Will you be a traffic ticket victim?

By Bob Difley

I’ve received a couple emails from Rvers who have pulled into Utah rest stops and stayed overnight finding a ticket in excess of $400 on their windshield. Is this just in Utah, or is it happening in other states as well? I have no real evidence, but if any of you have any first hand experience with receiving  tickets while sleeping in rest stops, please add your comments below.

With funds drying up and states desperate for money, is it possible that they are reaching for income wherever they can find it? If so, it would be good to alert RVers out there on the road. One source said that truckers were not being ticketed nor are people sleeping in cars.

So do authorities feel that rich RVers with those big motorhomes and fifth wheels won’t complain,  or put up a stink about getting a ticket–and probably aren’t even voters in that state anyway. And if it is true, and we don’t react or try to do something about being singled out for ransom, than we deserve to be the hapless victims of extortion.

Another RVer emailed me that he has run into several people that supposedly have lost their jobs and homes and are squatting out on public lands. I can understand their dilemma, and don’t begrudge them trying to survive. However, this RVer also said that one of them had thrown trash all over the campsite and was dumping his tanks right out on the ground.

He took a video–which included their license plate and turned it over to a Ranger. Trashing of a campsite on public lands will eventually affect all of us in several ways. Popular boondocking areas could be closed off from camping. Clean up or “site maintenance” fees could be charged to clear trash from boondocking areas. Boondocking sites could become so trashy that we won’t want to camp on public lands. And the BLM might decide to charge a seasonal fee for camping/boondocking on public lands even outside the LTVAs where camping fees are now collected.

Ignorance of people who are not really RVers–who wouldn’t do such dastardly deeds–cannot be the sole reason for their actions, and maybe they need to be reminded what the results could be. Should we, as responsible RVers, poke our noses into their business?  Would it be prudent to ask them to not trash their site, and explain what the ramifications are? Or do we report them to ranger and have him handle it? What do you think?

For tips and articles on the RV Lifestyle, visit my Healthy RV Lifestyle website, and when you’re not busy out picking up somebody else’s trash, check out my ebooks, BOONDOCKING: Finding the Perfect Campsite on America’s Public Lands and 111 Ways to get the Biggest Bang from your RV Lifestyle Dollar.