Florida Senate - 2015 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1554
Ì249514+Î249514
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: WD .
03/19/2015 .
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The Committee on Transportation (Simpson) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete lines 97 - 99
4 and insert:
5 Section 41. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) and subsection
6 (14) of section 316.515, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
7 316.515 Maximum width, height, length.—
8 (3) LENGTH LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise provided in this
9 section, length limitations apply solely to a semitrailer or
10 trailer, and not to a truck tractor or to the overall length of
11 a combination of vehicles. No combination of commercial motor
12 vehicles coupled together and operating on the public roads may
13 consist of more than one truck tractor and two trailing units.
14 Unless otherwise specifically provided for in this section, a
15 combination of vehicles not qualifying as commercial motor
16 vehicles may consist of no more than two units coupled together;
17 such nonqualifying combination of vehicles may not exceed a
18 total length of 65 feet, inclusive of the load carried thereon,
19 but exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices approved
20 by the department for use on vehicles using public roads.
21 Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck
22 tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of
23 automobiles or boats may transport motor vehicles or boats on
24 part of the power unit; and, except as may otherwise be mandated
25 under federal law, an automobile or boat transporter semitrailer
26 may not exceed 50 feet in length, exclusive of the load;
27 however, the load may extend up to an additional 6 feet beyond
28 the rear of the trailer. The 50-feet length limitation does not
29 apply to non-stinger-steered automobile or boat transporters
30 that are 65 feet or less in overall length, exclusive of the
31 load carried thereon, or to stinger-steered automobile or boat
32 transporters that are 75 feet or less in overall length,
33 exclusive of the load carried thereon. For purposes of this
34 subsection, a “stinger-steered automobile or boat transporter”
35 is an automobile or boat transporter configured as a semitrailer
36 combination wherein the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame
37 located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
38 Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), any straight truck or
39 truck tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the
40 transportation of horticultural trees may allow the load to
41 extend up to an additional 10 feet beyond the rear of the
42 vehicle, provided said trees are resting against a retaining bar
43 mounted above the truck bed so that the root balls of the trees
44 rest on the floor and to the front of the truck bed and the tops
45 of the trees extend up over and to the rear of the truck bed,
46 and provided the overhanging portion of the load is covered with
47 protective fabric.
48 (b) Semitrailers.—
49 1. A semitrailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer
50 combination may not exceed 48 feet in extreme overall outside
51 dimension, measured from the front of the unit to the rear of
52 the unit and the load carried thereon, exclusive of safety and
53 energy conservation devices approved by the department for use
54 on vehicles using public roads, unless it complies with
55 subparagraph 2. A semitrailer which exceeds 48 feet in length
56 and is used to transport divisible loads may operate in this
57 state only if issued a permit under s. 316.550 and if such
58 trailer meets the requirements of this chapter relating to
59 vehicle equipment and safety. Except for highways on the tandem
60 trailer truck highway network, public roads deemed unsafe for
61 longer semitrailer vehicles or those roads on which such longer
62 vehicles are determined not to be in the interest of public
63 convenience shall, in conformance with s. 316.006, be restricted
64 by the Department of Transportation or by the local authority to
65 use by semitrailers not exceeding a length of 48 feet, inclusive
66 of the load carried thereon but exclusive of safety and energy
67 conservation devices approved by the department for use on
68 vehicles using public roads. Truck tractor-semitrailer
69 combinations shall be afforded reasonable access to terminals;
70 facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest; and points of
71 loading and unloading.
72 2. A semitrailer which is more than 48 feet but not more
73 than 57 53 feet in extreme overall outside dimension, as
74 measured pursuant to subparagraph 1., may operate on public
75 roads, except roads on the State Highway System which are
76 restricted by the Department of Transportation or other roads
77 restricted by local authorities, if:
78 a. The distance between the kingpin or other peg that locks
79 into the fifth wheel of a truck tractor and the center of the
80 rear axle or rear group of axles does not exceed 41 feet, or, in
81 the case of a semitrailer used exclusively or primarily to
82 transport vehicles in connection with motorsports competition
83 events, the distance does not exceed 46 feet from the kingpin to
84 the center of the rear axles; and
85 b. It is equipped with a substantial rear-end underride
86 protection device meeting the requirements of 49 C.F.R. s.
87 393.86, “Rear End Protection.”
88
89 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
90 And the title is amended as follows:
91 Delete line 981
92 and insert:
93 316.515, F.S.; extending the allowable length of
94 certain semitrailers authorized to operate on public
95 roads under certain conditions; authorizing the
96 Department