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Drivers License
As I was browsing through the latest FMCA magazine thrilled to find a new use for free motel shower caps, I see the various license requirements for RV’s. It says in CA you have to have a Class B, non-commercial motor home endorsement and medical card for anything over 40′.
Is that for real!
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24 Replies
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In Wyoming Tom u can have class A non commercial for Bus but you can also have CDL witch you will have to get medical every two years
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10-4 driver. Been that way for years. The state of CA wants to know if people actually know how to drive one.
Later
bv -
Interesting… I have a CDL, but what happens when someone from another state shows up with a 45 footer with a license to drive a pickup and gets stopped for a traffic violation or accident?
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In Wyoming u do not need a CDL to drive a 45 footers just a class A not a class A CDL . When I lived in calif in the 1980s u had to have class A to tow a trailer over 10,000 pounds , it was not a big deal to get one!!
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It is only mandatory if you have a CA License. If you get stopped in CA with an out of state license but are legal in your home state they can’t enforce their laws on you.
More and more states are going to non Commercial Class B License for larger motorhomes. It wouldn’t surprise me if soon most all will follow suit.Later
bv -
In Wyoming u need a non CDL class A if you tow a trailer with a gross over 10,000 pounds pick up truck or a semi for personal use
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It’s true that Cal. law requires at least a class B noncommercial to drive anything over 40 feet, but apparently no one ever bothers to get the license. I had to go to 3 different DMV offices to take the written test, driving test and finish paperwork and all 3 offices told me that they had never issued a class B noncommercial license before mine. One window clerk even told me there is no such license and argued with me when I insisted there is. They had to send to Sacramento to get the right written test. They didn’t know what road test to give me so they gave me the same test they give for class A commerical licenses. (I passed but some of the yahoos from the trucking school flunked that day.) It’s a great concept and the road test would probably weed out some bad drivers, but the law must not be enforced. I’ve never heard of anyone else even having the license or anyone being ticketed for not having it.
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I think if we drive any vehicle that is the size and weight of our coaches we should have a license that is the equivalent of the commercial version. In other words, anything over 26,000 pounds, anything with air brakes, anything towing a trailer greater than 10,000 pounds. I think there should be both a knowledge test as well as a driving test. I think the standards should be uniform across the entire country.
Competent drivers will have no issues with that, especially if there is no hurdles such as having to have a learner’s permit and requiring a licensed driver accompany you everywhere until you pass the tests. Give a person 3 months to schedule and take the tests after stepping up into a vehicle requiring a large vehicle license.
I think it is absolute insanity to require a special license to drive a Vespa, but no special license to drive a 45 foot, 50,000 pound motor home.
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I am all for competent driving but I do have issues with more gov’ment power and more hurdles. Put me down in the insane section I guess because I am a less regulation guy myself. I am not a rebel though. I do comply with laws I just do not advocate for more laws.
Davy
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Illinois has listened to you Jon. They require everything you said.
Could you please say something about unfunded retirement liability for state workers and teachers, thank you.
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jon,
i agree that private coach owners should have to be licensed and pass a test showing the understand and can operate their vehicle in a safe way, but do not feel a CDL is the option. there are too many other issues that come with a CDL that private drivers should not have to deal with (infraction point, DOT requirements, logs, etc.). a non-commercial class license with a way to get actual training for that class/vehicle would be the best. but i tried to find training, and there is only one option and that is a truck driver school. weeks and $$ as they are geared towards commercial needs. GA does have a non-commercial tier, which i plan to get, but its a joke in terms of requirements. no training, just a signed affidavate from a CDL driver who says they drove with me for 2500 miles in the same size vehicle.
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There are alternatives. At some point this entire topic will be moot because it will be driven by insurance companies that will make the insurance expensive for RV drivers that do not have proof of training or a class-specific license.
I am surprised that FMCA and other RV organizations like Good Sam haven’t gotten ahead of this issue.
Davy can have his cake and eat it too if a private national organization steps in and provides a means of independent testing with a certificate of having met the standards. Everyone wins, A written test school can be on line, and driving tests can be done by designated examiners. Right now the FAA licenses most pilots using designated examiners so it is not unheard of.
At the conclusion of the passing of the written and driving tests a certificate can be issued and be a valid substitute for a state administered test.
I just hate to share the road with folks driving big rigs that haven’t a clue.
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surprised to see that the FMCA and Good Sam are not pushing or supporting approrpriate licensing requirements.
Please consider the fact that both organizations push the good live of RV’ing. In the case of Good Sam aka Camping World, they will prefer to sell you a big rig, too.
So … it is not in their best interests to push for legislated driving qualifications.
If there are state legislated requirements, it is a hodge-podge of different rules. This is something that would have to be dealt with on the Federal level because the states will only support what is in the state’s best interest which surely differentiates from region to region.
In my home state of New Hampshire, the Live or Die state, like in most other states, there are no special requirements. I am allowed to drive my bus with a regular drivers license. I called them several times in the past. I visited the office in person several times in the past to press the issue. NH does not have any special requirements at all. Even if I wanted to pass a special license class, it does not exist.
The other side of the coin is, however, that I do have to pay 2 different registration and tag fees. There is the regular registration fee for the tag, which I pay to my local town hall. Then there is the additional fee I have to pay direct to the State because my bus weighs over 26,000 lbs.
I have to drive an hour to get to the State’s DMV office to pay my dues.
Anyway, eventually, the insurance companies will make the call. It will take a long time because, statistically, RV’s are in the minority.
If there were a way to obtain a non commercial CDL in my state, I would go for it. I would support mandatory licensing.
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I have a commercial pilots license with instrument and seaplane ratings. I have road racing licenses from SCCA, Midwestern Council, and ARCA (only SCCA and MC required a school, ARCA was granted based on my demonstrated experience and whether my check cleared the bank “OK”).
I have found it very “convenient” to hook my 24′ race trailer (rated for 10,000#) that probably weighs 11,000 or 11,500 when loaded onto my half ton Suburban and take off down the road to the race track WITHOUT a special license as well as drive off in the 52,000# Prevost with or without the 11,500# trailer.
Very convenient. But probably stupid when applied to the general population.
I am NOT a fan of government over-regulation. Some things need to be regulated, other things do not. If you drive a truck “for hire” that is much smaller than our Prevosts, you need a special license for that little truck but all we need for our Ppevosts in most states is a simple drivers license. I think that is wrong.
We should be required to have a special license above a certain weight with an air brake endorsement as appropriate. I don’t know what that weight is; but much less than the weight of a Prevost.
That said … how many guys get themselves into trouble with motohomes and buses because they couldn’t pass the tests they don’t have to take?
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“That said … how many guys get themselves into trouble with motohomes and buses because they couldn’t pass the tests they don’t have to take?”
Right on, Dick. Plus I love that your question is both obtuse and clear as a bell at the same time.
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