Heh. I'm a small-car guy. Actually feel safer in small cars. But I spent a few summers in my school days shoveling shit, or doing various other tasks associated with working on a municipal building project. The first thing I thought when I saw that was "Damn, I bet you could haul a real load of stuff in the bed." Or you could drive four guys and their equipment from one location to another, rather than taking three pickups.
As a family vehicle, it's utterly ridiculous. Blame Hummer for accelerating the trend. I don't see trendy suburban wives demanding them though.
As a work vehicle it makes sense. The hydro guys around here have something very similar. Seats 6, maybe more, there's a crane on the back. You could see modular set-ups that take either a crane, or a loader, a tilt/dump bed, what have you.
One truck, sends out the crew, the equipment, and the materials. No special license required.***
Makes a lot of sense for business.
However, the no special license required bit is a little scary from a job-public-road user perspective. The average labourer, no offense to labourers, should not be turned into a truck driver on the whim of the site foreman.
However, the no special license required bit is a little scary from a job-public-road user perspective. The average labourer, no offense to labourers, should not be turned into a truck driver on the whim of the site foreman.
I'm not surprised that it requires no CDL. There are much, much larger trucks out there that require no CDL. In fact, most rental moving vans do not require a CDL, and they are much larger than this truck. I'm also more inclined to let a guy who drives an excavator for a living borrow the keys to move the truck to the other side of the sewage treatment plant than I am for a paralegal (for example) to drive a large U-Haul anywhere.
That's fair. Like I said, I'm not sure. I know I could drive it, and am pretty confident I wouldn't get into trouble. You raise a very valid point. I think you can get Uhaul cube vands with up to a 16ft box before any special license is required. They're long, and upright, and they can serious throw off people's estimations of distance and speed.
I wonder what they'd be like at estimating the turning circle, etc etc...
Come to think of it, you're probably right. We'll have to park one next to a suburban to get a proper idea of the proportions. I do think that the weight, airbrakes, HUGE tires and proportions may do a little more to screw people up than the average cube van
That's fair. Like I said, I'm not sure. I know I could drive it, and am pretty confident I wouldn't get into trouble. You raise a very valid point. I think you can get Uhaul cube vands with up to a 16ft box before any special license is required. They're long, and upright, and they can serious throw off people's estimations of distance and speed.
I know that my friend rented a 26ft Diesel with a 7-speed transmission from Uhaul, and without any CDL. I'm pretty sure that, aside from buses, the number of xles are what is taken into affect. 2 axles mean no special license is required.
I know there's a length (max) in Ontario. Keep in mind 16ft box plus cab is at least 25ft or so. But now that I mention it, that seems wrong. It could be a restriction imposed by Uhaul for insurance purposes? We moved a couple of years ago and rented two such vans, they were at the time the limit as to what we could rent.
Comments
Originally posted by tonton
Spline wants one.
Heh. I'm a small-car guy. Actually feel safer in small cars. But I spent a few summers in my school days shoveling shit, or doing various other tasks associated with working on a municipal building project. The first thing I thought when I saw that was "Damn, I bet you could haul a real load of stuff in the bed." Or you could drive four guys and their equipment from one location to another, rather than taking three pickups.
As a work vehicle it makes sense. The hydro guys around here have something very similar. Seats 6, maybe more, there's a crane on the back. You could see modular set-ups that take either a crane, or a loader, a tilt/dump bed, what have you.
One truck, sends out the crew, the equipment, and the materials. No special license required.***
Makes a lot of sense for business.
However, the no special license required bit is a little scary from a job-public-road user perspective. The average labourer, no offense to labourers, should not be turned into a truck driver on the whim of the site foreman.
Originally posted by Matsu
However, the no special license required bit is a little scary from a job-public-road user perspective. The average labourer, no offense to labourers, should not be turned into a truck driver on the whim of the site foreman.
I'm not surprised that it requires no CDL. There are much, much larger trucks out there that require no CDL. In fact, most rental moving vans do not require a CDL, and they are much larger than this truck. I'm also more inclined to let a guy who drives an excavator for a living borrow the keys to move the truck to the other side of the sewage treatment plant than I am for a paralegal (for example) to drive a large U-Haul anywhere.
I wonder what they'd be like at estimating the turning circle, etc etc...
Come to think of it, you're probably right. We'll have to park one next to a suburban to get a proper idea of the proportions. I do think that the weight, airbrakes, HUGE tires and proportions may do a little more to screw people up than the average cube van
Originally posted by Matsu
That's fair. Like I said, I'm not sure. I know I could drive it, and am pretty confident I wouldn't get into trouble. You raise a very valid point. I think you can get Uhaul cube vands with up to a 16ft box before any special license is required. They're long, and upright, and they can serious throw off people's estimations of distance and speed.
I know that my friend rented a 26ft Diesel with a 7-speed transmission from Uhaul, and without any CDL. I'm pretty sure that, aside from buses, the number of xles are what is taken into affect. 2 axles mean no special license is required.
How about this?
(sorry, you asked for it)
CDL exist for your safety. They need to make the law more stringent.