I'm writing position paper for my technical writing class, and figured this was a good way to get out of some research work. My plan for the paper is compare the regulations in Canada and Australia to those in the US. I'm looking at those county's regs because many factors are similar. So anyway here is my list of questions. 1. I'm pretty sure this rules vary between Providences in Canada, but are the same throughout Australia, right? 2. Does anyone know why the US doesn't accept B-train setups like in Aus and Ca? 3. If you could pick and choose the rules from all 50 states to make one set of federal regs, what would they be? 4. I need to find stats on Commerical Vehicle accidents in all 3 countrys, preferably both those caused by the Comm. and those only involving one. 5. Is the existence of aussy roadtrains is linked directly to the lack of railroad infrastructure. 6. Knowing full well that there well there will always be a permit threshold GCVW, what would be a reasonable level in the US. 7. anything you feel i missed or would like to add Any links or leads on secondary sources, articles, books and such, on the subject would be much appreciated. There is plenty of raw data out there, i'm wondering if there is any opinionated material i can quote. Hope i didn't make any ones eyes bleed with the long post.
I will have a go at answering a couple of your queries, hvy 1ton, and I hope my fellow Aussies will jump in and fill in the gaps, or correct me if I am wrong. 1. For many years in Australia, each state had it's own rules and regulations for the transport industry and it was an absolute nightmare for interstate truckies crossing the borders. Trucks would be overweight in one state and not the other, some states would not allow trucks to run on Sundays, which would see a mad panic to cross the border by midnight Saturday Night, or else trucks would be taking back roads so they would not get caught. There were stories of trucks trying to out run the police or state transport inspectors and taking detours around checking stations, mind you we still have the checking stations. Nowadays the transport industry has been nationalised and the same rules and regulations apply right across Australia. 4. I found these statistics from The Australian Transport Safety Bureau which may help, the only thing is that they date back to 2002, so they are not real current. http://www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Publications/WhatdoStatisticstellusGitaCurnow.pdf Someone else may have some more up to date information. 5. The road train in Australia evolved over time and long distances and lack of railroad infrastructure are the reason for their existence. Before trucks, Afghan camel trains carried supplies to the inland of Australia. In April of 1934 an AEC 130hp, 8 wheel drive truck, pulling four self tracking trailers was trialled by the British Government, in the Northern Territory and remained in use for the next ten years. After the war, a chap by the name of Kurt Johannsen from Alice Springs, purchased and ex-army Diamond T tank transporter with a 6-71GM in it, to pull a couple of self tracking trailers that he had already built. Kurt is known as the father of the Australian road train. Later on he set up another one and from there the road train evolved to what it is today, running the length and breadth of the country. Here are a couple of pics of the AEC 8 wheel drive truck and Kurt Johannsen's Diamond T with two of his trailers. A lot of the time, he pulled four trailers and there were very few made roads in those days. These trucks and many more are on display in the Road Transport Hall Of Fame in Alice Springs. I hope this helps a little, hvy 1ton. Rn'R.
You will not be seeing any road trains on US freeways any day soon, spell that as never. Safety and weight concers will squash that. Just getting semi doubles is a huge hassle. As you mentined, each of the 50 states has their own regulations on overweight vehicles. Some states allow semi doubles, most stay with the maximum legal of 80,000#. The ATA and others have tryed to show how the larger loads save fuel, but the perception of the "big" truck is just to hard for the greenies to swallow!
2. There are some states in the US where a B-train setup is allowed, just not as long or as heavy as a Australian setup. Remember the term B-train is referring to the type of trailers. 6. I think all states should be allowed a max of 105,500 for a standard load as long as they meet bridge law like the NW states and a a few others. Super loads would be allowed under a permit system. There should be a standard among all states. The way it is now some setups and combinations are not legal in some bordering states. Example, dump trucks and pups in Oregon and California, allowed 105,000 in Oregon and only allowed 80,000 in California. And there are some states that do not go by federal bridge law at all like Michigan and some other eastern states, where they allow very heavy weights on a lot of axles, but a short wheelbase that would never meet federal bridge law.