Crazy securement you have seen?

Ahh! But what about the California reg saying a flatbed tow truck Or a trailer?
Are not flatbeds and step decks "trailers"?

And the CA Commercial CHP guidance makes it clear what they will cite on

Section 29004 (a) (3) of the California Vehicle Code (VC) states in part, any vehicle transported on a conventional trailer shall be secured by at least four tiedown chains, straps, or an equivalent device. In addition, it is your responsibility to ensure the vehicle is safely secured for transportation on the highway. The type of securement device you use is only limited to its ability to safely secure the load."

That has nothing to do with tow trucks.

 

Nope, a flatbed or step deck is not a trailer, they are semitrailers.

A conventional trailer would be something you pull behind a pickup truck.

 

So you mean to tell me that they want flatbed tow trucks, and bumper pull trailers to use 4 point tiedowns, but that a 5th wheel trailer only needs to use 2?

Do you really think that makes sense??

 

Ever rent a U-Haul auto transport trailer? A pair of wheel straps on the front, and a tiny little 1/4" chain on the rear. Do you realize how many cars get transported on those every day? If the law required 4 point tie downs, don't you think a company the size of U-Haul would make sure to provide 4 securement points on their trailers DESIGNED to transport cars? The liability would be huge if they weren't making it absolutely idiot-proof to legally secure a vehicle, considering the people renting those trailers generally don't know what the laws may be.

 

It's the government, we are talking about Sacremental and the District of Corruption, stop trying to make things make sense.

The securement regs are not the be all end all of securement, they are not designed to be perfect. They are designed to be easy to understand, easy to apply and easy to enforce. They count on several industry standards to cover up the inadequacies of the regulation, stuff like "steel on steel" the use of G70, and how vehicles are tied down. If you do something a little bit different like using straps on a steel load, or some uses of G100 it opens up those holes so large you can drive a truck through them. Cars on a tow truck are secured differently, you use chain pockets or D rings vs spools and stake pockets.

Let's say I put a car on my flatbed, I took a chain wrapped it around the lower control arm and hooked back to the chain, I fed it around a spool over to the other side of the deck around another spool and to the control arm on that side. To tighten things up I put one binder on the chain in the middle of the deck. Repeat the process on the other end of the car. Is that a 4 point or 2 point tiedown?

 

Exactly. I tried saying the same thing, but you put it a lot clearer. Thank you.

Read what i said again genius.

 

Pretty much exactly what i thought when he mentioned where he was from. Typical California mentality.

 

Yep. 2 chains. 2 binders. Perfectly legal. Just like general commodity securement on an item of the same size and weight.

 

THIS is a tractor.

 

In the 8 years I spent hauling building materials. I could have been independently wealthy if I had a dollar for every time my boss said a couple straps was enough. You're just going down the road.
I learned quickly that there is no such thing as too much securement. A practice I have carried over into my current gig slamming doors.