Friday, April 11, 2008

Why is it............

That:

When I get an Oversize Permit:

Georgia requires that it be signed in BLUE ink....no other color will do....must be blue.

Alabama requires that it be signed in RED ink...no other color will do....must be red....

.............and if the officer (in either state) is in a bad mood....tickets may ensue.

No other State (that I know of) gives a flip WHAT color the permit is signed in. For all I know Crayon would work. Quiet a few states don't even require it be signed.

That :

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska and many other states have one page permits.

Texas, Illinois, and many other states have a one or two page "provision sheet" to go with the permit.

Missouri and Kansas have twenty or thirty page booklets that go with the permits.

California and Oregon and a few other states have permits the size of a telephone book for a small rural town....complete with tables and multi-colored maps.

That:

While most states permits are written in English some aren't....dunno what it is....Lawyereese? The words are English but the meaning is obscure.

That:

All states require that I follow, without exception, the permit. But that if things go bad...its MY fault (and liability) even if the permit is wrong.

That:

We drive on a Parkway and Park on a driveway

That:

Most states only allow oversize movement in daylight hours ,

Texas and most western states define daylight as when you can see....that is half an hour before sun up until half an hour after sunset.

New Mexico, Louisiana and some other states define daylight as sunup to sunset. (except at the new mexico weigh station on interstate ten west of El Paso who defines daylight as " when the sun comes up over that mountain" ...which is some time later than normal sunup)

Georgia and many of the Eastern states define daylight as half an hour AFTER sunup until half an hour BEFORE sunset.

Kentucky doesn't care.....run day or night...doesn't matter.

Virginia REQUIRES some oversize to be moved at night....as does California.

That:

Many western states allow movement seven days a week. Some don't...New Mexico won't allow it on Sunday. In Arizona it depends on the width.

Many Eastern States won't allow movement on Sunday.

Some northeastern states ONLY allow movement on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday....making for a short work week. Good thing they're small states.

That:

Many states have a list of holidays during which oversize movement is not allowed. Most include Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years etc. Louisiana includes Good Friday. Nebraska includes Football Friday. Oregon includes Fishing Weekends.

Kansas doesn't care......run 365 days a year.

That:

Missouri doesn't recognize a quad axle group.....for a normal permit. But with a superload will allow 96 thousand pounds? Same load...same trailer....same route...just call it "super".

That:

Nebraska and Kansas only charge Five Dollars for an oversize/overweight permit no matter how heavy or what the route.

Tennessee and Mississippi (and others) charge by the mile.... a LOT. (A thousand dollar weight permit for Tennessee isn't unusual)

Some states are flat rate....some state are "ton" but not "ton/mile"

That:

Some states require certain special lights but other states prohibit them. (making a cross country move "interesting")

That:

Some states require escorts starting at twelve foot wide..... Texas starts at fourteen

Some states require escorts starting at seventy six foot long....Texas starts at a hundred.

Some states require a front escort with a high pole for a load that's fourteen foot six inches high....Texas starts at seventeen foot.

Some things ARE bigger in Texas....and if you need escorts in Texas you need then everywhere.

That:

It's not required to be crazy to haul oversize....it's inevitable

3 comments:

Jeffro said...

If ya don't have yer "Bible" with ya, oh my.

We run Colorado quite a bit. If ya slap some blinky lights on, and you are under - forget what width - you can run at night there. Usually, after I've put in a full day in daylight, I'm not too thrilled about running all night, either.

Utah just started allowing night moves, but you have to have two escorts rather than just a front one.

Another quirk in Colorado, anyhow, is some roads require an escort - period. We run C64 from Meeker to Dinosaur quite a bit, and we have to have escorts.

We are in no way heavy haulers. We push the weight limits on steer with our knuckle boom cranes, but the rest is under gross quite a ways. It doesn't take much wind to turn the tanks into drag chutes, though.

John said...

It would seem that since our liscences, being Class A, are governed and ruled, ultimately anyway, by the Department of Transportation, a Federal entity, this same department of Transportation would standardize the rules regarding permits all over the country. States have rights but this sort of thing is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I Laughed My Ass Off!!! This is great