MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Transportation

By: Representative Manning

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 63-5-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A VEHICLE TRANSPORTING FORESTRY PRODUCTS THAT HAS A PROJECTING LOAD MAY OPERATE DURING THE PERIOD FROM TWO HOURS BEFORE SUNRISE UNTIL TWO HOURS AFTER SUNSET IF THE VEHICLE DISPLAYS CERTAIN LIGHTING EQUIPMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 63-5-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

63-5-19. (1) No single vehicle, unladen or with load, shall have an overall length, inclusive of front and rear bumpers, in excess of forty (40) feet.

(2) No semitrailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer combination and no trailer drawn by a motor vehicle shall exceed a length of fifty (50) feet.

(3) No semitrailer or trailer operating in a truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combination and no trailer operating in a double trailer combination drawn by a motor vehicle shall exceed a length of thirty (30) feet.

(4) No semitrailer or trailer combinations in excess of two (2) units, excluding the towing motor vehicle, shall be allowed to operate on the highways of this state.

(5) (a) The load upon the rear vehicle of a combination of vehicles transporting forest or agricultural products in their natural state shall not project more than twenty-eight (28) feet beyond the rear axle of the vehicle except in the special circumstance hereinafter prescribed. If such products project more than twenty-eight (28) feet beyond the rear axle and, due to the end use for which they are intended (such as tall utility poles or light poles or the like), such products cannot be shortened without rendering them useless for the finished product for which they have been cut, then such special circumstance may be considered good cause for the obtaining of a permit which shall be procured pursuant to Section 63-5-51, before vehicles transporting such products may operate.

(b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this subsection, any vehicle transporting projecting loads as described in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall operate only during daylight hours. * * * The load on vehicles designed to transport forestry products shall be secured by at least two (2) chains, two (2) wire ropes, or two (2) nylon straps, one (1) positioned behind the front bolster and one (1) in front of the back bolster.

(c) Any vehicle transporting forestry products having a load that projects beyond the rear axle may operate during a period beginning two (2) hours before sunrise and extending until two (2) hours after sunset if at all times during the period before sunrise and after sunset the vehicle has mounted and displays at the extreme rear end of the load two (2) red taillights, two (2) red brake lights and two (2) red or amber turn signal lights.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.