Clocks turned back in the early hours of Sunday morning, but carriers who haul oversize goods in British Columbia were already enjoying a change to their available their working hours.

Travel restrictions were generally removed from weekends and evenings in a series of changes that involve pilot car requirements and travel times for oversize loads.

Evening and weekend restrictions eased for loads ranging between 3.2-4.4 meters wide, except for the Lower Mainland. And there was a slight increase in the weeknight travel windows for loads more than 4.4 meters wide, especially in Northern B.C.

“The recent changes to pilot car and travel times in B.C. were based on engineering analysis that considered factors such as the type of risk (severity), amount of risk (exposure), and number of risks (frequency),” a B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson said in written response to questions from TruckNews.com.

“In addition to analyzing how vehicles and loads fit within highway lanes, traffic volumes were reviewed. Higher traffic volumes in the Lower Mainland contributed to the more restrictive travel times, in order to maintain safety for commercial drivers and for others on the road.”

More lengths have also been approved for regular permitting without a customs analysis. On the CVSE 1000, the permit condition document for loads up to 4.4 wide, overall lengths increased to 27.5 meters from 25 meters in Category A, to 36 meters from 32 meters in Category B, and to 46 meters from 40 meters in Category C.

Options to operate lights on a power unit instead of a pilot car during the day, for loads from 3.2 to 3.5 meters wide, were also grandfathered in to the changes.