Florida Senate - 2015 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 1554
Ì391500hÎ391500
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/19/2015 .
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The Committee on Transportation (Simpson) recommended the
following:
1 Senate Amendment to Amendment (336656) (with title
2 amendment)
3
4 Delete lines 97 - 99
5 and insert:
6 Section 41. Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) and subsection
7 (14) of section 316.515, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
8 316.515 Maximum width, height, length.—
9 (3) LENGTH LIMITATION.—Except as otherwise provided in this
10 section, length limitations apply solely to a semitrailer or
11 trailer, and not to a truck tractor or to the overall length of
12 a combination of vehicles. No combination of commercial motor
13 vehicles coupled together and operating on the public roads may
14 consist of more than one truck tractor and two trailing units.
15 Unless otherwise specifically provided for in this section, a
16 combination of vehicles not qualifying as commercial motor
17 vehicles may consist of no more than two units coupled together;
18 such nonqualifying combination of vehicles may not exceed a
19 total length of 65 feet, inclusive of the load carried thereon,
20 but exclusive of safety and energy conservation devices approved
21 by the department for use on vehicles using public roads.
22 Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a truck
23 tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the transportation of
24 automobiles or boats may transport motor vehicles or boats on
25 part of the power unit; and, except as may otherwise be mandated
26 under federal law, an automobile or boat transporter semitrailer
27 may not exceed 50 feet in length, exclusive of the load;
28 however, the load may extend up to an additional 6 feet beyond
29 the rear of the trailer. The 50-feet length limitation does not
30 apply to non-stinger-steered automobile or boat transporters
31 that are 65 feet or less in overall length, exclusive of the
32 load carried thereon, or to stinger-steered automobile or boat
33 transporters that are 75 feet or less in overall length,
34 exclusive of the load carried thereon. For purposes of this
35 subsection, a “stinger-steered automobile or boat transporter”
36 is an automobile or boat transporter configured as a semitrailer
37 combination wherein the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame
38 located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
39 Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), any straight truck or
40 truck tractor-semitrailer combination engaged in the
41 transportation of horticultural trees may allow the load to
42 extend up to an additional 10 feet beyond the rear of the
43 vehicle, provided said trees are resting against a retaining bar
44 mounted above the truck bed so that the root balls of the trees
45 rest on the floor and to the front of the truck bed and the tops
46 of the trees extend up over and to the rear of the truck bed,
47 and provided the overhanging portion of the load is covered with
48 protective fabric.
49 (b) Semitrailers.—
50 1. A semitrailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer
51 combination may not exceed 48 feet in extreme overall outside
52 dimension, measured from the front of the unit to the rear of
53 the unit and the load carried thereon, exclusive of safety and
54 energy conservation devices approved by the department for use
55 on vehicles using public roads, unless it complies with
56 subparagraph 2. A semitrailer which exceeds 48 feet in length
57 and is used to transport divisible loads may operate in this
58 state only if issued a permit under s. 316.550 and if such
59 trailer meets the requirements of this chapter relating to
60 vehicle equipment and safety. Except for highways on the tandem
61 trailer truck highway network, public roads deemed unsafe for
62 longer semitrailer vehicles or those roads on which such longer
63 vehicles are determined not to be in the interest of public
64 convenience shall, in conformance with s. 316.006, be restricted
65 by the Department of Transportation or by the local authority to
66 use by semitrailers not exceeding a length of 48 feet, inclusive
67 of the load carried thereon but exclusive of safety and energy
68 conservation devices approved by the department for use on
69 vehicles using public roads. Truck tractor-semitrailer
70 combinations shall be afforded reasonable access to terminals;
71 facilities for food, fuel, repairs, and rest; and points of
72 loading and unloading.
73 2. A semitrailer which is more than 48 feet but not more
74 than 57 53 feet in extreme overall outside dimension, as
75 measured pursuant to subparagraph 1., may operate on public
76 roads, except roads on the State Highway System which are
77 restricted by the Department of Transportation or other roads
78 restricted by local authorities, if:
79 a. The distance between the kingpin or other peg that locks
80 into the fifth wheel of a truck tractor and the center of the
81 rear axle or rear group of axles does not exceed 41 feet, or, in
82 the case of a semitrailer used exclusively or primarily to
83 transport vehicles in connection with motorsports competition
84 events, the distance does not exceed 46 feet from the kingpin to
85 the center of the rear axles; and
86 b. It is equipped with a substantial rear-end underride
87 protection device meeting the requirements of 49 C.F.R. s.
88 393.86, “Rear End Protection.”
89
90
91 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
92 And the title is amended as follows:
93 Delete line 981
94 and insert:
95 316.515, F.S.; extending the allowable length of
96 certain semitrailers authorized to operate on public
97 roads under certain conditions; authorizing the
98 Department