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Based on what I have read on the different forums, 30 plus years in law enforcement, and one who does a heck of a lot of driving my sense is these enforcement initiatives are intended to bring RVers into compliance with state registration regulations and laws and at the same time generate revenue. They can be implemented with little or no additional training and/or equipment and can be conducted without clogging up Ports of Entries at state borders or weigh stations within the states with RVs.
State Officers can conduct registration checks of RVs at Rest Stops or through random vehicle stops. They need only ask to inspect the vehicle registration to quickly determine if the TV has been properly registered to tow the weight of its’ TT or 5er. For example, you drive a 1 ton p/u with a GVW of 6900# and your towing a 5er rated at 12,000#, your vehicle registration should reflect a minimum GVW of appx 19,000#. You pull into a rest stop and are approached by a State Trooper who asks to see your vehicle registration. If all the registration reflects is a GVW of 6900#, the officer immediately knows he has a violation. No scales are required to make that determination. To estimate your true GVW, all the Trooper needs to do is inspect the data plate on the exterior of your 5er or the data sticker inside one of your cabinets inside the trailer (if it was me, I would be inside your rig in a heartbeat…no telling what else I might find). During all this the Officer is performing a non-intrusive visual inspection of your rig looking for potential safety issues (you know kinda like you do when you pass by another 5er). If the Officer sees something amiss, he/she just extends their inspection and if necessary restricts further movement of the rig until needed violations are fixed. It is going to take him longer to write a citation than to detect a violation.
Once again this is just my spin on whats behind the reports of these intensified enforcement actions.
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