§ 32-9-31 — Measuring and Weighing Vehicles

Any officer enumerated in Section 32-9-3 having reason to believe that the height, length, width, or weight of any truck, semitrailer truck, or trailer is in excess of the maximum limits prescribed by Section 32-9-20, or permitted by any permit issued under authority of Section 32-9-29, is authorized to measure or weigh the vehicle using either portable or stationary scales. All scales used for weighing vehicles as provided in this section shall be approved by the weights and measures division of the Department of Agriculture and Industries. The officer may require the operator of the truck, semitrailer truck, or trailer to unload a portion of a load as necessary to decrease the gross weight of the vehicle to the maximum gross weight permitted by this title or by the terms of any permit in the possession of the operator and issued under the provisions of Section 32-9-29, which excess load, when unloaded, shall be at the sole risk of the owner or, at the election of the operator, the officer shall permit the operator to move the vehicle and its load to the nearest incorporated town or the nearest court having jurisdiction, at which place the excess load shall be unloaded. The refusal of any operator to permit his or her truck, semitrailer truck, or trailer to be measured or weighed, or to unload the excess load, is a violation of this chapter.

Legislative History

(Acts 1932, Ex. Sess., No. 58, p. 68; Code 1940, T. 36, §85; Acts 1949, No. 518, p. 773, §2; Act 2025-272, §1.)