A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to restrict the overall length of a single VEHICLE with two or more axles to forty feet, to require that vehicles transporting equipment or poles for emergency utility repair at night have trailers that are no longer than fifty‑three feet, to increase the maximum length for a combination of a house trailer used as a mobile home with its towing vehicle, and to require certain farm vehicles to be self‑propelled when OPERATING on a highway.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 20‑116 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20‑116.  Size of vehicles and loads.
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(d)	Maximum Length. – The following maximum lengths apply to vehicles. A truck‑tractor and semitrailer shall be regarded as two vehicles for the purpose of determining lawful length and license taxes.
(1)	Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, a single vehicle having two or more axles shall not exceed 40 feet in length overall of dimensions inclusive of front and rear bumpers.
(2)	Trucks transporting unprocessed cotton from farm to gin shall not exceed 50 feet in length overall of dimensions inclusive of front and rear bumpers.
(3)	Recreational vehicles shall not exceed 45 feet in length overall, excluding bumpers and mirrors.
(e)	Except as provided by G.S. 20‑115.1, no combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two units and no such combination of vehicles shall exceed a total length of 60 feet inclusive of front and rear bumpers, subject to the following exceptions: Motor vehicle combinations of one semitrailer of not more than 53 feet in length and a truck tractor (power unit) may exceed the 60‑foot maximum length. Said maximum overall length limitation shall not apply to vehicles operated in the daytime when transporting poles, pipe, machinery or other objects of a structural nature which cannot readily be dismembered, nor to such vehicles transporting such objects operated at nighttime by a public utility when required for emergency repair of public service facilities or properties, provided the trailer length does not exceed 53 feet in length, but in respect to such night transportation every such vehicle and the load thereon shall be equipped with a sufficient number of clearance lamps on both sides and marker lamps upon the extreme ends of said projecting load to clearly mark the dimensions of such load: Provided that vehicles designed and used exclusively for the transportation of motor vehicles shall be permitted an overhang tolerance front or rear not to exceed five feet. Provided, that wreckers may tow a truck, combination tractor and trailer, trailer, or any other disabled vehicle or combination of vehicles to a place for repair, parking, or storage within 50 miles of the point where the vehicle was disabled and may tow a truck, tractor, or other replacement vehicle to the site of the disabled vehicle. Provided further, that the said limitation that no combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two units shall not apply to trailers not exceeding three in number drawn by a motor vehicle used by municipalities for the removal of domestic and commercial refuse and street rubbish, but such combination of vehicles shall not exceed a total length of 50 feet inclusive of front and rear bumpers. Provided further, that the said limitation that no combination of vehicles coupled together shall consist of more than two units shall not apply to a combination of vehicles coupled together by a saddle mount device used to transport motor vehicles in a driveway service when no more than three saddle mounts are used and provided further, that equipment used in said combination is approved by the safety regulations of the Federal Highway Administration and the safety rules of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.
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(j)	Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the operation of self‑propelled grain combines or other self‑propelled farm equipment with or without implements, not exceeding 25 feet in width on any highway, except a highway or section of highway that is a fully controlled access highway or is a part of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Farm equipment includes a vehicle that is designed exclusively to transport compressed seed cotton from a farm to a gin and has a self‑loading bed. Combines or equipment which exceed 10 feet in width may be operated only if they meet all of the conditions listed in this subsection. A violation of one or more of these conditions does not constitute negligence per se.
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SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.