Every trailer or semitrailer with a gross mass of 1 1/2 tons or more must be equipped with brakes that may be applied by the driver of the towing motor vehicle, in the case of a trailer or semitrailer equipped with air brakes, and the brakes must be designed and connected so that in the case of an accidental breakaway, the brakes will automatically apply.
In a combination of motor-driven vehicles in which a trailer is equipped with brakes, the brakes must be designed so that the brakes of the rearmost trailer are applied in approximate synchronism with the brakes of the towing vehicle, and so that the brakes on the trailer exude the required braking effort on the rearmost wheels at the fastest rate; the braking effort applies first on the rearmost trailer equipped with brakes; or, must include both of the above systems so installed as to be used alternately.
Every combination of motor-drawn vehicles must be equipped with service foot brakes adequate and effective under all conditions of traveling: (1) to stop within 10 meters when all wheels are equipped with brakes, and 12 meters otherwise when traveling at a speed of 30 km/h; and (2) to decelerate the vehicle or combination thereof at a rate of 426 cm per second when all wheels are equipped with brakes; and, (3) otherwise at a sustained rate of 326 cm per second, as if on a dry, smooth, level roadway.
The post Trailer Brakes appeared first on AAA Digest of Motor Laws.