Executive Order  No. 19: (1st Series) Suspending statutory and regulatory limits on motor vehicles and trailer weights, lengths, and heights

WHEREAS, an unhampered flow of commerce throughout the United States is of vital importance to the effective prosecution of the existing war; and

WHEREAS, the agencies of the Government of the United States engaged in the conduct of the war effort have brought to the attention of the governments of the respective States of the Union the extreme importance of such an unhampered flow of commerce and the existence of certain obstacles to motor transportation caused by the varying requirements of the laws of the several States with respect to the operation of motor vehicles; and

WHEREAS, the President of the United States has recognized this condition by appointing a special committee to work with the Governors of the respective States toward the elimination of such impediments to the war effort; and

WHEREAS, the War Department of the United States has requested that the laws and regulations of the respective States pertaining to the operation of motor vehicles be relaxed wherever necessary for the purpose of eliminating certain obstructions to transportation by motor vehicles and for the purpose of attaining uniformity throughout the nation with respect to the maximum restrictions imposed upon the operation of motor vehicles:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, acting under the provisions of Acts of 1941, chapter 719, section 7, Acts of 1942, chapter 13, sections 2 and 3, and all other authority vested in me, do hereby issue this order as a measure necessary and expedient for meeting the supreme emergency of the existing state of war between the United States and certain foreign countries:

1. The Commissioner of Public Works is hereby authorized and empowered to issue, from time to time, general regulations approved by the Governor, relaxing or suspending the requirements of laws or regulations then in force with respect to the maximum height, width or length of motor vehicles or combinations of motor and other vehicles, and the maximum carrying capacity and weight of motor vehicles or trailers, operated on the ways of this Commonwealth, in order that the said requirements shall not conflict with those recommended by the Government of the United States or any agency thereof.

2. During the continuance of the existing state of war, any motor vehicle or trailer properly registered or licensed under the laws of another State or country may, while being used in the transportation of property related to the prosecution of the existing war or in the transportation of one or more workers in a war industry to or from his or their place of employment, be operated on the ways of this Commonwealth without Massachusetts registration or liability insurance to the same extent that the State or country in which the said motor vehicle or trailer is registered or licensed grants substantially similar privileges to residents of Massachusetts with respect to vehicles and trailers registered under the laws of Massachusetts. The extent to which such other State or country grants such privileges to residents of Massachusetts shall be determined by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, and his findings shall deter- mine the extent of the privileges granted hereunder.

3. The privileges granted pursuant to the foregoing paragraph shall be in addition to those granted pursuant to General Laws (Ter. Ed.) chapter 90, section 3, or any other provision of law.

GIVEN at the Executive Chamber in Boston, this twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty- two, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred and sixty-sixth.

By His Excellency the Governor,
LEVERETT SALTONSTALL

PAUL D. HOWARD,
Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth