Pole and utility vehicles/trailers – Florida

Daytime pole transport

The vehicle length limitations do not apply to utility vehicles owned or operated by governmental entities or public utility corporations or operated under contract with such entities or corporations when transporting poles during daytime, except on weekends and holidays and when the vehicle and load do not exceed 120 feet in overall length, provided proper flags are located at the rearmost end of the load.

However, such vehicle movements with an overall length more than 75 feet must be:

• Equipped with a working warning light device; and
• Accompanied by a company-provided flasher-equipped escort vehicle when making turns within corporate city limits.

Nighttime pole transport

The vehicle length limitations do not apply when transporting poles during nighttime and when the vehicle and load do not exceed 120 feet in overall length. The transporting vehicle must be:

• Equipped with a working warning light device, and
• Accompanied by one leading and one trailing company-provided flasher-equipped escort vehicle.

Vehicle and load not more than 85 feet with emergency conditions

The vehicle length limitations do not apply to vehicles and loads with overall lengths not exceeding 85 feet and being transported under emergency conditions. For these vehicles, only a single trailing company-owned flasher-equipped escort vehicle will be required, provided that the pole being transported is equipped with active marker lights, visible from both sides, at:

• A maximum of 6-foot intervals mounted along the pole or trailer extending the length of the trailer, and
• 36-inch intervals along the pole extending beyond the rear of the trailer.

Emergencies and required maintenance

The vehicle length limitations do not apply to the transportation of poles during emergencies or required maintenance. These emergency transports may be made on all days and at all hours, provided the respective daytime or nighttime requirements are otherwise met.

Flasher-equipped straight truck utility vehicles

The length limitations do not apply to flasher-equipped straight truck utility vehicles that have permanently mounted equipment that extends up to nine feet beyond the front bumper, provided:

• Such equipment, when in the travel position, is supported in such a manner that it has a minimum of 80 inches clearance above the roadway;
• Such equipment is illuminated on the forwardmost sides with high visibility reflective tape;
• The respective daytime and nighttime requirements for operation are otherwise met;
• Nighttime emergency or required maintenance operation of such utility vehicles with overall lengths more than 50 feet are led by a company-provided flasher-equipped escort vehicle; and
• Trailers are not pulled by utility vehicles over 50 feet in length.

Escort vehicles must be equipped with a working warning light device, except that the device must be located on top of the escort vehicle.

The required warning light devices must be consistent with size, color, type, intensity, and mounting requirements developed by the Department of Transportation.

Truck tractor-semitrailer or pole trailer combination vehicles

The length limitations do not apply to truck tractor-semitrailer or pole trailer combination vehicles transporting poles or other objects of a structural nature that cannot be readily dismembered, when:

• Operating in the daytime, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays;
• When the vehicle and load do not exceed 75 feet; and
• When proper flags are displayed as required in Fla. Stat. § 316.228.

Straight trucks

The length limitations do not apply to straight trucks transporting poles or other objects of a structural nature that cannot be readily dismembered, when:

• Operating in the daytime, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays;
• The load does not extend past the rearmost part of the vehicle more than one-half the length of the permanent bed or cargo-carrying structure of the vehicle;
• At least two-thirds of the length of the cargo rests on the bed or cargo-carrying structure;
• The load complies with load extension limitation in Fla. Stat. § 316.515(4); and
• Proper flags are displayed in accordance with Fla. Stat. § 316.228.

Key definitions

A “pole trailer” is any vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections.

A “flasher-equipped escort vehicle” is defined as an automobile or truck that closely accompanies an over dimensional vehicle or load carried thereon to alert approaching traffic of that vehicle or load.