When most people think of weigh stations, they think of semi-trucks hauling large commercial loads. These vehicles are required to submit to weighing for safety reasons. Vehicles exceeding weight requirements pose a danger to other people on the road and to the roads themselves. Most states require vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more to submit to weigh station protocols. What does this have to do with RVs? Quite a bit because fully loaded, larger RVs with slide outs easily reach or even exceed 10,000 pounds.
Knowing When to Stop
This is the tricky part because weigh station requirements vary from state to state and by vehicle type. Plus, the language of the laws is sometimes confusing with RVs referred to variously as recreational vehicles, specialty vehicles and vehicles registered as trucks. Here is a breakdown of basic RV weigh station rules by state:
- Vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or more are required to stop in 20 of the 50 United States. Some states specify vehicle types, others require all vehicles in the weight range to stop.
- Vehicles registered as trucks, including RVs, are subject to weigh station laws in Kansas.
- Passenger or specialty vehicles that weigh over 10,000 pounds must stop for weighing in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
- States with recreational vehicle exclusions include North Dakota and Florida
- Large recreational vehicles are subject to weighing and inspection in Pennsylvania
- At the request of law enforcement, all vehicle types must submit to weigh station protocol in the following states:
- Alaska
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Kansas
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Texas
Your best option is to read up on RV weigh station requirements for each state you’ll be traveling in. If you need to weigh in, just google “weigh station near me” to find the nearest weigh station location.
