Posted by Keith in Washington [24.41.55.51] on Monday, September 15, 2014 at 23:46:13 :
In Reply to: OT, DOT "new" regs for Non Commercial. posted by Caleb in Manhattan KS [70.184.232.53] on Monday, September 15, 2014 at 13:42:17 :
In Washington state the truck stops say "No Pickups". So I blow by them even at 24K GCVW. Pickup trucks are licensed by weight with the minimum being the weight of the truck max usually being the GVW. Interesting campers are considered to carry their own weight so that is not added to the truck's license weight. Trailers are licensed by weight so that weight is not added to the truck's license. You can get into trouble if you get pulled over and exceed either the GVW or GCVW but that does not happen often.
I ignore the automated truck weigh stations. The ones that weigh in motion and also determines your height. With the camper on I will often get signaled to pull into the weigh station but I keep going. They are looking at the height as I an not near the minimum weight. I am always signaled to enter the weigh station when I travel with the camper and towing the trailer with PW on it as I am 24K. I just keep on going as I am a pickup truck and non-commerical. I have never had any problem bypassing in the western states. I made one trip back east at 22K and never pulled in. Never had an issue.
In Oregon I have gotten pulled over for going into a weigh station. They keep the scales and readouts active even when the stations are closed. When I got pulled over, it was my first trip with the new pickup with the camper and towing the PW. I pulled in to check weight distribution on the axles along with how I was doing in regard to GVW and GCVW. I took a few minutes to convince the officer that I was checking my weight distributions since I had a new truck. Funny thing he never asked about my weights and I was 4+ miles from the weigh station when he pulled me over.