Bonjour! Driving with the oversized cargo through France, feels like to be on a disco.This is a country where you should probably have the largest number of beacons in all of Europe. All for safety reasons of course 🙂
Pursuant to Article 16 of the Regulation of 4 May 2006, each vehicle involved in oversize transport in France should be marked in an appropriate manner.
Read on and you will learn about:
- basic elements of equipment,
- in what situations it is necessary to mark the transport,
- exact dimensions and technical data of the required boards,
- additional, required equipment in the vehicle.
Basic equipment:
- two warning lights at the front, placed at the extreme points of the vehicle width, at a minimum height of 1.50 m or 1.20 m in the case of a lower vehicle,
- two beacons at the rear, placed at the extreme points of the width of the vehicle or load, at a minimum height of 1.50 m or 1.20 m in the case of a lower vehicle,
- marker lights,
- two CONVOI EXCEPTIONNEL boards – one at the front and one at the back, with minimum dimensions of 1.9 x 0.25 m (in one line) or at least 1.1 x 0.4 m (in two lines).
The inscription in black capital letters, with a minimum height of 0.1 m, on a yellow reflective background (class II foil) or at night illuminated with reflectors or from the inside with two white light sources with a unit power of 15W to 25W.
The board should be rigid, unless the characteristics of the load do not allow it (the rest of the conditions regarding the board should nevertheless be maintained).
- blind spot marking – ATTENTION ANGLES MORTES (introduced on 01/01/2021).
!!! Stickers/plates should be 25×17 cm in size and should be placed at a height of 90 cm to 150 cm from the ground.
!!! Depending on the type of vehicle, from 3 (solo) to 5 stickers/plates are required – in the case of a truck with a semi-trailer or a lorry with a trailer (two on the tractor on the sides, two on the sides of the semi-trailer/trailer and one on the back).
!!! Stickers/plates must be placed in such a way that they are visible at all times and do not obstruct the visibility of the vehicle’s nameplates and lettering, the visibility of lights and signaling devices and the driver’s field of vision.
!!! Trucks and semi-trailers/trailers that have been proven to be structurally incapable are exempted from affixing side and/or rear markings.
Properly marked vehicles with ANGLES MORTES stickers/plates can be seen in the video provided by FFC CONSTRUCTEURS:
Sticker specifications:
Dimensions: 25 x 17cm
Required colors:
| RAL – red 3024 – yellow 1021 – yellow shadow 102 – orange 2008 – black 9005 | PANTONE – red 185 – yellow 012 – yellow shade 3975 – orange 716 – black NEUTRAL BLACK |
EXAMPLE OF LABELING
TRUCK + SEMI-TRAILER
A Max 1,5m over ground
B Min 0,9m over ground
C Motor vehicle (truck): up to 1 m from the front edge of the vehicle
Semi-trailer: on the side (if possible) within 1m of the kingpin; at the back (if possible), a sticker should be stuck on the right door, at the same height.
LORRY + TRAILER
A Max 1,5m over ground
B Min 0,9m over ground
C Motor vehicle (truck): up to 1 m from the front edge of the vehicle
Trailer: on the side (if possible) within 1m of the kingpin; at the back (if possible), a sticker should be stuck on the right door, at the same height.
HOW THESE MARKINGS LOOK IN PRACTICE
- With basic markings, the vehicle (up to a maximum of 1 m overhang at the rear) should look like this:
- Additional equipment when driving with width:
- white and red stripes boards directed outwards and downwards,
The plates should be mounted so as not to restrict the driver’s visibility and to:
- in front, the bottom of the board was placed at a maximum height of 2.6m
- at the back, the bottom of the board was placed at a height of between 0.4 and 1.55m
- other equipment with basic marking (as above)
3. Additional equipment when driving with the load crossing the rear of the vehicle (i.e. driving with the so-called tail):
A) when the tail exceeds 1m (up to a maximum of 4m):
- one or two additional marker lights mounted on the cargo,
- white and red stripes marker board facing outwards and downwards, mounted at the end of the load, facing backwards,
- two white and red stripes contour boards directed outwards and downwards, mounted on both sides of the overhang, at a distance of less than 1 m from its end.
B) when the tail exceeds each successive 3m with respect to point 1
- two additional marker lights mounted on the cargo
- white and red stripes marker board facing outwards and downwards, mounted at the end of the load, facing the rear
- two white and red stripes contour boards directed outwards and downwards, mounted on both sides of the overhang, at a distance of less than 1 m from its end.
4. In the case of driving with a width falling within the dimensions of category 3, i.e. over 4m wide:
- two additional two beacons are required at the front, placed at the extreme points of the load, at a minimum height of 1.50 m or 1.20 m in the case of a lower vehicle,
- if the load or semi-trailer has a protruding element from the side of the road axis, an additional warning light should also be placed on it.
INTERESTING FACTS
- The beacons must be turned on both during the day and at night when moving on the roads.
- In the case of driving in category 1, the number of beacons can be limited to one at the front and one at the rear – provided that they are clearly visible from all sides.
- When driving without oversized dimensions (empty), the CONVOI EXCEPTIONNEL plates should be dismantled, covered, and the beacons turned off.
Marcin Malec
Marcin Kalinowski
