Motor Vehicle Size and Weight Regulations, Enforcement, and Permit Operations

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) has released Synthesis 68:Motor Vehicle Size and Weight Regulations, Enforcement, and Permit Operations. Many of the problems associated with enforcing oversize and overweight limits derive from the confusing variety of requirements--for applications, fees, issuance, signs, flags, escorts, actual limits, fines--from state to state and within states. This lack of uniformity sometimes leads truckers to believe that it is cheaper and less time consuming to risk being caught than to conform to law. The report strongly recommends that uniform standards for interstate overlimit travel be sought. Enforcement efforts and permit procedures also need to be coordinated.