Cargo & Freight · Driver Training VideoOversize Flatbed: Flags, Banners, Lights & Escorts

A load is oversize when it exceeds legal limits — generally over eight feet six inches wide, over about thirteen feet six inches to fourteen feet high, or beyond the length limits for the state you're in. Oversize means you need a permit before that load ever moves.

Marking follows the permit and the state rules. You need an OVERSIZE LOAD banner on the front and the rear of the vehicle. You need warning flags — commonly eighteen inches square, red or fluorescent orange — mounted at the widest point, the longest point, and on any overhang.

Rear overhang has to be flagged. Overhang past about four feet generally must be marked, and at night it has to be lit with a red lamp. Don't let that overhang disappear into the dark.

Amber warning lights or rotating lights are required in many cases. Many states also restrict oversize travel to daylight hours only, and prohibit moves during rush hour, on weekends, or on holidays.

Escort or pilot cars are required above certain widths and lengths. Know their positioning: front escort watches height and oncoming traffic, rear escort watches width and length. Keep communication open with them the entire trip — they're your eyes where you don't have any.

Permits are route-specific

Follow the approved route exactly — don't improvise a shortcut. A superload needs engineering and bridge analysis completed before it ever moves, and that analysis is tied to that route, not a detour.

Obey curfews, weather restrictions like high wind and low visibility, and the reduced speeds written on the permit. These aren't suggestions — they're conditions of the permit.

Measure the actual loaded height yourself. The permit does not lower a bridge for you. Route for real, measured clearance, every time.