HR7321-119

What This Bill Does

The Towing Safety Act amends federal truck size and weight provisions for covered heavy-duty tow and recovery vehicles. Section 2 updates title 23 so a covered tow or recovery vehicle qualifies when it is responding to, returning from, or transporting a wrecked or disabled vehicle from the place of disablement to the nearest appropriate repair facility or another location directed by an agency with jurisdiction. It uses combined gross vehicle weight rating, requires travel within a single State, and requires axle weights and configuration that can safely operate on highway bridges along the route as determined by the transportation agency of jurisdiction. Section 3 adds a definition of covered heavy-duty tow and recovery vehicle to title 49 and bars States from imposing overall length limits, individual vehicle length limits in a combination configuration, or limits on the number of vehicles transported with a covered tow vehicle when the wrecked or disabled vehicle combination complied with applicable limits at the time and place of the initial wreck or disablement.

Who Benefits and How

Heavy-duty tow operators benefit because they can move wrecked or disabled vehicle combinations to repair or jurisdiction-directed locations without being blocked by certain length or vehicle-count limits, if bridge safety and in-State travel conditions are met. Trucking companies and motorists benefit when disabled combinations can be cleared from crash scenes and highways more efficiently. State transportation agencies and local incident-command authorities benefit from clearer authority to direct where the disabled vehicle is taken and to determine bridge-safe routing. Repair facilities benefit from receiving disabled combinations that otherwise might require more complex disassembly or permitting.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State transportation agencies must determine whether axle weights and configurations can safely operate on bridges along the route. States lose the ability to enforce certain length and vehicle-count limits against covered tow movements when the original vehicle combination was compliant. Heavy-duty tow operators must stay within a single State, follow jurisdictional direction, and ensure the route is bridge-safe. Bridge safety officials may face more routing determinations for oversized recovery movements. Federal and State enforcement officers must distinguish covered recovery movements from ordinary freight moves.

Key Provisions

• Modifies covered heavy-duty tow and recovery vehicle rules for vehicles responding to or transporting wrecked or disabled vehicles.
• Requires covered movements to occur within a single State and follow the nearest repair facility or jurisdiction-directed destination rule.
• Requires axle weights and vehicle configuration to be bridge-safe as determined by the transportation agency of jurisdiction.
• Preempts State length and vehicle-count limits for covered recovery movements when the disabled combination was compliant at the initial wreck or disablement.