Part 5 – Appendix
Glossary
Axle weight: The weight on the ground at one or more sets of axles.
CDL: commercial driving license supplied by each state or province.
Combined vehicles: also listed as ‘used in combination’, generally a truck and its trailer or trailers.
Commercial motor vehicle: is a motor vehicle of more than 10,000 pounds GVWR or GCWR used for transportation of people for commerce or maintained primarily for the transportation of property.
DOT: Department of Transportation, a federal agency of the US government.
FMCSA: Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration who can be contacted at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov
Gross vehicle weight (GVW): The total weight of a single vehicle including its load.
Gross combination weight (GCW): The total weight of a combination of vehicles including the load.
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR): The maximum weight rating specified by the manufacturer for a single vehicle including its load.
Gross combination weight rating (GCWR): The total GVWRs for the power unit and any towed vehicles. (This is not the same as the GVWR specified by a manufacturer for the towing capacity of a vehicle.)
Housecar: also known as a motorhome. Typically a vehicle with house-like amenities including bed, kitchen and full restroom facility. This does not include trucks combined with trailers as a housecar is a single vehicle.
Pick-up truck: according to California a pickup truck is defined as a motor truck with a manufacture’s gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding nine feet in length.
STAA: referring to vehicles authorized by the federal Surface Transit Assistance Act of 1982.
Tire load: The maximum safe weight rating a tire can carry at a specified pressure. This rating is stated on the side of each tire.
Trailer Bus: a trailer or semitrailer designed or used for the transportation of more than 15 people, including the driver.
Trailer Coach: also known as mobile homes, not to be confused with motor homes. Trailer coaches are designed to be moved to stationery locations.
Unladen: generally referring to weight that is exclusive of additional loads like freight, cargo or people.
Special Note
Most of the regulations listed in this packet are federal. For local or state specific rules this packet will focus on information from California as that state has stricter rules than most. If a driver or program can meet their rules they will be fine everywhere else in the States.