I have a license that allows me to operate a commercial vehicle with a gross combination weight in excess of 26,000 pounds.
It's a special license. You have to undergo some training and testing above and beyond that of a regular drivers license, and you have to pass a medical checkup every two years in order to keep it.
It makes sense. Rigs are sluggish in response to both acceleration and braking. They can, in instances of high wind, for example, be onerous. They're not simple to park. And they're long.
All of this holds true to recreational vehicles as well.
An RV hauling a 20-foot enclosed trailer crossed a median and rocketed into oncoming traffic Aug. 9 just before 9 p.m., hitting head-on a tractor trailer in a crash that killed five people on Interstate 81 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Police say the crash was caused by a blown driver's side steer tire on the RV.
Pennsylvania requires at least a Class B non-commercial license for single vehicles over 26,000 pounds and for multiple vehicles with combined weight over 26,000 pounds, but 34 other states don't require drivers of recreational vehicles to obtain any license other than a basic drivers license. In Alabama, I can drive a Mazda Miata and a 40-foot motorcoach with the same license, and that's completely insane.
There's really no reason anyone should be allowed to drive a vehicle as heavy and long as an RV or tow-behind camper without proper safety training and special licensure.
