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Old 08-18-2014, 08:19 AM
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Ayatollahgondola Ayatollahgondola is offline
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And, actually, its all a pain in the ass now. The DMV is all wrapped up in weight instead of whether a person can safely drive the vehicle or combination thereof. I knew a guy who branched out into teaching and qualifying drivers for the DMV test. He had a trailer which was long but didn't have the weight requirement, so he bought a trailer which had a higher unladen weight, but was shorter. Which doesn't make sense to me, because both trailers are unloaded and the longer one requires wider turns and is a little more difficult to make safe lane changes with heavy traffic. I suppose it's better than what it was, 40 some years ago I heard stories about people getting a "chauffeur's license" with a pickup truck and a horse trailer - in the days of the narrow power band, brownie box and pyrometer no less.
There is a length limit to trailers you can tow with a class C non-commercial license. It's pretty complicated to understand, because one section of the code deals with licensing class, and the other with definitions of motor carriers, ie "A commercial carrier is a vehicle weighing over x, but less than x, and is over 45 feet when coupled together". Once again, you can claim exemptions because the two portions of the code seem to be at odds, but if you get cited, you'll have to go in each time with your proof, and sit through countless idiots trying to plead stupidity, ignorance, pauperdom, or denial before they get to your case, and still with no certainty that the commissioner won't just uphold it simply because they have also sat through the previously mentioned other cases, and are just tired of people trying to escape the system's grasp.

Quote:
I suppose it's better than what it was, 40 some years ago I heard stories about people getting a "chauffeur's license" with a pickup truck and a horse trailer - in the days of the narrow power band, brownie box and pyrometer no less.
Back then, it was easier with less classes to choose from. All you had to do get the all encompassing chauffer's license was to bring the minimum vehicle to take the test. A 1 ton pick-up truck with two small trailers in combination would do it. Now there are so many that it's confusing even to me. Class A, class B commercial; Class A, class B commercial without Air brake endorsement. Class A, B, C, non commercial, with air, without air etc. So many endorsements too. P for passengers, T for triples, Haz Mat, and more. Gawd...A guy7 can get cited for driving out of class for picking up a load that he didn't know contained a couple crates of bottled gasses or chemical substances he wasn't made aware of on the BOL
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