093_HB3859

 
                                     LRB093 13530 DRH 18933 b

 1        AN ACT concerning vehicles.

 2        Be it enacted by the People of  the  State  of  Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section  5.  The  Illinois  Vehicle  Code  is  amended by
 5    changing Section 15-112 as follows:

 6        (625 ILCS 5/15-112) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 15-112)
 7        Sec. 15-112.  Officers  to  weigh  vehicles  and  require
 8    removal of excess loads.
 9        (a)  Any police officer having reason to believe that the
10    weight  of  a  vehicle and load is unlawful shall require the
11    driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the same either by
12    means of a portable  or  stationary  scales  that  have  been
13    tested and approved at a frequency prescribed by the Illinois
14    Department  of  Agriculture,  or for those scales operated by
15    the State, when such tests are requested by the Department of
16    State Police, whichever is more frequent. If such scales  are
17    not available at the place where such vehicle is stopped, the
18    police  officer  shall require that such vehicle be driven to
19    the nearest available scale that has been tested and approved
20    pursuant to  this  Section  by  the  Illinois  Department  of
21    Agriculture.  Notwithstanding  any  provisions of the Weights
22    and Measures Act or the United States Department of  Commerce
23    NIST  handbook  44,  multi  or  single  draft  weighing is an
24    acceptable  method  of  weighing  by  law   enforcement   for
25    determining  a violation of Chapter 3 or 15 of this Code. Law
26    enforcement is exempt from  the  requirements  of  commercial
27    weighing established in NIST handbook 44.
28        Within  18  months  after  the  effective  date  of  this
29    amendatory  Act  of  the 91st General Assembly, all municipal
30    and county officers, technicians, and employees  who  set  up
31    and  operate  portable  scales for wheel load or axle load or
 
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 1    both and issue citations  based on the use of portable scales
 2    for wheel load  or  axle  load  or  both  and  who  have  not
 3    successfully  completed  initial classroom and field training
 4    regarding the set up and operation of portable scales,  shall
 5    attend  and successfully complete initial classroom and field
 6    training  administered  by  the  Illinois   Law   Enforcement
 7    Training Standards Board.
 8        (b)  Whenever an officer, upon weighing a vehicle and the
 9    load,  determines  that  the weight is unlawful, such officer
10    shall require the driver to stop the vehicle  in  a  suitable
11    place  and  remain standing until such portion of the load is
12    removed as may be necessary  to  reduce  the  weight  of  the
13    vehicle  to the limit permitted under this Chapter, or to the
14    limit permitted under the terms of a permit  issued  pursuant
15    to  Sections 15-301 through 15-318 and shall forthwith arrest
16    the driver or owner. All material so unloaded shall be  cared
17    for  by  the  owner or operator of the vehicle at the risk of
18    such owner or operator; however,  whenever  a  3  or  4  axle
19    vehicle  with a tandem axle dimension greater than 72 inches,
20    but less than 96 inches and registered as a  Special  Hauling
21    Vehicle  is  transporting  asphalt or concrete in the plastic
22    state that exceeds axle weight or gross weight limits by less
23    than 4,000 pounds, the owner or operator of the vehicle shall
24    accept  the  arrest  ticket  or  tickets  for   the   alleged
25    violations under this Section and proceed without shifting or
26    reducing  the  load  being transported or may shift or reduce
27    the load under the provisions of subsection  (d)  or  (e)  of
28    this Section, when applicable.  Any fine imposed following an
29    overweight  violation  by  a  vehicle registered as a Special
30    Hauling Vehicle  transporting  asphalt  or  concrete  in  the
31    plastic  state  shall  be paid as provided in subsection 4 of
32    paragraph (a) of Section 16-105 of this Code.
33        (c)  The Department of Transportation may, at the request
34    of  the  Department  of  State  Police,   erect   appropriate
 
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 1    regulatory  signs  on  any  State  highway  directing  second
 2    division   vehicles   to   a   scale.    The   Department  of
 3    Transportation may also, at the direction of any State Police
 4    officer, erect  portable  regulating  signs  on  any  highway
 5    directing  second  division  vehicles  to  a  portable scale.
 6    Every such vehicle, pursuant to such sign, shall stop and  be
 7    weighed.
 8        (c-1)  Beginning  on  September  15, and through November
 9    30, of each calendar year, State Police officers may not  use
10    portable scales to weigh vehicles transporting commodities or
11    goods of production agriculture as defined in Section 3-35 of
12    the Use Tax Act on non-interstate highways.
13        (d)  Whenever any axle load of a vehicle exceeds the axle
14    or  tandem  axle  weight limits permitted by paragraph (a) or
15    (f) of Section 15-111 by 2000 pounds or less,  the  owner  or
16    operator of the vehicle must shift or remove the excess so as
17    to  comply  with  paragraph  (a) or (f) of Section 15-111. No
18    overweight arrest ticket shall be  issued  to  the  owner  or
19    operator  of  the vehicle by any officer if the excess weight
20    is shifted or removed as required by this paragraph.
21        (e)  Whenever the  gross  weight  of  a  vehicle  with  a
22    registered  gross weight of 73,280 pounds or less exceeds the
23    weight limits of paragraph (b) or (f) of  Section  15-111  of
24    this Chapter by 2000 pounds or less, the owner or operator of
25    the vehicle must remove the excess. Whenever the gross weight
26    of  a vehicle with a registered gross weight of 73,281 pounds
27    or more exceeds the weight limits of paragraph (b) or (f)  of
28    Section  15-111  by  1,000  pounds or less or 2,000 pounds or
29    less if weighed on wheel load weighers, the owner or operator
30    of the vehicle must remove the  excess.  In  either  case  no
31    arrest ticket for any overweight violation of this Code shall
32    be  issued  to  the  owner  or operator of the vehicle by any
33    officer if the excess weight is removed as required  by  this
34    paragraph.    A  person who has been granted a special permit
 
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 1    under Section 15-301 of this Code  shall  not  be  granted  a
 2    tolerance on wheel load weighers.
 3        (f)  Whenever  an  axle  load  of  a vehicle exceeds axle
 4    weight limits allowed by the provisions of a permit an arrest
 5    ticket shall be issued, but the  owner  or  operator  of  the
 6    vehicle  may  shift  the  load  so  as  to  comply  with  the
 7    provisions  of  the  permit. Where such shifting of a load to
 8    comply with the permit is accomplished, the owner or operator
 9    of the vehicle may then proceed.
10        (g)  Any driver of a vehicle  who  refuses  to  stop  and
11    submit  his vehicle and load to weighing after being directed
12    to do so by an officer or removes or causes  the  removal  of
13    the  load  or  part  of  it  prior to weighing is guilty of a
14    business offense and shall be fined not less  than  $500  nor
15    more than $2,000.
16    (Source: P.A. 91-129, eff. 7-16-99; 92-417, eff. 1-1-02.)

17        Section  99.  Effective date.  This Act takes effect upon
18    becoming law.