14 RV Laws you might be Breaking (And 6 that are surprisingly LEGAL)

We've never broken any of these RV laws... Have you? Owning an RV is a learning curve for sure. One thing people miss is the laws surrounding this lifestyle.

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[alanhester]

I am form WA state and two years ago while driving my motorhome in AZ I got pulled over and received a ticket for no mud flaps on my motorhome. When I was told why I was pulled over, I laughed at the cop (maybe not the thing to do) but I argued and said we have owned that motorhome almost 30 years and have never been stopped. The next day I called the WA State patrol and asked if I had to have mud flaps on my motorhome in WA state and how it applies when driving in other states. The guy had to call me back but in 10 minutes he did and said RVS are like cars and have no requirement to have mud flaps installed, and the rules of the state you are from as far as equipment follows the state you are from. I then called AZ state patrol who gave me the ticket and informed them what WA state said. Then they told me the same thing that I should not have got the ticket and RVs fall in the passenger car rules in AZ too. The ticket got dropped but it seems even law enforcement have a hard time with the laws that pertain to RVs..

[nyenergytrader]

Hey Frank, the RV hauler here, some of these I’ve encountered as well, but one good thing to have. If you have an RV that’s on the larger size is a GPS that allows you to put your trailer and weight specifications in this way you can avoid parkways and roads with low bridges, weight, restrictions, and length restrictions. I use the Garmin RV 890, also, gives you active campgrounds in parking areas for your RV

[davidmiller]

Buying a road atlas at a truck stop would help figure out road restrictions and weight limits. There are a few sections in the front of them that explain what rules are different for each state. Truckers love them and they are updated annually.

[Malember]

So many bridges and overpasses are grandfathered in to not have to meet the "new" 13' 6" height standard. The Can Opener Bridge (which has its own youtube channel) was raised from 11' 8" to 12' 4' and yet still gets hit about once a month.

[dontfencemein-rving]

The earbud thing has always been a law ever since Walkman's came out. If you have music blaring in you can't hear ambulances or police sirens.

[roberthepburn]

The parkway law is because there are a lot of 11' Bridges mixed in with some newer 13'6" bridges

[JPHuber]

On the topic of GPS, it can be useful to use Truck/RV applications instead of ordinary/regular ones. These take into consideration height/width/weight restrictions that others do not. I have seen a couple of RV'ers in very tight situations where the Truck/RV GPS apps would have routed them around. Great topic and yes, I may have "witnessed" one or a few of the situations you mentioned.

[melissarose]

We converted our fridge to work on electric only so that we wouldn’t need to keep propane on.

[stever]

The 'no headphones/earbuds" laws are so that you can hear emergency vehicles approaching...and CO is one of the states that allows triple towing (but I don't think I'd want to try it).

[tsandhage]

There’s an app called “State Lines” which contains most of these laws. Many of the laws are determined by the state in which you live and then your state laws apply to the other states in which you drive.

[jimnoeth]

The triple tow thing, depending on where you are, also depends on what you are towing. For example, a fifth wheel is a semi trailer, not a trailer. Therefore, towing a trailer behind your fifth wheel is not the same as towing two 'bumper pull' trailers.

[kathyerikson]

We’ve been driving with propane on in our campers for 40 years. We also like a cold refrigerator

[davidkisner]

Having been a Class A CDL driver I knew most of them. The 13' 6" rule is for over head bridge clearance. But in NY, Pa, De and the NE you will find overheads with less. Always check a trucking atlas (do not depend on a GPS or mapping program)to find lower clearance or call the Local fire Dept as they will know all of them. Invest in Handfree CB radios (they usually have a stick mike headset) these work great when guiding a trailer up.

[douglasolsen]

In our first RV experience in 1977, my wife, our three-year old daughter and myself were towing our trailer from Bremerton, WA to Keesler Air Fore Base in Biloxi, MS where I was attending a school for the military. My wife didn’t much care for the early morning starts, so, since it was legal then to ride in the trailer, we decided she and our little girl would sleep in while I drove in the morning. We did not have any walkie talkies then, so communication between the trailer and the truck was an issue. The trailer did have louvered windows and I told them to just waggle the windows in and out whenever they wanted me to stop. Since the windows were clearly visible in the rear view mirror, this seemed a good idea. I got the rig on the road bright and early, leaving the gals snoozing comfortably. I watched, or thought I did, for the waggling windows and never saw them going. After a couple hours, I decided to stop just to check on them. Apparently, the windows had been semaphoring to beat the band for quite some time. I honestly had not seen them going at all. The sleeping in had not lasted for much more than fifteen or twenty minutes before they had had enough ‘relaxing’. They reported the ride in the trailer was pretty horrible. Noisy, bumpier than was fun and very unstable. Scary was one word they used. There was no problem getting up early to get going after that, even though I told them sleeping in was still an option.

[ClissaT]

I don't know about The USA, but in Australia, many of the things you pointed out are already illegal but I won't go into them.
What I did want to say was that as long as your vehicle and trailer comply with the regulations in the state in which it is registered, you are free to go to any other state. I suspect the same would apply in USA. So you may be lucky enough to have registered your vehicle and rig combo in a lenient state and for that you should consider yourself very lucky. It is probably why you have not got any tickets thus far. Alls well that ends well.

[reberhardt]

I live in Alabama and my trailer is 102” wide. No problems registering.

[kevinford]

Absolutely true about the parkways. Parkways are for cars. No trailers or commercial vehicles. You will sometimes see them on there, but it is supposed to only be for cars. The CA 55 MPH thing, those signs are everywhere.

[rdb]

4:23 The weight issues specific to recreational use of RVs are mainly an issue of whether you need a non-commercial class A or B (some states issue these, and therefore would require them of drivers licensed in those states). Other states do not issue non-commercial class A or B licenses. If the state issues a non-commercial class A then in order to tow a trailer above 10, 000 pounds you need that class A. In order to operate a straight truck above 26, 000 pounds you would need a class B. In general, if you are not using the vehicle "in commerce" and if it is registered as a recreational vehicle/ motor home, then you likely do not need a CDL. If you are driving a dually pickup "in commerce" and towing an RV then you may not need a CDL but you do need a DOT number on the side of the vehicle. If you are towing a trailer over 10, 000 pounds "in commerce" with the dually then you likely need a class A CDL. That is the exact scenario of a classmate in CDL school. He was towing fifth wheel RVs to deliver them to purchasers. If he was just driving around for fun he would not have needed the CDL, and the purchasers did not need a CDL to tow it, but since he was being paid to deliver the trailer he needed it.

[jplutchak]

In CA you can only ride in 5th wheel, not TT, but need to have a way to communicate with driver

[jleiben]

Most toyhaulers are 102” wide which is max width for interstate travel but not legal on some roads off the interstate. Most commercial trailers are 102” so I never had issue with it.