(a) Any police officer having reason to believe that the weight of a vehicle and its load is unlawful may require the driver of the vehicle to stop and submit to a weighing of it by means of a compact, self- contained, portable, sealed scale specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of vehicles on highways; a sealed scale permanently installed in a fixed location, having a load-receiving element specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of highway vehicles; a sealed scale, permanently installed in a fixed location, having a load-receiving element specially adapted to determining the combined load of all wheels on a single axle or on successive axles of a highway vehicle; or a sealed scale adapted to weighing highway vehicles, loaded or unloaded.
(b) The driver of the vehicle shall, if necessary, be directed to proceed to the nearest available sealed scales to accomplish the weighing, provided the scales are within three miles of the point where the vehicle is stopped.
(c) Any vehicle stopped in accordance with this section may be held by the police officer for a reasonable time only to accomplish the weighing as prescribed by this section.
(d) All scales used in determining the lawful weight of a vehicle and its load shall be annually compared by a municipal, county or state sealer with the state standards or standards approved by the state, and the scales shall not be sealed if they do not conform to the state standards or standards approved by the state.
(e) At each end of a permanently installed scale, there shall be a straight approach in the same plane as the platform, of sufficient length and width to insure the level positioning of vehicles during weight determinations. During determination of weight by compact, self-contained, portable, sealed scales, specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of vehicles on highways, they shall always be used on a level terrain of sufficient length and width to accommodate the entire vehicle being weighed. Such terrain shall be level, or if not level, it shall be of such elevation that the difference in elevation between the wheels on any one axle does not exceed two inches and the difference in elevation between axles being weighed does not exceed one-quarter inch per foot of the distance between such axles.
(f) In all determinations of all weights, except gross weight, by compact, self-contained, portable, sealed scales, specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of vehicles on highways, all successive axles, 12 feet or less apart, shall be weighed simultaneously by placing one such scale under the outside wheel of each such axle. In determinations of gross weight by the use of compact, self-contained, portable, sealed scales, specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of vehicles on highways, all axles shall be weighed simultaneously by placing one such scale under the outside wheel of each axle.
(g) Whenever an officer, upon weighing a vehicle and load, determines that the weight is unlawful, he or she may require the driver to stop the vehicle in a suitable place and remain standing until such portion of the load is removed as is necessary to reduce the weight of the vehicle to the limit permitted under ORC 5577.01 through 5577.14 and this chapter.
(ORC 4513.33)