Trucks hauling three trailers: is this a new thing, or am I really unobservant?

[Maxgussam]

@TheLoadedDog

Australian road train slideshow Some normal three or four trailer ones, but also some freakish exhibition ones (country music warning)

Going through the gears in a smaller road train - tunr your speakers up if you like trucks.

Love that air starter!

[Hail_Ants]

@boytyperanma

In MA you can run double ‘pups’(28ft trailers) anywhere in the state. You can run double 48’s only on the Mass Pike. Triples aren’t allowed anywhere in the state.

I’m not sure what the law actually is, but in New York I’ve seen the smaller tandem tractor-trailers on non-interstate roads, but only on highways with on & off ramps. Tandems, even small ones, cannot negotiate 90° intersection turns (nor can they backup). And all the small tandem ones I’ve seen have been UPS trucks.

[SpyOne]

Something in the back of my mind says I knew tripples were legal in California, but I don’t know why and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one in person.

Tandem trailers used to be a lot more common. I seem to recall a big movement to ban them in the late 1980s. But since the federal government said they were allowed on the interstates, the result was a few states (like Connecticut) banned them from all but a few designated routes.

I recall the New York State Thruway had parking lots at every exit where tandem rigs could leave their second trailer and either come back for it or have another tractor pick it up.

[Hail_Ants]

@SpyOne

Tandem trailers used to be a lot more common. I seem to recall a big movement to ban them in the late 1980s. But since the federal government said they were allowed on the interstates, the result was a few states (like Connecticut) banned them from all but a few designated routes.

I recall the New York State Thruway had parking lots at every exit where tandem rigs could leave their second trailer and either come back for it or have another tractor pick it up.

These are present all over the country on various interstate ramps, not just New York (the NY Thruway is merely a tolled part of a couple of interstates running thru the state).

I remember those 80s PSAs protesting double and triple-length tractor trailers. Personally I found them to be incredibly insulting. They consisted of a soccer-mom in a minivan with her kids terrifyingly glancing in her rear view mirror at a big, bad, evil truck approaching and passing her. It’s insulting to truck drivers, who are the most professional drivers on the interstates, and women, portraying them as weak, helpless, inherently scared drivers.

The real kicker of those commercials however was this: The fine print at the end of it showed that they were produced by the railroad companies! IOW they didn’t give a shit about driver safety, they just didn’t want the competition from double and potentially triple-length trucks. :rolleyes:

[sitchensis]

You have to weigh the safety aspect against having a third more trucks on the roads. Smaller loads means more trucks on the same infrastructure and maybe more accidents and deaths.