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DaveCole <davidcole@tk7.net> wrote:
> I know this may sound absurd, but I believe that CA is wrong in
> making you get a CDL if you are using the truck for non-commerical
> purposes.
I agree that the law is absurd. It's especially absurd because CA law
classifies an M35 as a vehicle requiring a class B CDL because it has
more than two axles and is over 6,000 pounds GVW (or maybe 9,000, I
haven't looked it up in a while). Take away one axle, and the truck
would be drivable with an ordinary class B. It might make some sense
if the CDL was truly required because the truck drove very differently
than a regular car, but one could legally drive a truck that was
almost twice as heavy as an unloaded M35 (and over five times as heavy
as a regular car) with a regular class C license, as long as it had
only two axles. Grrr.
So, since I don't want to run the risk of getting pulled over for a
minor goof, burned out light, or a panicy "whatthehellisthat?"
reaction, and then getting slapped with a "driving without a license",
I'm working on getting my class B with air brake certification... I'd
be done already, but I'm also learning how to drive a stick-shift, and
I'm still too clumsy at it to pass the test, I think. Plus, working on
the HMMWV has distracted me from paying much attention to my 6x6 for a
couple months. I think that if I already was good at operating a stick
shift, my truck (an M109A3 shop van) wouldn't be all that hard to
handle.
On the brighter side, even though I think the licensing requirement is
absurd and inconvenient, it is forcing me to pay a lot of attention to
learning how to drive the beast well before I start hauling my load of
air all over the place (I'm registering it as historical, so I can't
haul rocks, unless they're historical rocks for exhibition in a
parade). :-)
-- Mark J. Blair, KE6MYK <mblair1@home.net> PGP 2.6.2 public key available from http://pgp.ai.mit.edu/ Web page: http://www.qsl.net/ke6myk/ DO NOT SEND ANY UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL TO THIS SITE
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 02 2000 - 22:30:33 PST