(a) A police officer or an inspector of the State Division of Weights and Measures, having reason to believe that the weight of a vehicle and load is unlawful, may require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the vehicle by means of either portable or stationary scales, approved and sealed by the State Department of Agriculture as a legal weighing device, and may require that the vehicle be driven to the nearest weighing station to determine whether the conveyance is loaded in conformity with this chapter.
(b) When the officer or inspector, upon weighing a vehicle and load, determines that the weight is unlawful, the officer or inspector may require the driver to stop the vehicle in a suitable place and remain standing until that portion of the load is shifted or removed as necessary to reduce the gross axle load weight of the vehicle to the limit permitted under this chapter. All material so unloaded shall be cared for by the owner or operator of the vehicle at the risk of the owner or operator. A judge or magistrate imposing a civil fine and costs under this section, which are not paid in full immediately or for which a bond is not immediately posted in double the amount of the civil fine and costs, shall order the driver or owner to move the vehicle at the driver's own risk to a place of safekeeping within the jurisdiction of the judge or magistrate, inform the judge or magistrate, in writing, of the place of safekeeping and there keep the vehicle until the fine or costs are paid or sufficient bond furnished or until the judge or magistrate is satisfied that the fine and costs will be paid. The officer or inspector who has determined, after weighing a vehicle and load, that the weight is unlawful, may require the driver to proceed to a judge or magistrate within the County. If the judge or magistrate is satisfied that the probable civil fine and costs will be paid by the owner or lessee, the judge or magistrate may allow the driver to proceed, after the load is made legal. If the judge or magistrate is not satisfied that the owner or lessee, after a notice and a right to be heard on the merits are given, will pay the amount of the probable civil fine and costs, the judge or magistrate may order the vehicle to be impounded until trial on the merits is completed under conditions set forth in this chapter for the impounding of vehicles after the civil fine and costs have been imposed. Removal of the vehicle and forwarding, care or preservation of the load shall be under the control and at the risk of the owner or driver. Vehicles impounded shall be subject to a lien, subject to a prior valid bona fide lien of prior record, in the amount of the civil fine and costs, and, if the civil fine and costs are not paid within ninety days after the seizure, the judge or magistrate shall certify the unpaid judgment to the prosecuting attorney, who shall proceed to enforce the lien by foreclosure sale in accordance with procedures authorized in the case of chattel mortgage foreclosures. When the duly authorized inspector of the State Division of Weights and Measures is performing duties under this chapter, the inspector shall have all the powers conferred upon peace officers by the general laws of the State.
(c) A driver or owner of a vehicle who knowingly fails to stop when requested or ordered to do so by a police officer, or a duly authorized inspector of the State Division of Weights and Measures authorized to require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the vehicle and load by means of a portable scale, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 486.99(a).
(d) A driver or owner of a vehicle, truck or truck tractor, truck or truck tractor with other vehicles in combination, or special mobile equipment, who knowingly fails to stop at, or who knowingly by-passes, any scales or weighing station, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 486.99(a).
(Res. 93-512. Passed 7-26-93.)