GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2009
SESSION LAW 2009-128
SENATE BILL 1000
AN ACT to restrict the overall length of a single VEHICLE with two or more axles to forty feet, to require that vehicles transporting equipment or poles for emergency utility repair at night have trailers that are no longer than fifty-three feet, to increase the maximum length for a combination of a house trailer used as a mobile home with its towing vehicle, and to require certain farm vehicles to be self-propelled when OPERATING on a highway.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 20-116 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-116. Size of vehicles and loads.
…
(d) Maximum Length. - The following maximum lengths apply to vehicles. A truck-tractor and semitrailer shall be regarded as two vehicles for the purpose of determining lawful length and license taxes.
(1) Except as
otherwise provided in this subsection, a single vehicle having two or three more
axles shall not exceed 40 feet in length overall of dimensions inclusive of
front and rear bumpers.
(2) Trucks transporting unprocessed cotton from farm to gin shall not exceed 50 feet in length overall of dimensions inclusive of front and rear bumpers.
(3) Recreational vehicles shall not exceed 45 feet in length overall, excluding bumpers and mirrors.
(e) Except as
provided by G.S. 20-115.1, no combination of vehicles coupled together
shall consist of more than two units and no such combination of vehicles shall
exceed a total length of 60 feet inclusive of front and rear bumpers, subject
to the following exceptions: Motor vehicle combinations of one semitrailer of
not more than 53 feet in length and a truck tractor (power unit) may exceed the
60-foot maximum length. Said maximum overall length limitation shall not
apply to vehicles operated in the daytime when transporting poles, pipe,
machinery or other objects of a structural nature which cannot readily be
dismembered, nor to such vehicles transporting such objects operated at
nighttime by a public utility when required for emergency repair of public
service facilities or properties,properties, provided the trailer
length does not exceed 53 feet in length, but in respect to such night
transportation every such vehicle and the load thereon shall be equipped with a
sufficient number of clearance lamps on both sides and marker lamps upon the
extreme ends of said projecting load to clearly mark the dimensions of such
load: Provided that vehicles designed and used exclusively for the
transportation of motor vehicles shall be permitted an overhang tolerance front
or rear not to exceed five feet. Provided, that wreckers may tow a truck,
combination tractor and trailer, trailer, or any other disabled vehicle or
combination of vehicles to a place for repair, parking, or storage within 50
miles of the point where the vehicle was disabled and may tow a truck, tractor,
or other replacement vehicle to the site of the disabled vehicle. Provided,
however, that a combination of a house trailer used as a mobile home, together
with its towing vehicle, shall not exceed a total length of 55 feet exclusive
of front and rear bumpers. Provided further, that the said limitation that
no combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two
units shall not apply to trailers not exceeding three in number drawn by a
motor vehicle used by municipalities for the removal of domestic and commercial
refuse and street rubbish, but such combination of vehicles shall not exceed a
total length of 50 feet inclusive of front and rear bumpers. Provided further,
that the said limitation that no combination of vehicles coupled together shall
consist of more than two units shall not apply to a combination of vehicles
coupled together by a saddle mount device used to transport motor vehicles in a
driveway service when no more than three saddle mounts are used and provided
further, that equipment used in said combination is approved by the safety
regulations of the Federal Highway Administration and the safety rules of the
Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
…
(j) Nothing
in this section shall be construed to prevent the operation of self-propelled
grain combines or other farm equipment self-propelled, pulled, or otherwise,
self-propelled farm equipment with or without implements, not
exceeding 25 feet in width on any highway, except a highway or section of
highway that is a fully controlled access highway or is a part of the National
System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Farm equipment includes a vehicle
that is designed exclusively to transport compressed seed cotton from a farm to
a gin and has a self-loading bed. Combines or equipment which exceed 10 feet in
width may be operated only if they meet all of the conditions listed in this
subsection. A violation of one or more of these conditions does not constitute
negligence per se.
…."
SECTION 2. This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 11th day of June, 2009.
s/ Marc Basnight
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
s/ Joe Hackney
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
Governor
Approved 11:38 a.m. this 19th day of June, 2009