Senate Bill No. 1175

Introduced by Senator Walters

February 20, 2014

An act to amend Section 35401.5 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1175, as introduced, Walters. Vehicles: length limitations: motorsports.

Existing law generally prohibits a vehicle from exceeding a length of 40 feet, and a combination of vehicles from exceeding a total length of 65 feet, with various specific exceptions. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, exempts from these provisions a combination of vehicles consisting of a truck tractor semitrailer combination with a kingpin to rearmost axle measurement limit of not more than 46 feet, a trailer length of not more than 56 feet, and used exclusively or primarily in connection with motorsports, as defined.

This bill would delete the January 1, 2016, date of repeal, thereby making these provisions operative indefinitely. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 35401.5 of the Vehicle Code is amended
to read:

35401.5.  

(a) A combination of vehicles consisting of a truck
tractor and semitrailer, or of a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer,
is not subject to the limitations of Sections 35400 and 35401, when
operating on the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of
Interstate and Defense Highways or when using those portions of
federal-aid primary system highways that have been qualified by
the United States Secretary of Transportation for that use, or when
using routes appropriately identified by the Department of
Transportation or local authorities as provided in subdivision (c)
or (d), if all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The length of the semitrailer in exclusive combination with
a truck tractor does not exceed 48 feet. A semitrailer not more than
53 feet in length shall satisfy this requirement when configured
with two or more rear axles, the rearmost of which is located 40
feet or less from the kingpin or when configured with a single axle
which is located 38 feet or less from the kingpin. For purposes of
this paragraph, a motortruck used in combination with a semitrailer,
when that combination of vehicles is engaged solely in the
transportation of motor vehicles, camper units, or boats, is
considered to be a truck tractor.

(2) Neither the length of the semitrailer nor the length of the
trailer when simultaneously in combination with a truck tractor
exceeds 28 feet 6 inches.

(b) Subdivisions (b), (d), and (e) of Section 35402 do not apply
to combinations of vehicles operated subject to the exemptions
provided by this section.

(c) Combinations of vehicles operated pursuant to subdivision
(a) may also use highways not specified in subdivision (a) that
provide reasonable access to terminals and facilities for purposes
limited to fuel, food, lodging, and repair when that access is
consistent with the safe operation of the combinations of vehicles
and when the facility is within one road mile of identified points
of ingress and egress to or from highways specified in subdivision
(a) for use by those combinations of vehicles.

(d) The Department of Transportation or local authorities may
establish a process whereby access to terminals or services may
be applied for upon a route not previously established as an access
route. The denial of a request for access to terminals and services
shall be only on the basis of safety and an engineering analysis of
the proposed access route. If a written request for access has been
properly submitted and has not been acted upon within 90 days of
receipt by the department or the appropriate local agency, the
access shall be deemed automatically approved. Thereafter, the
route shall be deemed open for access by all other vehicles of the
same type regardless of ownership. In lieu of processing an access
application, the Department of Transportation or local authorities
with respect to highways under their respective jurisdictions may
provide signing, mapping, or a listing of highways as necessary
to indicate the use of specific routes as terminal access routes. For
purposes of this subdivision, “terminal” means either of the
following:

(1) A facility where freight originates, terminates, or is handled
in the transportation process.

(2) A facility where a motor carrier maintains operating
facilities.

(e) Nothing in subdivision (c) or (d) authorizes state or local
agencies to require permits of terminal operators or to charge
terminal operators fees for the purpose of attaining access for
vehicles described in this section.

(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (d), the limitations of access
specified in that subdivision do not apply to licensed carriers of
household goods when directly enroute to or from a point of
loading or unloading of household goods, if travel on highways
other than those specified in subdivision (a) is necessary and
incidental to the shipment of the household goods.

(g)  begin delete (1) end delete begin delete   end delete Notwithstanding Sections 35400 and 35401, a
combination of vehicles consisting of a truck tractor semitrailer
combination with a kingpin to rearmost axle measurement limit
of not more than 46 feet, a trailer length of not more than 56 feet,
and used exclusively or primarily in connection with motorsports,
may operate on the routes identified in subdivision (a) as well as
on any other routes authorized for that purpose by the Department
of Transportation in consultation with the Department of the
California Highway Patrol. As used in this subdivision,
“motorsports” means an event, and all activities leading up to that
event, including, but not limited to, administration, testing, practice,
promotion, and merchandising, that is sanctioned under the
auspices of the member organizations of the Automobile
Competition Committee for the United States.

begin delete

(2) (A) The Department of Transportation shall conduct a field
test of the tractor truck semitrailer combination authorized under
paragraph (1) for motorsport trucks with a trailer length of 56 feet
to evaluate their performance on various segments of the National
Network and transition routes. The Department of Transportation
shall, no later than January 1, 2014, submit a report to the
Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
Code that includes the results of the field test and a
recommendation, in consultation with the Department of the
California Highway Patrol, as to whether the 56 foot trailer length
should be reauthorized.

(B) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code,
the requirement for submitting a report under this paragraph is
inoperative on January 1, 2018.

(3) This subdivision shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends that date.

end delete

(h) The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:

(1) In authorizing the use of 53-foot semitrailers, it is the intent
of the Legislature to conform with Section 31111(b)(1)(C) of Title
49 of the United States Code by permitting the continued use of
semitrailers of the dimensions as those that were in actual and legal
use on December 1, 1982, and does not intend this action to be a
precedent for future increases in the parameters of any of those
vehicles that would adversely affect the turning maneuverability
of vehicle combinations.

(2) In authorizing the department to issue special transportation
permits for motorsports, it is the intent of the Legislature to
conform with Section 31111(b)(1)(F) of Title 49 of the United
States Code. It is also the intent of the Legislature that this action
not be a precedent for future increases in the distance from the
kingpin to the rearmost axle of semitrailers and trailers that would
adversely affect the turning maneuverability of vehicle
combinations.