A 4-minute lesson from the Montana course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Larger vehicles and trailers need extra lamps, reflectors, brakes and safety gear so others can see them and so a trailer can't break free. Even in a car, you may tow a trailer or haul a load that sticks out.
Clearance lamps
Over 80 inches wide — buses, trucks, and trailers over 3,000 lbs GVW: two front, two rear, one each side
Truck tractors: two clearance lamps on the front, one at each side
Pole trailers over 3,000 lbs GVW: one clearance lamp on each side
Front and side clearance lamps show amber; rear clearance lamps show red
All clearance lamps must be visible for 500 feet when required
If a load extends four feet or more beyond the vehicle body, mark its extreme rear with a red light visible for 500 feet during headlight hours, and a red flag at least 12 inches square at other times.
A farm tractor or implement of husbandry moved on a highway during headlight hours must show a white light to the front and a red light to the rear, each visible 500 feet, marking its extreme left side.
Every trailer, semi-trailer or pole trailer with air or vacuum brakes, or over 3,000 pounds gross, must have break-away brakes that activate if it separates from the towing vehicle.
Required fenders, splash aprons or mud flaps on the rearmost wheels must reach down to no more than 20 inches above the road when the vehicle is empty.
Vehicles carrying explosives, flammable liquids or compressed gases, or using compressed gas as fuel, may not carry any warning device that produces a flame.
You're hauling lumber in a pickup and it sticks out 5 feet past the tailgate. In daylight, tie a red flag at least 12 inches square to the end of the load; after dark, it needs a red light visible for 500 feet.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
Under the extra equipment rules for trucks and buses (p.26), required reflectors must be visible at what distances in upper-beam headlamps?
200 to 500 feet
100 to 500 feet
300 to 600 feet
600 to 1,000 feet
Answer: 600 to 1,000 feet
Required reflectors must be visible at all distances from 600 through 1,000 feet when lit by upper-beam headlamps.