Trailers towing and loads — Florida Permit Test

A loaded vehicle may not be driven on the highway unless the load is secure and cannot drop, shift, leak or otherwise escape.

Anything that comes off your load lands in front of somebody else at highway speed.

You must not drive or move any loaded vehicle on the highway if the load is not secure. The load must not be able to drop, shift, leak, or otherwise escape.

You must use a close-fitting cover when hauling a load that could fall or blow onto the roadway, such as dirt, sand or gravel.

Loose gravel off the back of a truck breaks the windshield of the car behind.

You must use a close-fitting cover when hauling loads which could fall or blow onto the roadway

A drawbar or towing connection may not be more than 15 feet long, unless the load is poles, pipes, machinery or something that cannot easily be taken apart.

A long tow rope lets the trailer wander across the lane behind you.

not be more than 15 feet long unless you are towing poles, pipes, machinery, or other objects that cannot be easily taken apart

A chain, rope or cable used as a towing connection must have a white flag at least 12 inches square attached to it.

A bare chain between two cars is almost invisible, and a driver can try to pull into the gap.

have a white flag at least 12 inches square attached to it if it is chain, rope, or cable

By day, a load that projects beyond the sides or more than four feet beyond the rear must be marked with red flags at least 18 inches square.

The flag is how the driver behind learns the car is longer than it looks.

During the day, red flags at least 18 inches square must mark the extremities of the load.

From sunset to sunrise a projecting load needs two red lamps on the back that can be seen from at least 500 feet to the rear.

After dark a flag shows nothing, so the marking has to make its own light.

two red lamps on the back of the load that can be seen from at least 500 feet to the rear

A passenger vehicle may not carry a load extending beyond the fenders on the left side, or more than 6 inches beyond the fenders on the right.

Anything sticking out on the left is in the lane where oncoming traffic is.

Passenger vehicles must not be driven on any highway with a load extending beyond the fenders on the left side of the vehicle or extending more than 6 inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side.

A trailer weighing more than 3,000 pounds must have brakes the towing driver can operate, designed to stop the trailer automatically if it breaks away.

A trailer that comes loose at speed keeps going, and this is what stops it.

Brakes that can be operated by the driver in the towing vehicle.

Bumper height limits are governed by the net shipping weight of the vehicle, not by a modified or altered weight.

Otherwise a driver could add weight to move the car into a bracket that allows a higher bumper.

Height limitations are governed by the net shipping weight of the vehicle, not the modified or altered weight.

It is illegal to tamper with, remove or disable any pollution control device on your vehicle.

Removing it costs you fuel and efficiency as well as putting more in the air to breathe.

It is illegal to tamper with, remove, or cause not to work, any pollution control device on your vehicle.

What does Florida require of a load on a highway?

That it cannot drop, shift, leak or escape. Anything that comes off your load lands in front of somebody else at highway speed. Official Florida Driver License Handbook, p.42: “You must not drive or move any loaded vehicle on the highway if the load is not secure. The load must not be able to drop, shift, leak, or otherwise escape.”