FW in Michigan drove 16 miles from the dealer and was rear ended by a propane tanker. Shut down I76 for over an hour. His camper was never weighted. .... waite, that guy was me :E

Wow. Glad you weren't hurt. We have been very, very lucky in our travels since '68 and have seen very few accidents and have never been involved in one while on the road. The last one I saw was 5 years ago in the south bound lanes of I-65 south of US-50. I did not see it happen, but there was an F-250/350 with a 30++ foot TT sitting up on the guard rail jackknifed with the trucks rear up in the air held up by the WD hitch as it was still hooked up. No emergency services there yet.

[msmith1199]

There was a fatal accident last year where an RV ran over and killed a State Trooper on a freeway. It was a large class A towing a large cargo type trailer. Now although I have not read the report, I'd be willing to bet a very large sum of money that one of the things the investigation team did was weigh that RV and trailer as well as inspect everything from the brake pads to the clearance lights.

[GaryInMaine]

john&bet wrote:
I have driven thru by car or RV most of those states(lived in one for 9 years) since '78 and have never seen an RV accident.

I knew a guy who picked up his brand new FW in Michigan drove 16 miles from the dealer and was rear ended by a propane tanker. Shut down I76 for over an hour. His camper was never weighted. .... waite, that guy was me :E

[bucky]

DOT would not be involved in a non commercial event.

[crabbin_cabin]

Not by authorities - BUT a few years ago my "new" truck developed a problem and we were towed to the nearest truck repair place (Ft. Collins CO). The truck was under warranty so the repair facility called before they would start repair. The Warranty folks insisted our fifth wheel must be overweight and before they would authorize repair we had to have the fiver weighed and show the repair facility the weight certificate who relayed that info to the warranty folks!! We were OK and repairs were done under the warranty.

[2gypsies1]

If you pass a weigh station on the highway just keep going. Those are for commercial trucks not for RVs.

[mbopp]

Well, eons ago dear old dad got weighed and ticketed in his pickup truck hauling a ditch digger. He was over on his registration weight and it cost him $1000. The trooper said if he were over on his axles and / or GVW the fine would have been a lot higher.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

The 'weight police' that I've talked to over the years are looking for trucks that are over weight.

They don't care about RVs. Since the general problem caused by an overweight RV is blowouts they see it as a self-correcting 'problem'. The same with broken axles, broken frames, etc.

As mentioned above - only in a fatal accident might the police, or coroner, investigator look at possible weight as a contributor. More than likely rather than try to prove the RV was overweight, they would just cite the driver with failure to maintain control of his rig.

Another point - I don't know if a vehicle can be cited for being over any of the sticker weights. I've seen a lot of vehicles which are obviously over the sticker weights - and never seen a police officer care. There are laws about certain vehicle weights - but they are all total gross weight.

I wouldn't say authorities never weigh a RV, but it is few and far between.

[Lantley]

Based on the responses. I guess this means authorities can't and won't weigh rigs in these areas no matter what? Correct?

[wing_zealot]

06Fargo wrote:
Has anyone ever been stopped and had their RV tow vehicle & trailer weighed by enforcement persons in MT, ND, SD, MN, WI, MI, or ON?

Has anyone ever wrecked in the above states and province and had enforcement persons order all the wreckage shoveled up and piled on a scale so insurance could determine if you were 500lbs over door sticker?

They couldn't prove anything unless they knew exactly how each piece they picked up was positioned in relationship to the axle(s) and hitch. Water or no water in a tank and where the tank is, times at least 4 tanks. End result, fools chasing their tail.

[hotpepperkid]

denlock wrote:

Bet you won't find any one who has. But maybe one who knows a guy, who knows a guy, whose brother's sister's friend's husband did.

I know that guy!

Yea he's my neighbor

[john_bet]

I have driven thru by car or RV most of those states(lived in one for 9 years) since '78 and have never seen an RV accident.

[We_Cant_Wait]

About the ONLY time D.O.T. MIGHT come in and weight a unit is if it was involved in an accident resulting in a fatality, and they though there was a real weight issue involved.

[The_Mad_Norsky]

Sounds like an urban legend to me.

I have real doubts of this happening.

[denlock]

Bet you won't find any one who has. But maybe one who knows a guy, who knows a guy, whose brother's sister's friend's husband did.

I know that guy!