(a) No person shall drive or operate, or cause to be driven or operated, any commercial car, trailer or semitrailer, used for the transportation of goods or property, the gross weight of which, with load, exceeds three tons, upon the streets, bridges and culverts within this Municipality unless such vehicle is equipped with suitable metal protectors or substantial flexible flaps on the rearmost wheels of such vehicle or combination of vehicles to prevent, as far as practicable, the wheels from throwing dirt, water or other materials on the windshields of following vehicles. Such protectors or flaps shall have a ground clearance of not more than one- third of the distance from the center of the rearmost axle to the center of the flaps under any conditions of loading of the vehicle, and they shall be at least as wide as the tires they are protecting. If the vehicle is so designed and constructed that such requirements are accomplished by means of fenders, body construction or other means of enclosure, then no such protectors or flaps are required. Rear wheels not covered at the top by fenders, bodies or other parts of the vehicle shall be covered at the top by protective means extending at least to the center line of the rearmost axle. (ORC 5577.11)
(b) Whoever violates any provision of this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor on a first offense; on a second offense within one year after the first offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the fourth degree; on each subsequent offense within one year after the first offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree.