| heavyhauler |
04-03-2008 08:11 PM |
I'm in the trucking business and 99% of everything I haul is oversize. Take this advice from someone who has paid many thousands of dollars in fines for various technical violations of the overdimensional laws.
1. All states vary in their rules, so if you are going to haul under permit for oversize make sure you read every word of every permit and adhere to what it says regarding placards and lights and everything else on it. Most truck stops have a booklet of condensed rules for every state at a nominal price.
2. Do not order a permit for any less width than you actually are. If you are going to do that, then don't bother with getting a permit. Many states if they stop you, especially GA and NC will measure you and if you are wider than the permit, you're busted. On the average that will be $500.00. Florida is about the only states that differs on times of travel on the weekends concerning width, and the breakpoint with them is 10'6". Once you get out West, Texas for instance will let you roll on Saturdays and Sundays, but few will allow travel after sunset until sunrise, and some go by published sunrise and sunset times. Otherwise in most cases and in most states, the requirements are the same from anything over 8'6 to 12'. Once you get wider than 12', most but not all will require an escort.
3. If you use a permit service to obtain your permits, be sure when they ask if you are for hire or private that you tell them you are private and moving a recreational item. That will allow you to allevite the need for a USDOT number, ICCMC number, insurance filings, etc., in most states, although some have recently changed rules and will not issue without the latter and all have different rules and requirements.
The rules are so varied from state to state that before you start to haul overdimensional loads it would be a good idea to get a degree from the Harvard school of law.
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