Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN Honorable Ynrphy Cole County Auditor Liberty County Liberty, Texas mar Sir: letter of Angaat 14. 1939, in rrh onor this attpsrt- ment relative to es permitted under 11'8Annotated Texas 111 336, chapter &3a, gular Session, Forty- *Ho train or qombina- a 0pmda alone shall more than three (3) feet aor, exaept, baahereln- &I r0ui (4) red beyond nOUS r the 8a.818 Bill 336 &VU8 issuance or a speofal petit rot or combinationor rehiales to exceed 6r 45 feet. *The questionwhich we wish answered ia this: Does a special.permit whiah allows a length of more than 45 feet Imply the right of aarrierto haal a load nhlah wi-11extend more than 3 feet in front or more than 4 feet in the rear of hia ve- hick?" Honorable lturphyCole, Page 2 so much 0r seotion 2 0r Artiole 827a as is pertii;. + nent reeds as rollows: "It shall be unlawful aa aonstitutea mis- aemanor ror any person to drive, operate or move or for the owner to aaase or permit to be driven, operated, or moved on any highway, any rehlole or vehiales or a sine or weight exaeeaing the llml- tatlons stated in this Act or any vehiale or ve- hicles whlah are not oonstruatedor equipped as required in this Act, or to transport thereon any load or loads exceedlag the dimensions or weight pmSt3ribea in this Aat; provided the department, aoting direatly orthrough its agent or agents designatingIn each aounty shall have aud is here- by granted authority to grant permits llmltea to periods of ninety (90) days or less ror the trans- portationover state highways of suah overweight or oversize or overlengthaommoditiesas eannot be reasonablydismantledor for the operation over state highways or super-heavyand oreraise equipment for the transportationor suah orers%e or overweightor orerlength oomamdities as aan- not be reasonablydismantled; . . .O Article 827a, Section 3, paragraph a, reads as r0im8: %o motor rehiale, commeroialmotor rehi- cle, trnak-trailer,trailer, or semi-trailer shall exceed a length or thirty-rive (35) r60t, and no combinationof sash rehiales coupled te- gather shall ssaeed a total length of forty- rive (4.5)feet, unless such vehicle or aomblna- tions of vehiales is operated exaluelvelyw%th- in the limits of an incorporatedcity or town." As you have indiaated In the quoted portion of your letter, Seatlon 2 of Artlale 827a makes prorisions ror the issuance of speoial permits for the operation over state highways or oversized equipment in the event such equipment is necessary ror the transportatfon0r a-r- weight, oversired or orerlength aomnoditieswh%ah aannot be reasonablydismantled.:This provision creates an ex- ception to the length speoiiiedIn paragraph Q 0r aeotion 3, Article 827a, ror vehicles and .a combinationei tehloles. 339 Eonorablo b%rphycolele,Fages You will note that paragraph d. Saatioti3, Artl- ale 8g7a, provides that'narehlale or aomblnatlonet ve- hi0108 shall aarry a load whioh extends more than thraa r6et beyond the front thereofnor"axoapt as herelnbefora toYbled more then ioar feet bemad the mar th6MOi' t!zzimf ng togatherall or the above-quotedatatatorl, &a- vIaions we llnd that the Legislatorsprohlblted any va- hlole or oomblnatlon0r vehlalea rr0laoarrying a i0aa rhiah extended core than thrae r80t beyond the rront or the vahlola or aomblnatloaand did aot provide ror any ueeptloa to thla raqalremsst,bat the wardfng or para- graph d, Saatlon 3, Artlola &37a, makes it aqaallr olaar that the Laglalaturadid antlalpate that an ovarlagf;h icurd ml&t extend sum than r00r r06t beyond tha re+r 0r thb aMwayin& vehicle Of oombinatlon.orvehlalea. It Is, theraZWe, the opinion or this Dapartmant that a apeofal permit ror the~operat1onof an overl6a&h vehlole boas aot *ly the rlghti0r a oarrier to haal a lOad rhioh extends mora than three feet beyond the imnt br th6 vehlale. On ths other hand, a pualt ror the trana- portatloa0r oterleqth 6ommedlti68or r0r the bpemticin or overalaa.eqalwt ior the traasportatlon09 aaoh ovar- length oammoditleadoas oarry with it as an inaldentalpr&v- ileg. the rlghttoertsn(lt~lloa6iias~as~ry,moretban tom rw rror th6 rear 0r mob ~0hf0~0. . The other qaaatlon presented tD y-oar16thr ra- qaeats that na det.enafn6what la meant by the *rear* or a vehlolm amd we prmeamethat you rerar to th6 .lan@iage or pongmph d, Seatloa S or Artlola BaOa, wa ragret to advise you that th6 Issue rhloh yea hare prosant i6 008 parely or llaotand la not a aubjoot apoa which this Mpart- meat ean attain* tQ mnder an oplnloa. Year6 very traly APPROVED8EP 16, 19% &M-i-4- ATTORNEY GENERAL OS TEXAS RC:X&