DO: Inside the back cover of your Trucking Workbook, you will find a four-page chart entitled, "Vehicle Sizes and Weights Chart." You will be using the chart in this exercise. Take out the chart now.
Be sure to hold onto it. You may need it again on the road. The weights and lengths shown on the chart are accurate at the time of print. However, states do change their maximum limits from time to time, so be sure to verify these limits before you travel through a state.
Answer the following questions by referring to the size and weight chart:
Height Limits
- What state or states has the highest legal height limit?
- What is that height limit in feet?
- What is the height limit for Kentucky?
- What is the only state in which you can't drive a 12' high rig on all highways?
- What is the most common height limit in the U.S.?
- In what state or states must you check to see if 13.5' vehicles are legal on a given highway before driving a 13.5 foot high vehicle over that road?
- What is the length limit for a semi-trailer alone in Alaska?
- What is the length limit for a semi-trailer alone in Wyoming?
- What state doesn't allow double trailers?
- You will learn in the Trucking Handbook, that a straight truck is another name for a motor truck or bobtail truck. It includes the power unit and the space for hauling. It may be used to haul a trailer, but not usually a semi-trailer, and it is different from what we call a truck tractor. Assume that you want to buy a straight truck which you can drive in any state and on any highway. What length truck should you buy?
- What kind of vehicles are exempt (free) from overall length restrictions in most states?
Weight Limits
- What does INT. stand for over the weight columns?
- The "gross vehicle weight" of a rig is the total number of pounds that an entire rig, including the cargo, can weigh to legally travel the roads of a given state. In most states, what is the gross vehicle weight on the interstate highways?
- What states allow the lowest gross vehicle weight limit on non-interstate highways?
- What is that limit?