Over Width
Over Width
Over width transport is defined as any load being transported or a vehicle wider than 8.5 feet or 102”. Day-to-day towing and transport within our industry is mostly filled with moving vehicles and loads that fall within that maximum dimension. However, anybody who’s been in this business long enough knows that the day-to-day also includes some exceptions to normal.
After cleaning up a wreck, the casualty in tow may no longer be 8.5 feet wide. Damage to the vehicle may cause it to track sideways causing it to be over width. A load may have shifted causing it to be wider than normal.
What about the case when your best friend calls you after normal business hours, knowing you park your rollback at home and asks you to transport that new premanufactured outbuilding he’s just bought to make his wife a she shed? Consider when a potential client calls requesting a house trailer be moved. You’ve got to know that they’ve already googled house trailer towing and found that it’s too expensive to hire a toter company. So, they call their buddy at the tow yard. Knowing we’re all kind and good natured people who live for a challenge, they may talk you into it.
If you find yourself in a situation where something is loaded on your carrier or trailer or coupled to your wrecker that is wider than 102”, you are legally required to obtain a permit and follow proper safety protocols.
The only exception to this is granted to US carriers under FMCSA 390.23 when responding to local emergencies and only during the duration of the emergency. So, following a traffic incident where you’ve responded at the request of the police, you can move something over width back to your tow yard without a permit as an exception to US federal law. Once it’s there, moving it again without a permit is a violation unless you make it 8.5 feet wide or less.