Bill Text: MI SB0035 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Chaptered
Bill Title: Traffic control; traffic regulation; maximum length allowed for a recreational vehicle in combination with a trailer; revise. Amends secs. 719 & 721 of 1949 PA 300 (MCL 257.719 & 257.721).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2012-04-17 - Assigned Pa 0080'12 With Immediate Effect [SB0035 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-SB0035-Chaptered.html
Act No. 80
Public Acts of 2012
Approved by the Governor
April 10, 2012
Filed with the Secretary of State
April 11, 2012
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 11, 2012
STATE OF MICHIGAN
96TH LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION OF 2012
Introduced by Senator Nofs
ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 35
AN ACT to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled “An act to provide for the registration, titling, sale, transfer, and regulation of certain vehicles operated upon the public highways of this state or any other place open to the general public or generally accessible to motor vehicles and distressed vehicles; to provide for the licensing of dealers; to provide for the examination, licensing, and control of operators and chauffeurs; to provide for the giving of proof of financial responsibility and security by owners and operators of vehicles; to provide for the imposition, levy, and collection of specific taxes on vehicles, and the levy and collection of sales and use taxes, license fees, and permit fees; to provide for the regulation and use of streets and highways; to create certain funds; to provide penalties and sanctions for a violation of this act; to provide for civil liability of owners and operators of vehicles and service of process on residents and nonresidents; to regulate the introduction and use of certain evidence; to provide for the levy of certain assessments; to provide for the enforcement of this act; to provide for the creation of and to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local agencies; to impose liability upon the state or local agencies; to provide appropriations for certain purposes; to repeal all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act or contrary to this act; and to repeal certain parts of this act on a specific date,” by amending sections 719 and 721 (MCL 257.719 and 257.721), section 719 as amended by 2009 PA 37 and section 721 as amended by 2000 PA 154.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
Sec. 719. (1) A vehicle unloaded or with load shall not exceed a height of 13 feet 6 inches. The owner of a vehicle that collides with a lawfully established bridge or viaduct is liable for all damage and injury resulting from a collision caused by the height of the vehicle, whether the clearance of the bridge or viaduct is posted or not.
(2) Lengths described in this subsection shall be known as the normal length maximum. Except as provided in subsection (3), the following vehicles and combinations of vehicles shall not be operated on a highway in this state in excess of these lengths:
(a) Subject to subsection (8), any single vehicle: 40 feet; a crib vehicle on which logs are loaded lengthwise of the vehicle: 42.5 feet; any single bus or motor home: 45 feet.
(b) Articulated buses: 65 feet.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a combination of a truck and semitrailer or trailer, or a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and semitrailer or trailer, designed and used exclusively to transport assembled motor vehicles or bodies, recreational vehicles, or boats: 65 feet. Stinger-steered combinations: 75 feet. The load on the combinations of vehicles described in this subdivision may extend an additional 3 feet beyond the front and 4 feet beyond the rear of the combinations of vehicles. Retractable extensions used to support and secure the load that do not extend beyond the allowable overhang for the front and rear shall not be included in determining length of a loaded vehicle or vehicle combination.
(d) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations: no overall length, the semitrailer: 50 feet.
(e) Truck and semitrailer or trailer: 59 feet.
(f) Except as provided in subdivision (g), truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and 2 semitrailers: 59 feet.
(g) A truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or a truck tractor and 2 semitrailers, in which no semitrailer or trailer is more than 28-1/2 feet long: 65 feet. This subdivision only applies while the vehicle is being used for a business purpose reasonably related to picking up or delivering a load and only if each semitrailer or trailer is equipped with a device or system capable of mechanically dumping construction materials or dumping construction materials by force of gravity.
(h) More than 1 motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled, in combination, utilizing 1 tow bar or 3 saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of 1 of the vehicles in combination: 55 feet.
(i) A recreational vehicle that has its own motive power, in combination with a trailer: 65 feet or, if the operator of the recreational vehicle has a group commercial motor vehicle designation on his or her operator’s or chauffeur’s license, 75 feet.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the following vehicles and combinations of vehicles shall not be operated on a designated highway of this state in excess of these lengths:
(a) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations: no overall length limit, the semitrailer 53 feet. All semitrailers longer than 50 feet shall have a wheelbase of 37.5 to 40.5 feet plus or minus 0.5 feet, measured from the kingpin coupling to the center of the rear axle or the center of the rear axle assembly. A semitrailer with a length longer than 50 feet shall not operate with more than 3 axles on the semitrailer. City, village, or county authorities may prohibit stops of vehicles with a semitrailer longer than 50 feet within their jurisdiction unless the stop occurs along appropriately designated routes, or is necessary for emergency purposes or to reach shippers, receivers, warehouses, and terminals along designated routes.
(b) Truck and semitrailer or trailer combinations: 65 feet, except that a person may operate a truck and semitrailer or trailer designed and used to transport saw logs, pulpwood, and tree length poles that does not exceed an overall length of 70 feet or a crib vehicle and semitrailer or trailer designed and used to transport saw logs that does not exceed an overall length of 75 feet. A crib vehicle and semitrailer or trailer designed to and used to transport saw logs shall not exceed a gross vehicle weight of 164,000 pounds. A person may operate a truck tractor and semitrailer designed and used to transport saw logs, pulpwood, and tree length wooden poles with a load overhang to the rear of the semitrailer which does not exceed 6 feet if the semitrailer does not exceed 50 feet in length.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (4)(d), a truck tractor with a log slasher unit and a log saw unit: no overall limit if the length of each unit does not exceed 28-1/2 feet, or the overall length of the log slasher unit and the log saw unit, as measured from the front of the first towed unit to the rear of the second towed unit while the units are coupled together, does not exceed 58 feet. The coupling devices of the truck tractor and units set forth in this subdivision shall meet the requirements established under the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25.
(d) Truck tractor and 2 semitrailers, or truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer combinations: no overall length limit, if the length of each semitrailer or trailer does not exceed 28-1/2 feet each, or the overall length of the semitrailer and trailer, or 2 semitrailers as measured from the front of the first towed unit to the rear of the second towed unit while the units are coupled together does not exceed 58 feet.
(e) More than 1 motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled, in combination, utilizing 1 tow bar or 3 saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of 1 of the vehicles in combination: 75 feet.
(f) Truck tractor and lowboy semitrailer combinations: no maximum overall length, if the lowboy semitrailer does not exceed 59 feet, except as otherwise permitted under this subdivision. A lowboy semitrailer wheelbase shall not exceed 55 feet as measured from the kingpin coupling to the center of the rear axle. A lowboy semitrailer more than 59 feet in length shall not operate with more than any combination of 4 axles on the lowboy unless an oversized load permit is issued by the state transportation department or a local authority with respect to highways under its jurisdiction. As used in this subdivision, “lowboy semitrailer” means a flatbed semitrailer with a depressed section that has the specific purpose of being lowered and raised for loading and unloading.
(4) The following combinations and movements are prohibited:
(a) A truck shall not haul more than 1 trailer or semitrailer, and a truck tractor shall not haul more than 2 semitrailers or 1 semitrailer and 1 trailer in combination at any 1 time, except that a farm tractor may haul 2 wagons or trailers, or garbage and refuse haulers may, during daylight hours, haul up to 4 trailers for garbage and refuse collection purposes, not exceeding in any combination a total length of 55 feet and at a speed limit not to exceed 15 miles per hour.
(b) A combination of vehicles or a vehicle shall not have more than 11 axles, except when operating under a valid permit issued by the state transportation department or a local authority with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction.
(c) Any combination of vehicles not specifically authorized under this section is prohibited.
(d) Except as provided in subsection (3)(c), a combination of 2 semitrailers pulled by a truck tractor, unless each semitrailer uses a fifth wheel connecting assembly that conforms to the requirements of the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25.
(e) A vehicle or a combination of vehicles shall not carry a load extending more than 3 feet beyond the front of the lead vehicle.
(f) A vehicle described in subsections (2)(e) and (3)(e) employing triple saddle mounts unless all wheels that are in contact with the roadway have operating brakes.
(5) All combinations of vehicles under this section shall employ connecting assemblies and lighting devices that are in compliance with the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25.
(6) The total gross weight of a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer combination or a truck tractor and 2 semitrailers combination that exceeds 59 feet in length shall not exceed a ratio of 400 pounds per engine net horsepower delivered to clutch or its equivalent specified in the handbook published by the society of automotive engineers, inc. (SAE), 1977 edition.
(7) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction. The owner of the vehicle may be charged with a violation of this section.
(8) The provisions in subsections (2)(a) and (3)(b) prescribing the length of a crib vehicle on which logs are loaded lengthwise do not apply unless 23 USC 127(d) is amended to allow crib vehicles carrying logs to be loaded as described in this section.
(9) As used in this section:
(a) “Designated highway” means a highway approved by the state transportation department or a local authority with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction.
(b) “Length” means the total length of a vehicle, or combination of vehicles, including any load the vehicle is carrying. Length does not include devices described in 23 CFR 658.16 and 23 CFR part 658, appendix d, 23 CFR 658.16 and 23 CFR part 658, appendix d, as on file with the secretary of state are adopted by reference. A safety or energy conservation device shall be excluded from a determination of length only if it is not designed or used for the carrying of cargo, freight, or equipment. Semitrailers and trailers shall be measured from the front vertical plane of the foremost transverse load supporting structure to the rearmost transverse load supporting structure. Vehicle components not excluded by law shall be included in the measurement of the length, height, and width of the vehicle.
(c) “Stinger-steered combinations” means a truck tractor and semitrailer combination in which the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.
Sec. 721. (1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (5), a passenger vehicle or a pickup truck shall not be driven upon a highway drawing or having attached to the passenger vehicle or pickup truck more than 1 vehicle or trailer.
(2) The drawbar or other connection between 2 vehicles, 1 of which is towing or drawing the other on a highway, shall not exceed 15 feet in length from 1 vehicle to the other. If the connection consists of a chain, rope, or cable, there shall be displayed upon the connection a red flag or other signal or cloth not less than 12 inches both in length and width.
(3) A vehicle or trailer towed or drawn by a vehicle shall be attached to the vehicle with forms of coupling devices in a manner so that when the combination is operated in a linear alignment on a level, smooth, paved surface, the movement of the towed or drawn vehicle or trailer does not deviate more than 3 inches to either side of the path of the towing vehicle that tows or draws it. The vehicle or trailer shall also be connected to the towing vehicle by suitable safety chains or devices, 1 on each side of the coupling and at the extreme outer edge of the vehicle or trailer. Each chain or device and connection used shall be of sufficient strength to haul the vehicle or trailer when loaded. In the case of an implement of husbandry with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, the safety chains or devices required under this subsection shall conform to the federal motor carrier safety regulations requirements contained in 49 CFR 393.70(d)(5).
(4) A pickup truck with a fifth wheel assembly shall not tow a semitrailer unless the fifth wheel assembly conforms to the standards prescribed in the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25.
(5) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a pickup truck with a towing rating equal to, or greater than, the weight being towed, equipped with a fifth wheel assembly that conforms with the standards prescribed in the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.25, towing attached with a semitrailer designed for recreational living purposes may tow an additional trailer or semitrailer under the following conditions:
(a) The additional trailer or semitrailer shall be attached as provided in subsection (3). The safety chains described in subsection (3) shall be securely attached at the extreme outer edge of the attached trailer or semitrailer with a locking mechanism. The towing vehicle hitch shall be of substantial material and shall be attached in a proper and skillful manner to the frame of the towing vehicle.
(b) The total length of the pickup truck, semitrailer designed for recreational living purposes, and additional trailer or semitrailer, and load, shall not exceed 75 feet on any highways in this state.
(c) The gross weight of the additional trailer or semitrailer towed or drawn shall not exceed the empty weight of the pickup truck or the empty weight of the semitrailer.
(6) For the purposes of this section, a pickup truck towing a semitrailer and additional trailer shall be considered a passenger vehicle and shall comply with the speed limit requirements of section 627(5).
(7) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction.
This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Secretary of the Senate
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Approved
Governor
