BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: SB 109
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: corbett
VERSION: 1/14/13
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: no
Hearing date: April 2, 2013
SUBJECT:
Vehicles: aerodynamic devices
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows a vehicle to exceed length limits by up to five
feet in order to accommodate an aerodynamic device, as defined.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law limits the width of a vehicle to no more than 102
inches, with certain exceptions, including that a vehicle may
have specified equipment that extends up to three extra inches
beyond each side. Existing law limits this equipment to door
handles, hinges, cable cinchers, chain binders, hazardous
materials warning placards, and aerodynamic devices. Last
year's
SB 12 (Corbett), Chapter 727, added aerodynamic devices to this
list provided that they did not adversely impact the vehicle's
swept width and turning characteristics.
Aerodynamic devices use technologies that minimize drag and
improve airflow over an entire tractor-trailer vehicle, and
under state law, they may not have the primary purpose of
advertising.
Existing law prohibits any combination of vehicles coupled
together, including any attachments, from exceeding a total
length of 65 feet, with certain, specified exceptions, including
an exception that allows 75-foot long truck tractor-trailer
combinations, provided no trailer exceeds 28 feet 6 inches.
This bill permits an aerodynamic device extending up to five
feet beyond the rear of a vehicle to be excluded from
calculating the vehicle's length for limit purposes, if the
device:
SB 109 (CORBETT) Page 2
1.Does not have the strength or rigidity to damage a vehicle or
injure a passenger in a vehicle that rear ends the vehicle
equipped with the aerodynamic device.
2.Does not obscure tail lamps, turn signals, or any other
required safety devices.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . Aerodynamic devices are mounted on vehicles to
reduce air turbulence around the vehicle. These devices
include gap fairings, which are mounted on the back of the
tractor or the front of the trailer to reduce turbulence
between the tractor and trailer; rear fairings, which are
mounted on the back of the trailer to reduce turbulence and
pressure drop at the rear of a trailer; and side skirts, which
are mounted underneath the trailer to minimize wind under the
trailer.
Equipping large vehicles with these aerodynamic devices
improves gas mileage and, in turn, reduces greenhouse gas
emissions associated with those vehicles. Aerodynamic
technologies offer a low-cost tool for reducing fuel
consumption and driving down both the economic and
environmental costs that come along with combustion of fossil
fuels. Current California law, however, prevents the use of
rear fairings that extend the length of a vehicle or
combination of vehicles in excess of length limits. This bill
addresses this issue by exempting these devices from length
limits.
2.Consistent with federal law . This bill is consistent with
federal regulations that exclude from vehicle length limits
aerodynamic devices that extend a maximum of five feet beyond
the rear of the vehicle, "provided such devices have neither
the strength, rigidity nor mass to damage a vehicle, or injure
a passenger in a vehicle, that strikes a trailer so equipped
from the rear, and provided also that they do not obscure tail
lamps, turn signals, marker lamps, identification lamps, or
any other required safety devices...."
3.ARB regulations . Proponents note that the California Air
Resources Board's (ARB's) regulations require the retrofit of
pre-2010 trailers with devices designed to achieve a minimum
of five percent increased fuel efficiently. Typically these
SB 109 (CORBETT) Page 3
devices will include trailer skirts to improve airflow under
the trailer body, but truckers report that these trailer
skirts do not work in all instances. ARB's regulations do not
explicitly require rear fairings that have the potential to
cause a vehicle or combination of vehicles to exceed the
state's vehicle length limits, but this bill authorizes
another option even when it makes the length of the
truck-trailer otherwise illegal.
4.Definition of aerodynamic devices . Existing law defines
"aerodynamic devices" only for one section of the Vehicle Code
that relates to maximum widths, while this bill relates to
maximum vehicle lengths. The author or the committee may wish
to amend this bill to apply the definition of aerodynamic
devices more broadly to the Vehicle Code.
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, March 27,
2013.)
SUPPORT: California Trucking Association
OPPOSED: None received.