President Barack Obama has signed into law legislation permitting the tandem towing of light- and medium-duty trailers from manufacturers to dealers throughout the United States that was a priority for the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers.
Included in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (H.R. 22, the “FAST Act”), the new law will help consumers, lower freight costs, reduce highway congestion and deterioration, and cut highway-based emissions.
“The new law provides a safe, uniform national requirement for transporting light- and medium-duty trailers nationwide, decreasing the need for trailer manufacturers to transport their products to their dealers one at a time,” NATM Executive Director Pam Trusdale said. “The benefits are significant – reducing delivery costs and times, lowering freight costs for consumers, reducing highway congestion and deterioration, and lowering vehicle emissions.”
The provision, section 5523 of the FAST Act, permits light- and medium-duty trailer manufacturers to deliver their products to dealers in tandem combinations, subject to existing size and weight restrictions.
It includes appropriate safeguards to protect the traveling public, requiring the trailers be empty and transported by only professional drivers holding commercial driver’s license (CDL) certifications.
The measure was originally adopted as part of the House-passed version of H.R. 22 after Reps. Rick Crawford (R-AR-1), Lynn Jenkins (R-KS-2), Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30) offered it as an amendment on the House floor. The House provision was then accepted during a conference to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the legislation.