In a communications system, one of the set of precedences that may be used to determine the sequence, i.e., the priority order, in which specific groups of users will have their communications service degraded in order to provide full service to users with more essential needs. Note: Line load control is used to provide a degree of automatic traffic overload protection during impending saturation conditions or when facilities are limited and overloading is imminent. See also  adaptive routing,  automatic traffic overload protection,  avoidance routing,  communications service,  directionalization,  loading,  minimize,  protection,  communications system,  facility,  line load control,  overload,  precedence,  precedence level,  saturation,  sequence,  service,  traffic,  traffic capacity,  traffic load,  traffic overflow,  user.