Weight Restrictions, Motor Vehicle
Weight Restrictions, Motor Vehicle
(trailer train), rules that provide for the establishment of the maximum gross weight (gravitational) and the maximum permissible axle load of a motor vehicle. Weight restrictions for each country are regulated by legislation in order to safeguard highways and manmade roadway structures against untimely destruction.
In the USSR weight restrictions are established by GOST (All-Union State Standard), according to which all motor vehicles are placed in Group A or Group B. Group A includes motor vehicles intended for travel on improved first-and second-class paved highways. Motor vehicles included in Group B may be operated on all types of roads. (See Table 1.)
| Table 1. Maximum permissible axle loads and gross weights | ||
|---|---|---|
| Conditions | Maximum permissible weight(kllonewtons)1 | |
| A | B | |
| Axle load for axle spacing of 3 m or more............... | 100 | 60 |
| less than 3 m............... | 90 | 55 |
| Gross weight 2-axle vehicle or trailer............... | 175 | 105 |
| 3-axle vehicle or trailer............... | 250 | 150 |
| Trailer unit consisting of tractor and semitrailer (total of 3 axles)............... | 250 | 160 |
| Trailer unit consisting of automobile and trailer or tractor and semitrailer (total of 4 axles)............... | 330 | 200 |
| Trailer train (total of 5 or more axles)............... | 400 | 300 |
| 1Values established by GOST (All-Union State Standard) in kilograms-force per sq cm, converted according to the ratio of 1 kilonewton ≈ 0.1 ton-force ≈ 100 kilograms-force | ||
In other countries motor vehicles are not, as a rule, classed in groups according to weight restrictions. The maximum permissible load for a single axle is 100 kN in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Switzerland; and 130 in France. The maximum permissible weight for a trailer train is 380 kN in Austria, 320 in Bulgaria, 500 in the Netherlands, 210 in Switzerland, and 380 in Federal Republic of Germany.
N. B. OSTROVSKII