ct0218
Well-known member
I Found this on the GM diesel site www.dieselplace.com. Thought this might be of interest to those towing w 250/2500 series trucks in Canada.
Post from yesterday:
Taken to the weigh scales by the RCMP
<HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->This is the first time I've heard of this happening to someone hauling a trailer.
We and some friends arrived back in BC from Washington State on the Easter Weekend hauling our fifth wheel trailers. We live in Kelowna, so stopped there, but our friends carried on, heading for Kamloops.
Near Vernon there is a weigh scale, which was closed because of the holiday, but the RCMP were there pulling over people hauling utility trailers.
My friend drove by, but a minute later a cop was chasing him with lights flashing. After he stopped, the cop told him that he noticed that the truck looked overloaded, well down in the back, with the trailer not riding level. He told my friend to turn around and meet him back at the weigh scale.
I should make a note here that he is hauling a Bighorn fifth wheel with a 2500 short box, so the truck is definitely overloaded, and it does push the back of the truck all the way down on the springs. I've been nagging him to get a 3500 like mine for over a year.
When they weighed the truck and trailer, the cop announced it was something around 900 kg (2286 lbs) over weight on the rear axle. My friend was given a violation ticket for around $120 and had to call a 1-800 number and pay another $25 for a one day permit to tow the trailer home.
The cop also pointed out that my friend did not have the correct license to tow his trailer, which is problematic in the case of an accident. (Anyone hauling over 10,000 lbs in BC on a regular Class 5 license is supposed to have an Endorsement 51 test, which is Class 3 without air brakes - the law came into effect in about 1995). The cop told him that ICBC (the insurance company) would deny a claim if they investigated an accident and found him with the wrong license and an overloaded truck. The cop said he could have ticketed my friend for all the weight related and license related violations and it would have been over $1,000 in fines. The cop said they are starting to clamp down on incorrect licenses and towing weights.
The bottom line from all this is my friend figures he will be in deep trouble if he tows his trailer again with the present truck and gets caught. He also feels that the license could be a problem so he thinks he has to fix both issues over the summer. He's looking at it from a positive perspective, that it may have saved him from an expensive denied accident claim at some future point. He asked me to post the message because computers "aren't my thing".
It's also a good excuse to buy a new truck, so he'll soon be looking for a new one ton, which, with today's exchange rate, might actually be cheaper in Canada than in the USA. Time will tell.
All of this suggests that anyone hauling heavy fivers in this part of the Continent should look at getting the correct license, and should also weigh the trailer to ensure that the weight on the rear axle does not exceed the number on the door sticker.
Has anyone else ever been pulled over like this?
Post from today:
OK, I just got off the phone with my friend and I have some updates to the original story. I apologize, I got some of the data incorrect in the original post.
1.
The sticker on the door frame which the RCMP officer used for the permissable rear axle loading states 4446 kgs (11,292 lbs). When the rear axles were on the scale, the scale read 4850 kgs (12,319 lbs). So the rear axle was overloaded by 404 kgs (1027 lbs). Again, I apologize for getting the numbers wrong. My original notes were a bit scratchy.
2.
After the weighing, the cop threw his hands in the air and said something like "Now what do we do?". After a bit of discussion he gave my friend the telephone number for the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Department (800-559-9688). My friend phoned and purchased a Single Trip Overweight Permit for $25 which gave him permission to drive ONLY Hwy 7 and Hwy 1 from Vernon to Kamloops for the purposes of returning home.
Hope this additional information helps.
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Post from yesterday:
Taken to the weigh scales by the RCMP
<HR style="COLOR: #d1d1e1" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->This is the first time I've heard of this happening to someone hauling a trailer.
We and some friends arrived back in BC from Washington State on the Easter Weekend hauling our fifth wheel trailers. We live in Kelowna, so stopped there, but our friends carried on, heading for Kamloops.
Near Vernon there is a weigh scale, which was closed because of the holiday, but the RCMP were there pulling over people hauling utility trailers.
My friend drove by, but a minute later a cop was chasing him with lights flashing. After he stopped, the cop told him that he noticed that the truck looked overloaded, well down in the back, with the trailer not riding level. He told my friend to turn around and meet him back at the weigh scale.
I should make a note here that he is hauling a Bighorn fifth wheel with a 2500 short box, so the truck is definitely overloaded, and it does push the back of the truck all the way down on the springs. I've been nagging him to get a 3500 like mine for over a year.
When they weighed the truck and trailer, the cop announced it was something around 900 kg (2286 lbs) over weight on the rear axle. My friend was given a violation ticket for around $120 and had to call a 1-800 number and pay another $25 for a one day permit to tow the trailer home.
The cop also pointed out that my friend did not have the correct license to tow his trailer, which is problematic in the case of an accident. (Anyone hauling over 10,000 lbs in BC on a regular Class 5 license is supposed to have an Endorsement 51 test, which is Class 3 without air brakes - the law came into effect in about 1995). The cop told him that ICBC (the insurance company) would deny a claim if they investigated an accident and found him with the wrong license and an overloaded truck. The cop said he could have ticketed my friend for all the weight related and license related violations and it would have been over $1,000 in fines. The cop said they are starting to clamp down on incorrect licenses and towing weights.
The bottom line from all this is my friend figures he will be in deep trouble if he tows his trailer again with the present truck and gets caught. He also feels that the license could be a problem so he thinks he has to fix both issues over the summer. He's looking at it from a positive perspective, that it may have saved him from an expensive denied accident claim at some future point. He asked me to post the message because computers "aren't my thing".
It's also a good excuse to buy a new truck, so he'll soon be looking for a new one ton, which, with today's exchange rate, might actually be cheaper in Canada than in the USA. Time will tell.
All of this suggests that anyone hauling heavy fivers in this part of the Continent should look at getting the correct license, and should also weigh the trailer to ensure that the weight on the rear axle does not exceed the number on the door sticker.
Has anyone else ever been pulled over like this?
Post from today:
OK, I just got off the phone with my friend and I have some updates to the original story. I apologize, I got some of the data incorrect in the original post.
1.
The sticker on the door frame which the RCMP officer used for the permissable rear axle loading states 4446 kgs (11,292 lbs). When the rear axles were on the scale, the scale read 4850 kgs (12,319 lbs). So the rear axle was overloaded by 404 kgs (1027 lbs). Again, I apologize for getting the numbers wrong. My original notes were a bit scratchy.
2.
After the weighing, the cop threw his hands in the air and said something like "Now what do we do?". After a bit of discussion he gave my friend the telephone number for the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Department (800-559-9688). My friend phoned and purchased a Single Trip Overweight Permit for $25 which gave him permission to drive ONLY Hwy 7 and Hwy 1 from Vernon to Kamloops for the purposes of returning home.
Hope this additional information helps.
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