§ 20-118.1. Officers may weigh vehicles and require overloads to be removed. - North Carolina Statutes

§ 20‑118.1.  Officersmay weigh vehicles and require overloads to be removed.

A law enforcement officer maystop and weigh a vehicle to determine if the vehicle's weight is in compliancewith the vehicle's declared gross weight and the weight limits set in thisPart. The officer may require the driver of the vehicle to drive to a scalelocated within five miles of where the officer stopped the vehicle.

Any person operating a vehicleor a combination of vehicles having a GVWR of 10,001 pounds or more or any vehicletransporting hazardous materials that is required to be placarded under 49C.F.R. § 171‑180 must enter a permanent weigh station or temporaryinspection or weigh site as directed by duly erected signs or an electronictransponder for the purpose of being electronically screened for compliance, orweighed, or inspected.

If the vehicle's weightexceeds the amount allowable, the officer may detain the vehicle until theoverload has been removed. Any property removed from a vehicle because thevehicle was overloaded is the responsibility of the owner or operator of thevehicle. The State is not liable for damage to or loss of the removed property.

Failure to permit a vehicle tobe weighed or to remove an overload is a misdemeanor of the Class set in G.S.20‑176. An officer must weigh a vehicle with a scale that has beenapproved by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

A privately ownednoncommercial horse trailer constructed to transport four or fewer horses shallnot be required to stop at any permanent weigh station in the State whiletransporting horses, unless the driver of the vehicle hauling the trailer isdirected to stop by a law enforcement officer. A "privately ownednoncommercial horse trailer" means a trailer used solely for theoccasional transportation of horses and not for compensation or in furtheranceof a commercial enterprise. (1927, c. 148, s. 37; 1949, c. 1207, s. 3; 1951, c.1013, s. 4; 1979, c. 436, ss. 1, 2; 1981 (Reg. Sess., 1982), c. 1259, s. 2;1993, c. 539, s. 356; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c); 1995, c. 109, s. 4;1997‑261, s. 109; 2001‑487, s. 50(f); 2003‑338, s. 1.)