SB 248

Under current law, no person may operate on a highway any single vehicle with

an overall length in excess of 45 feet or any combination of two vehicles with an

overall length in excess of 70 feet, unless a specific exception applies or the person

has a permit to exceed these lengths. Current law also generally prohibits any

person from driving a vehicle on a highway while towing two or more vehicles unless

the driver possesses a permit. One exception allows two or three vehicles to be towed,

without a permit, when they are being transported by the drive-away method in

saddlemount combination and the overall length of the vehicle combination does not

exceed 75 feet. The term "saddlemount combination" is neither defined nor described

by statute, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) defines it by rule as a

combination of vehicles in which a truck or truck tractor tows one or more trucks or

truck tractors, each connected by a saddle to the vehicle in front of it; the towed

vehicles essentially piggyback the power unit or one another.

This bill increases, from 75 feet to 97 feet, the length limit on certain highways

for vehicle combinations, operated without a permit, involving two or three towed

vehicles being transported by the drive-away method in saddlemount combination.

The increased length limit of 97 feet applies to these vehicle combinations when

operating on a highway designated by DOT as a long truck route or designated by

DOT as part of the national system of interstate and defense highways, but the

current length limit of 75 feet applies to these vehicle combinations when operating

on any other highway. The bill defines "drive-away method in saddlemount

combination" as a vehicle combination designed and specifically used to tow up to

three trucks or truck tractors, each connected by a saddle to the frame or fifth-wheel

of the forward vehicle of the truck or truck tractor in front of it, and including not

more than one fullmount. A "fullmount" is a smaller vehicle mounted completely on

the frame of either the first or last vehicle in a saddlemount combination. A "saddle"

is a mechanism that connects the front axle of a towed vehicle to the frame or

fifth-wheel of the vehicle in front and functions like a fifth-wheel kingpin

connection.