Weigh Station ??

[TC_Z]

We were driving our 38 ft Class A MH West on I-20. As we entered MS a sign said "All Vehicles Over 5 Tons Must Enter". I didn't. Surely they meant DOT vehicles and trucks, right? Is a RV ever required at a Weigh Station? Not that i am aware of. Thanks.....

[Chum_lee]

TC&Z wrote:
We were driving our 38 ft Class A MH West on I-20. As we entered MS a sign said "All Vehicles Over 5 Tons Must Enter". I didn't. Surely they meant DOT vehicles and trucks, right? Is a RV ever required at a Weigh Station? Not that i am aware of. Thanks.....

IMO, this is a free learning opportunity for you. I haven't been through every weigh station throughout the USA, but, many of the ones I have been through visually post your axle weights as you drive over the scale. If not, you can park after the scale, then, go in and ask them. This is VALUABLE information. IMO, as the operator of your vehicle, you should ALWAYS know your current axle weights and compare those against what is stated on the placard in your MH. Not knowing is just plain irresponsible.

Chum lee

[Rickyrocket]

Been driving tractor trailer since '88,I've never seen a RV Get pulled into or chased down,the only RV'S I see that could be targeted are the 5ers being pulled by a over the road tractor.

[JaxDad]

I think what a bunch of you, being an honest person like me, don’t realize just how many less than honest folks there are out there.

For every rule or law there are 10 people trying to make an end run around it.

Folks using an “RV” as a commercial vehicle or for other illegal purposes is rampant these days. Everything from transporting people ‘under the radar’ to pet transportation and commercial boat / ATV / PWC / etc transportation.

Thinking about it from a ‘business’ point of view, no commercial truck insurance, no paperwork (permits, logs, etc) of any kind, no hotel or motels costs …… it would make a marginal thing profitable by under-cutting the legitimate operators.

As always, it only takes a few bad apples.

[Bird_Freak]

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong".

You can’t just make a blanket statement like that, it’s wrong. Period.

There are numerous states require all RVs over 10,000 pounds to stop. Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington (State), and Wisconsin require private RVs, specialty vehicles, passenger vehicles, and trailers over 10,000 lbs to stop.

I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

Georgia does not want your rv at the scales. You just get in the way.

[LouLawrence]

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong".

You can’t just make a blanket statement like that, it’s wrong. Period.


I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

Since you didn't get pulled over personally you actually have no idea why the particular RV you saw was being pulled over. Maybe he was speeding, maybe he was involved in an incident previously and was radioed in, maybe he had a baggage door open, maybe the Unicorn on his roof was shooting rainbow lasers. The point is you don't know and making the assumption.
.

How happy do you think the trucking industry and supply chain commerce in general would be if all the sudden all RV's started to clog up weigh stations?

In that case the reason was reasonably obvious, it was a large DP with large trailer travelling in a convoy of a dozen C’s and small A’s and TT’s, all Canadian vehicles enroute to the fly-in at Osh Kosh WI. We were told later it was a ‘routine stop’ and the driver was admonished to obey the signs in the future.


As for clogging weigh stations, I’m pretty sure most commercial drivers would welcome the sight of a scale clogged with RV’s and trucks having to by-pass the scale because of it.

^^^^^^^Not This^^^^^^^^^^
See a weigh station, pass it by! If some crazy LEO wants to have you return to the weigh station, what do you think they are hoping to accomplish? Are there really that many overweight RV's out there that LEO's would waste their time chasing them down while ignoring the overweight and/or over worked CDL drivers? I don't think so!

[JaxDad]

way2roll wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong".

You can’t just make a blanket statement like that, it’s wrong. Period.


I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

Since you didn't get pulled over personally you actually have no idea why the particular RV you saw was being pulled over. Maybe he was speeding, maybe he was involved in an incident previously and was radioed in, maybe he had a baggage door open, maybe the Unicorn on his roof was shooting rainbow lasers. The point is you don't know and making the assumption.
.

How happy do you think the trucking industry and supply chain commerce in general would be if all the sudden all RV's started to clog up weigh stations?

In that case the reason was reasonably obvious, it was a large DP with large trailer travelling in a convoy of a dozen C’s and small A’s and TT’s, all Canadian vehicles enroute to the fly-in at Osh Kosh WI. We were told later it was a ‘routine stop’ and the driver was admonished to obey the signs in the future.


As for clogging weigh stations, I’m pretty sure most commercial drivers would welcome the sight of a scale clogged with RV’s and trucks having to by-pass the scale because of it.

[LouLawrence]

I have been through all of those States multiple times over the last 20 years and no one even blinked when I drove past a weigh station. Must have been through MI at least 2 dozen times.
Weigh stations are for commercial vehicles and mine is a 40,000# bus conversion RV. It's also a check to see if the load that's supposed to be on board matches the weight of the vehicle. If not, an inspection can be done to find out why there is a variance.

[RedRollingRoadb]

I would like to know how many times this same subject has been beat to death on this as well as other RV forums. And the answers are all the same, every time.

[dedmiston]

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong".

You can’t just make a blanket statement like that, it’s wrong. Period.

There are numerous states require all RVs over 10,000 pounds to stop. Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington (State), and Wisconsin require private RVs, specialty vehicles, passenger vehicles, and trailers over 10,000 lbs to stop.

I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

I've towed through most of those states and I've never ever stopped at a weigh station. My rig is conspicuous enough to catch their attention and I'm slow enough that they could have caught me if they cared.

I accidentally pulled into a weigh station when I was in the wrong lane on the SB 15 just past the NV/CA state line. I gave the universal shrug symbol for "please don't hate me for being an idiot" and the nice CHP officer nodded and waved as I pulled through his station without stopping.

RVs being required to stop at weigh stations is in the same category of urban myths for me as "undigested chewing gum takes seven years to pass through your system".

[Rick_Jay]

JRscooby wrote:
Bet if it happened like that it took a lot longer for the driver to prove to the confused LEO there was no reason to cross the scale. Might even involve a court date if cop was behind on citations.

Possibly, though I would think a look at the vehicle registration would quickly reveal whether the vehicle was registered as a commercial vehicle or not. Carrying just your wife/family members as passengers might be a good supporting argument as well, as well as it being filled with all of the family's personal effects. Now....if a bunch of "Rock Stars" come filing out...that's a different story! 😉

I just think this is statistically a non-issue. IF I ever get "stopped" for not going through the weigh station I'll plead my case and hope for the best.

I might exceed the posted speed limits from time to time, as well, but I like to live dangerously! LOL

~Rick

[way2roll]

I don't stop at weigh stations, never have and have no plans to do so in the future. Look at me over here rolling the dice like a big risk taker. A rebel. living on the edge. A wanted man. An outlaw. I also tore the tag off my mattress once.

[JRscooby]

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong". It's not a thing. To the OP, no, you don't need to stop. If there is ANY evidence of a case where a personally owned RV did not stop at a weigh station and was cited for it, post it. Otherwise it's straw man argument for argument's sake.

Just for snots and grins, compare the number of people that post on this and other RV sites (remember many that post do so on more than 1) to the total number of RVs on the road. Now how can you trump out nobody has ever cited?

Rick Jay wrote:

JaxDad wrote:
I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

I won't argue what you saw, but there could be an explanation.

Almost 12 years ago, there was this post on these forums about "Private Coach - Not for Hire" signage. Seemed to be a lot of conflicting views then, too! 🙂

I have seen signs such as "Private Coach - Not for Hire" or some such verbage prominently displayed on the side of high-end DPs. I believe tour buses and such are considered commercial vehicles and DO have to stop at the scales. So folks who own these high end DPs which are often indistinguishable from the tour buses while on the road incorporate such signage to make it clear that their RV is NOT a commercial vehicle.

Perhaps what you observed was an LEO who was unclear as to whether the RV in question was private or commercial? In that case, the only way to know is to pull it over to verify. It doesn't necessarily mean that the LEO's were pulling over ALL RVs which passed the weigh station.

~Rick

That reason for the stop is valid. Bet if it happened like that it took a lot longer for the driver to prove to the confused LEO there was no reason to cross the scale. Might even involve a court date if cop was behind on citations.

Little different, but my aunt was in a church van when the driver decided "Busses Weigh" sign did not apply to him. 8 old ladies setting roadside for a hour, then driver made 2 trips to court before his record was cleared. By state law, because a church owned the van, and he was a volunteer was exempt.

[way2roll]

JaxDad wrote:

way2roll wrote:
Why is this even a conversation? Non commercial RV's do not need to stop at weigh stations. Period. There is no "what if you are wrong".

You can’t just make a blanket statement like that, it’s wrong. Period.

There are numerous states require all RVs over 10,000 pounds to stop. Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington (State), and Wisconsin require private RVs, specialty vehicles, passenger vehicles, and trailers over 10,000 lbs to stop.

I personally saw a DP MH get run down by a LEO that came out of an open scale when it tried to drive past it in Michigan.

Since you didn't get pulled over personally you actually have no idea why the particular RV you saw was being pulled over. Maybe he was speeding, maybe he was involved in an incident previously and was radioed in, maybe he had a baggage door open, maybe the Unicorn on his roof was shooting rainbow lasers. The point is you don't know and making the assumption.

I would pose this a different way. Has anyone on this forum ever been personally pulled over for passing a weigh station? This forum has lots of members with decades and decades of seat time. And my money is on no. It's never happened.

How happy do you think the trucking industry and supply chain commerce in general would be if all the sudden all RV's started to clog up weigh stations?

Anyway, I've never stopped and passed plenty of cops on my way past. So have millions of other RV's in every state.

[jorbill2or]

Good reading
Drove truck in Oregon and Washington , knew several scalemasters .. Washington doesn’t want your rv in the scale. Unless an officer pulls you in for a violation. I think this is common and in all the years I’ve done this across the country I’ve never seen anyone targeted other than rv’s that are being transported ( commercial operators). Yes if your moving the rv for hire it’s a commercial move. If you have big stickers on the front and back hawking your web site or blog .. you could be commercial . Read the article, make up your own mind. Years of rving across the country and I’ve never had a problem driving right on by. I have however been a trucker on my cb listening to the talk when some confused rver pulls through. Good times clear as mud but I’ll drive right on by.