339.02 MAXIMUM AXLE LOAD, WHEEL LOAD AND GROSS WEIGHTS FOR PNEUMATIC TIRES.
(a) Except as provided in this chapter, no vehicle, trackless trolley, load, object or structure having a maximum axle load greater than 19,000 pounds shall be operated or moved upon improved public highways, streets, bridges or culverts. The maximum wheel load of any one wheel of any such vehicle shall not exceed 650 pounds per inch width of pneumatic tire, measured as prescribed by Ohio R.C. 5577.03.
(b) The weight of vehicle and load imposed upon the road surface by vehicles with pneumatic tires shall not exceed the following:
(1) By any two successive axles, spaced four feet or less apart, and weighed simultaneously, 24,000 pounds .
(2) By any two successive axles, spaced more than four feet but less than eight feet apart, and weighed simultaneously, 32,000 pounds.
(3) By any two successive axles, spaced eight feet or more apart, 38,000 pounds.
(4) By any three successive load-bearing axles designed to equalize the load between such axles and spaced so that each such axle of the three-axle group is more than four feet from the next axle in the three-axle group and so that the spacing between the first axle and the third axle of the three-axle group is no more than nine feet, 48,000 pounds. Such load-bearing three-axle group shall only be weighed simultaneously as a unit.
(c) The total weight of vehicle and load shall not exceed 38,000 pounds plus an additional 900 pounds for each foot of spacing between the front axle and the rearmost axle of the vehicle provided, that the total weight of the vehicle and load imposed upon the road surface shall not exceed 78,000 pounds.
(d) In the determination of weights under this section by a scale other than a compact, self-contained, portable sealed scale specially adapted to determining the wheel loads of highway vehicles, a weight is not unlawful unless it exceeds the weights provided in this section plus three percent to compensate for possible weighing inaccuracy.
(e) If the provisions of this section are held to exceed the weight limitations or other provisions set forth in Section 127, "Federal Aid Highway Act of 1958," 72 Stat. 902 (1958), 23 U.S.C. 127, this section shall become null and void to the extent of such inconsistency.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a vehicle is towing another vehicle, such drawbar or other connection shall be of a length such as will limit the spacing between nearest axles of the respective vehicles to a distance not in excess of twelve feet and six inches.
(g) This section shall not apply to fire engines, fire trucks, or emergency vehicles belonging to the City or to any other municipality or municipal or county fire organization, including volunteer departments. (ORC 5577.04)
(h) 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.