Hey Weight Police

[Consolenut]

This happened today about 80 miles east of Oklahoma city. A fellow RV'er in the park been here a little while got a new rig.  Being curious he went to weigh his rig at the cat scales. Well he forgot to plug in his trailer lights and got on the highway. Of course he got pulled over for faulty equip as his plug was draggin the highway. Based on his headlights pointing skyward. The OHP officer got out his portable scales.  He was 650 over on his rear axle and recieved a $208.90 fine for being over weight.  The 0-2000 overweight rule is standard at 208+ the 78 for faulty equip. So it seems you can be fined. He said the officer don't question CDL as the RV exemption but weight and weight ratings he does. Cant be pulled over for weight specifically but can be weighed along with some other infraction.  Food for thought.

[Jim1521]

Interesting that the OHP based his weight rating solely on the axle rating.  I wonder if he had a book or some reference document that said “axle X has a max rating of Y”?

[Consolenut]

The Rear axle weight rating on the door jam of the truck is what he went by. By that number he was 650 pounds over when placing that axle on his portable scales and wrote the ticket accordingly.

[Jim1521]

Did he let him go on his way, or did the OHP make him drop the trailer?

Edited October 4, 2019 by Jim1521

[Consolenut]

He let him go with the fines of course. As my neighbor said he was coming straight back to the park.  And he was told to take measures to correct the problem. Because next time another officer may not allow him to move.

 

Consequently he said he will be going to look at a 450 or bigger. As he doesn't want this problem ever again. Im sorry but pulling a DRV suites with an f350 SRW is a big NO NO in my book.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Consolenut

[Jim1521]

Yes, that much overweight isn’t something you can lighten a payload easily.  If you know you’re going to be overweight (and he HAD to know) it just makes sense to get it all sorted out beforehand.  It’s not like he was 50 lbs overweight.

[Ray,IN]

This is one case of trying to do things correctly, and everything goes wrong. In the U.S.A. the weight ratings on  light-duty trucks/vehicles stickers are not legal requirements, but rather mfgrs. recommendations. The only USDOT legal requirement is 20,000# per axle, or total of axle tire weight ratings-whichever is less. But the financial costs of protesting the tickets would be more than paying them.

In some Canadian provinces however, those sticker weight ratings are legal and binding. The officer will make you drop the trailer until the violation is corrected, then you get to pay the fines too.

Consolenet, we stayed at an RV park in 2008 where there was a DRV rally, I would guess almost  1/3 were using a Class 3 truck/1T dually.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Ray,IN

[Jim1521]

33 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

This is one case of trying to do things correctly, and everything goes wrong. In the U.S.A. the weight ratings on  light-duty trucks/vehicles stickers are not legal requirements, but rather mfgrs. recommendations. The only USDOT legal requirement is 20,000# per axle, or total of axle tire weight ratings-whichever is less. But the financial costs of protesting the tickets would be more than paying them.

In some Canadian provinces however, those sticker weight ratings are legal and binding. The officer will make you drop the trailer until the violation is corrected, then you get to pay the fines too.

Consolenet, we stayed at an RV park in 2008 where there was a DRV rally, I would guess almost  1/3 were using a Class 3 truck/1T dually.

Well, the OSP trooper felt differently, or else he wouldn’t have written him a ticket.  And yes, you’re right: it’s probably more bother than it’s worth to fight it.

I’m sure that if any truck manufacturer felt that the payload number could be higher, they’d market it that way.  Somebody came up with that number for a reason.

[Consolenut]

i just read code 14-111 and its a bit of a surprise:

A. Any officer of the Department of Public Safety, the Corporation Commission, any sheriff, or any salaried deputy sheriff is authorized to stop any vehicle upon any road or highway in order to weigh such vehicle.

Guess that settles whether or not its legal here in OK. 

[ARGO]

My take?  For $208 the trooper did the owner & all of us out there a FAVOR by getting him off the road until safe. He should be happy he didn't have an accident, the lawyers would have filleted him.

[Consolenut]

the old addage it will pull it...its a diesel. wont be enough anymore. i agree once a few get ticketed for weight they will start buying vehicles equipped to handle loads there carrying. 

whats funny is i told him hes over weight.  his words that 350 diesel pulls it no problem.  Lol now  hes looking for a 450 maybe a 550 and wont take any line from a salesman about oh youll be fine.  i imagine the rv dealer salesman will get an ear ful too. they said the same thing when he hitched up. you can pull anythimg with that truck

[Kirk W]

It would be nice if we could communicate with the person who had that experience....  And also to the officer involved. Do all OK troopers carry a set of portable scales? Do highway patrol officers in other states carry scales? 

[Jim1521]

This may start a very slippery slope in many revenue-hungry states and municipalities .  I can see many of them suddenly buying portable scales for the explicit purpose of increasing revenue. @Ray,IN you yourself said only about 1/3 of all the trucks at a DRV rally we’re capable of pulling these big RVs.  It wouldn’t take much to have Sheriff Buford T. Justice tell his boys to pull over any truck that isn’t a dually with that big letter “D” on the front cap of that RV and perform a “safety inspection”. 

Edited October 5, 2019 by Jim1521

[Consolenut]

No they dont have to have a set of scales. Under the law they can weigh you portable or make you drive to a set of scales for the purpose of weighing. Any vehicle on any road as it says. This is the law there using now. Apparently on the books for a few years but only now are they enforcing it or using it to there revenue advantage.

 

https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2014/title-47/section-47-14-111/

Edited October 5, 2019 by Consolenut

[remoandiris]

Meh.  Whenever I see a SRW pulling a big 5er, I wonder if the owner has weighed the rig.  

[Consolenut]

49 minutes ago, Jim1521 said:

This may start a very slippery slope in many revenue-hungry states and municipalities .  I can see many of them suddenly buying portable scales for the explicit purpose of increasing revenue. @Ray,IN you yourself said only about 1/3 of all the trucks at a DRV rally we’re capable of pulling these big RVs.  It wouldn’t take much to have Sheriff Buford T. Justice tell his boys to pull over any truck that isn’t a dually with that big letter “D” on the front cap of that RV and perform a “safety inspection”. 

I agree a slippery slope indeed. Revenue producer for the state county etc indeed. As many come through this campground every evening guarantee half are over weight. They could make a fortune sitting at the on ramp to the interstate. 

[Big5er]

1 hour ago, Jim1521 said:

This may start a very slippery slope in many revenue-hungry states and municipalities .  I can see many of them suddenly buying portable scales for the explicit purpose of increasing revenue. @Ray,IN you yourself said only about 1/3 of all the trucks at a DRV rally we’re capable of pulling these big RVs.  It wouldn’t take much to have Sheriff Buford T. Justice tell his boys to pull over any truck that isn’t a dually with that big letter “D” on the front cap of that RV and perform a “safety inspection”. 

Wow...and just for your info "Buford" needs a bit more probable cause than a big letter "D". Although a little training on the weights of DRV's and the capacities of tow vehicles would qualify.

As far as revenue, obviously you have no idea what you are talking about...and you have never drug out a set of portable scales. First, the trooper gets paid the same every week, whether he writes tickets or warnings. He couldn't care less what money does or doesn't result from the citation. That would be up to the judge and the judge can't make him write tickets. Second, that is 200 lbs of scales to throw on the ground. The trooper was pretty certain of what he had before he bothered to weigh the thing. In 34 yrs I never threw scales down when I wasn't already certain the vehicle was overweight.

Third I would love to tell you where to shove your smart assed comments but that might get me in trouble with a moderator, so I won't.

[Big5er]

51 minutes ago, Consolenut said:

As many come through this campground every evening guarantee half are over weight. They could make a fortune sitting at the on ramp to the interstate. 

Well, if you can figure it out, then why can't the people towing them....and if it takes getting a ticket for them to figure it out, well too bad. And again, the cop couldn't care less about the "fortune" he could make. He doesn't get a commission on weight tickets or any others for that matter. He has a job to do. If your buddy was so overloaded that you bothered to mention it to him he needed a ticket before he killed someone. Being able to pull a heavy trailer is only half the equation.....stopping it would be the half many forget.

[Consolenut]

26 minutes ago, Big5er said:

Well, if you can figure it out, then why can't the people towing them....and if it takes getting a ticket for them to figure it out, well too bad. And again, the cop couldn't care less about the "fortune" he could make. He doesn't get a commission on weight tickets or any others for that matter. He has a job to do. If your buddy was so overloaded that you bothered to mention it to him he needed a ticket before he killed someone. Being able to pull a heavy trailer is only half the equation.....stopping it would be the half many forget.

Stopping it is a huge part of the equation. And that is what most don't understand.  But in passing the law the county commisioners or state congressman etc had to have an idea they could generate revenue making the law to begin with. As i was under the impression it was only commerical vehicles they did the portable scaling.  Like it says in the link. The law was passed in 2014 says "Any vehicle on Any Road" and this is the first time ive heard of an rver getting scaled.  Big 5ver you obviously would know alot more being in the field for so many years. 

Don't know if you noticed it big 5ver. The law states the officer can also make you drive to set of private scales (truck stop) to get weighed as well. So he don't necessarily have to drag out that 200 pounds of scales to do so. Which is unique in itself

Edited October 5, 2019 by Consolenut

[Jim1521]

Guess that nerve is pretty raw.  And of course small towns don’t set up speed traps either I guess.   Sorry you got so triggered.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Jim1521

[noteven]

If you don’t want to be menacing the society at 650 lbs dangerously overweight on a won ton...

...and blaming “the salesman” doesn’t convince law enforcement...

... and you want a big trailer you go get a big truck. 

But wait, your choice of big truck might be deemed “commercial” even though it isn’t it is a private truck. So then you have to do work to it to replicate accommodation equipment that you already own in the trailer behind it so it can be called a “motorhome”. So now you may noteven need an endorsement for air brakes. So now you can fly up curving mountain roads and down the other side without that much knowledge of the brakes because you have the Jake and electric transmission annyways. You can modify the chassis converting it to a single drive truck from a twin screw tractor and pile weight on the frame without an engineer and the oem reviewing the brake timing, proposed center of gravity, or steer axle brakes for compliance. You can mount a fifth wheel on top of the rails 9 feet behind the rear axle so the big 14 ton trailer with its short wheelbase and miniature upper 5th wheel plate would like to flop on its side on top of the mini van beside you in an emergency swerve. But because the “motorhome” has some size and weight it can fight back when the hobby horse trailer wants to ditch itself...

...and you get to chase around for insurance...

...smaller, lighter trailers? Out of the question!

😁

 

[Consolenut]

5 minutes ago, noteven said:

If you don’t want to be menacing the society at 650 lbs dangerously overweight on a won ton...

...and blaming “the salesman” doesn’t convince law enforcement...

... and you want a big trailer you go get a big truck. 

But wait, your choice of big truck might be deemed “commercial” even though it isn’t it is a private truck. So then you have to do work to it to replicate accommodation equipment that you already own in the trailer behind it so it can be called a “motorhome”. So now you may noteven need an endorsement for air brakes. So now you can fly up curving mountain roads and down the other side without that much knowledge of the brakes because you have the Jake and electric transmission annyways. You can modify the chassis converting it to a single drive truck from a twin screw tractor and pile weight on the frame without an engineer and the oem reviewing the brake timing, proposed center of gravity, or steer axle brakes for compliance. You can mount a fifth wheel on top of the rails 9 feet behind the rear axle so the big 14 ton trailer with its short wheelbase and miniature upper 5th wheel plate would like to flop on its side on top of the mini van beside you in an emergency swerve. But because the “motorhome” has some size and weight it can fight back when the hobby horse trailer wants to ditch itself...

...and you get to chase around for insurance...

...smaller, lighter trailers? Out of the question!

 

I agree overweight is overweight.  Perhaps my neighbor has learned his lesson knowing him though its doubtful.

Edited October 5, 2019 by Consolenut

[Star Dreamer]

Did this happen on the way to the cat scales or on the way back? If on the way to, then he just saved himself $12 that he would have had to pay for the weigh and maybe even got individual wheel weights which typically cost even more when you can find someone to do them. If on the way back, he already knew he was overweight or could have pulled the scale ticket to show the officer what they scaled it at if under weight.

[Consolenut]

He was on his way to scales. After I told him that DRV will put him way overweight on his drive axle. He was prob overweight before in his cedar creek. I told him he needed a DRW. But there are those that have to learn the hard way. In the end 208.90 for over weight and 78 for faulty equip. Costly but not as costly as a big accident.

[Big5er]

10 hours ago, Consolenut said:

The law states the officer can also make you drive to set of private scales (truck stop) to get weighed as well. So he don't necessarily have to drag out that 200 pounds of scales to do so. Which is unique in itself

Texas law says the same thing.  The issue with that is the officer has to be able (if asked) to testify about the certification and calibration of the scales.  That is almost impossible using a public scale. The next issue is who is paying that public scale,  the law doesnt specify. 

I could testify about my scales,  so why bother dragging a vehicle to a public scale. That's why I had portables.