Re: weigh stations

[K S Swigart <katswig@deltanet.com>]

On Mon, 11 May 1998, Teddy Lancaster wrote:

> Perhaps we, as horsemen, should lobby for ourselves the way the RV
> industry has.  When a 70 year old man can drive a huge RV which you know
> must weigh over 26,000 lbs, towing a car behind does not have to go
> through weight stations or conform to FMCSR's, somebody certainly has
> lobbied to exempt them.  The FMCSR's purpose is to maintain safety on
> our highways by compliance with all kinds of safety regulations.  AND,
> weigh stations are there not just to weigh you, they are there to make
> sure you comply. 

I must confess that I do not think it unreasonable that truck/trailer rigs
that weigh over 26,000 lbs should have to meet specific safety
requirements, checks, etc. (and I don't think the log book is all that
unreasonable either).  I find it shocking (although convenient) that
anybody who has taken a driver's test in a Toyota can legally operate a
truck trailer rig hauling livestock.

My preference would be for there to be a class of driving license between
the class A required for "big rig" commercial trucking, and the class 3
(what it is called here in California) license required for operating a
car.  Something like and RV license which doesn't require a fortune to
acquire (which a class A license does), but requires operators to
demonstrate more driving proficiency that not making an illegal u-turn :).
The California driving test no longer requires parallel parking (and
hasn't for decades), and doesn't require drivers to know where the sides
of their vehicle are--in short, for anything more than operating a small
passenger car, a joke.

I do not think it unreasonable that horsetrailer rigs should be required
to meet weight requirements, braking requirements, and to know that the
driver has not been on the road for 30 hours straight :).

I also consider it inappropriate that "RV" drivers with their motor homes
are not required to meet stiffer requirements than small passenger cars,
and that "70 year old men with an RV towing a car behind" probably have
less driving skill than most people who drive horse trailers, but we
"horsemen" ought not be asking for special favors, just because other
people (i.e. the RV lobby) get them.

It is, however, deplorable that the regulations are as clear as mud, so,
in essence, it is impossible for anybody to be in compliance, or to even
know whether they are.

Let us lobby for better, clearer rules, not for special considerations.
Hauling around a 26,000 lb rig with 2,000 to 6,000 lbs of livestock in it
is not a task for the casual "recreational" driver.

kat
Orange County, Calif.