I think alot depends on who you talk to the dmv and nj dep of fmcsa told me that I can pull a 12k trailer with a f-350 srw truck as long as the combined weigth is under 26,000. But there are a alot of police officers who look at it differently, so it depends on the state and who you talk too.
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SimonCX said:
I'll speak from experience here. During the academy I don't ever remember going over gvwr stuff. We could enforce it but the rule of thumb around here is let the DOT Enforcement Officers handle it. There is a whole new world of laws just pertaining to this stuff. Talk to your local DOT Enforcement Officer. That is mainly all they deal with.
As far as it "depends on who you talk to".... That is exactly right. We would like to think that all laws are black an white, but most are left in a way giving the officer discretionary powers. Example: Here the law says that Domestic assault the primary aggressor shall go to jail. No if ands or buts. But most state the law but leave out how it should be handled. For example Assault in the simplest form is a simple misdemeanor. It doesn't say whether the offender has to be charged or what has to be done with them just that it is unlawful.
This is where the "depends on who you talk to" comes into play. Every officer has his or her own opinion on a topic and how they would handle it. So the above example assault one may tell you that committing it will wind you up straight in jail and the next will tell you that you will have to go and see a judge for a punishment.
The same can be said about DOT Motor Vehicle Laws. Although the law says over 26001 pound requires a class B Commercial Drivers License doesn't mean that ever officer that you talk to will tell you that they are going handle it in a way that renders punishment. There is also a good possibility that when you ask questions about the topic that they just flat don't really know the law themselves. With the millions of laws out there officers can't be expected to know them all. Unfortunately ones ego gets in the way and rather than saying I don't know they tell them what they think and then the wrong information is disseminated. Then when the poor citizen who attempted to do right and follow the law finds themselves breaking it they say "but officer So and So told me that it was...." Officers like this drive me crazy.
SOOOOOOOOOO Off my soap box. Find out from your DOT Enforcement Officer not what the law is in there opinion but where you can find a copy of the laws pertaining to your question. That way you can look it up for your self and see what the law says to make sure you follow the law as it is written and you will have no problems. I find that officers enforce what they know is fact because no officer wants to find out they charged someone for something that isn't correct.
tawilson
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There's been a long thread on this over on a tractor forum I go to. Clear as mud there too.
