2004-PA-0420

Act No. 420

Public Acts of 2004

Approved by the Governor

November 29, 2004

Filed with the Secretary of State

November 29, 2004

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2006

STATE OF MICHIGAN

92ND LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2004

Introduced by Reps. DeRossett, Casperson, Hummel, Shackleton and Bradstreet

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4358

AN ACT to amend 1949 PA 300, entitled "An act to provide for the registration, titling, sale, transfer, and regulation of certain vehicles operated upon the public highways of this state or any other place open to the general public or generally accessible to motor vehicles and distressed vehicles; to provide for the licensing of dealers; to provide for the examination, licensing, and control of operators and chauffeurs; to provide for the giving of proof of financial responsibility and security by owners and operators of vehicles; to provide for the imposition, levy, and collection of specific taxes on vehicles, and the levy and collection of sales and use taxes, license fees, and permit fees; to provide for the regulation and use of streets and highways; to create certain funds; to provide penalties and sanctions for a violation of this act; to provide for civil liability of owners and operators of vehicles and service of process on residents and nonresidents; to provide for the levy of certain assessments; to provide for the enforcement of this act; to provide for the creation of and to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local agencies; to impose liability upon the state or local agencies; to provide appropriations for certain purposes; to repeal all other acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act or contrary to this act; and to repeal certain parts of this act on a specific date," by amending sections 719 and 724 (MCL 257.719 and 257.724), section 719 as amended by 2003 PA 142 and section 724 as amended by 1988 PA 346, and by adding section 724a.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 719. (1) A vehicle unloaded or with load shall not exceed a height of 13 feet 6 inches. The owner of a vehicle that collides with a lawfully established bridge or viaduct is liable for all damage and injury resulting from a collision caused by the height of the vehicle, whether the clearance of the bridge or viaduct is posted or not.

(2) Lengths described in this subsection shall be known as the normal length maximum. Except as provided in subsection (3), the following vehicles and combinations of vehicles shall not be operated on a highway in this state in excess of these lengths:

(a) Subject to subsection (8), any single vehicle: 40 feet; a crib vehicle on which logs are loaded lengthwise of the vehicle: 42.5 feet; any single bus or motor home: 45 feet.

(b) Articulated buses: 65 feet.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a combination of a truck and semitrailer or trailer, or a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and semitrailer or trailer, designed and used exclusively to transport assembled motor vehicles or bodies, recreational vehicles, or boats, that does not exceed a length of 65 feet. Stinger-steered combinations shall not exceed a length of 75 feet. The load on the combinations of vehicles described in this subdivision may extend an additional 3 feet beyond the front and 4 feet beyond the rear of the combinations of vehicles. Retractable extensions used to support and secure the load that do not extend beyond the allowable overhang for the front and rear shall not be included in determining length of a loaded vehicle or vehicle combination.

(d) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations: no overall length, the semitrailer not to exceed 50 feet.

(e) Truck and semitrailer or trailer: 59 feet.

(f) Except as provided in subdivision (g), truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or truck tractor and 2 semitrailers: 59 feet.

(g) A truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer, or a truck tractor and 2 semitrailers, in which no semitrailer or trailer is more than 28-1/2 feet long: 65 feet. This subdivision only applies while the vehicle is being used for a business purpose reasonably related to picking up or delivering a load and only if each semitrailer or trailer is equipped with a device or system capable of mechanically dumping construction materials or dumping construction materials by force of gravity.

(h) More than 1 motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled, in combination, utilizing 1 tow bar or 3 saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of 1 of the vehicles in combination, not to exceed 55 feet.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the following vehicles and combinations of vehicles shall not be operated on a designated highway of this state in excess of these lengths:

(a) Truck tractor and semitrailer combinations: no overall length limit, the semitrailer not to exceed 53 feet. All semitrailers longer than 50 feet shall have a wheelbase of 37.5 to 40.5 feet plus or minus 0.5 feet, measured from the kingpin coupling to the center of the rear axle or the center of the rear axle assembly. A semitrailer with a length longer than 50 feet shall not operate with more than 3 axles on the semitrailer. City, village, or county authorities may prohibit stops of vehicles with a semitrailer longer than 50 feet within their jurisdiction unless the stop occurs along appropriately designated routes, or is necessary for emergency purposes or to reach shippers, receivers, warehouses, and terminals along designated routes.

(b) Truck and semitrailer or trailer combinations: 65 feet, except that a person may operate a truck and semitrailer or trailer designed and used to transport saw logs, pulpwood, and tree length poles that does not exceed an overall length of 70 feet or a crib vehicle and semitrailer or trailer designed and used to transport saw logs that does not exceed an overall length of 75 feet. A crib vehicle and semitrailer or trailer designed to and used to transport saw logs shall not exceed a gross vehicle weight of 164,000 pounds. A person may operate a truck tractor and semitrailer designed and used to transport saw logs, pulpwood, and tree length wooden poles with a load overhang to the rear of the semitrailer which does not exceed 6 feet if the semitrailer does not exceed 50 feet in length.

(c) Truck tractor and 2 semitrailers, or truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer combinations: no overall length limit, if the length of each semitrailer or trailer does not exceed 28-1/2 feet each, or the overall length of the semitrailer and trailer, or 2 semitrailers as measured from the front of the first towed unit to the rear of the second towed unit while the units are coupled together does not exceed 58 feet.

(d) More than 1 motor vehicle, wholly or partially assembled, in combination, utilizing 1 tow bar or 3 saddle mounts with full mount mechanisms and utilizing the motive power of 1 of the vehicles in combination, not to exceed 75 feet.

(4) The following combinations and movements are prohibited:

(a) A truck shall not haul more than 1 trailer or semitrailer, and a truck tractor shall not haul more than 2 semitrailers or 1 semitrailer and 1 trailer in combination at any 1 time, except that a farm tractor may haul 2 wagons or trailers, or garbage and refuse haulers may, during daylight hours, haul up to 4 trailers for garbage and refuse collection purposes, not exceeding in any combination a total length of 55 feet and at a speed limit not to exceed 15 miles per hour.

(b) A combination of vehicles or a vehicle shall not have more than 11 axles, except when operating under a valid permit issued by the state transportation department or a local authority with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction.

(d) A combination of 2 semitrailers pulled by a truck tractor, unless each semitrailer uses a fifth wheel connecting assembly which conforms to the requirements of the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.22.

(e) A vehicle or a combination of vehicles shall not carry a load extending more than 3 feet beyond the front of the lead vehicle.

(f) A vehicle described in subsections (2)(e) and (3)(d) employing triple saddle mounts unless all wheels that are in contact with the roadway have operating brakes.

(5) All combinations of vehicles under this section shall employ connecting assemblies and lighting devices that are in compliance with the motor carrier safety act of 1963, 1963 PA 181, MCL 480.11 to 480.22.

(6) The total gross weight of a truck tractor, semitrailer, and trailer combination or a truck tractor and 2 semitrailers combination that exceeds 59 feet in length shall not exceed a ratio of 400 pounds per engine net horsepower delivered to clutch or its equivalent specified in the handbook published by the society of automotive engineers, inc. (SAE), 1977edition.

(7) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction. The owner of the vehicle may be charged with a violation of this section.

(8) The provisions in subsections (2)(a) and (3)(b) prescribing the length of a crib vehicle on which logs are loaded lengthwise do not apply unless section 127(d) of title 23 of the United States Code, 23 USC 127, is amended to allow crib vehicles carrying logs to be loaded as described in this section.

(9) As used in this section:

(a) "Designated highway" means a highway approved by the state transportation department or a local authority with respect to a highway under its jurisdiction.

(b) "Length" means the total length of a vehicle, or combination of vehicles, including any load the vehicle is carrying. Length does not include devices described in 23 CFR 658.16 and 23 CFR part 658, appendix d. 23 CFR 658.16 and 23 CFR part 658, appendix d, as on file with the secretary of state are adopted by reference. A safety or energy conservation device shall be excluded from a determination of length only if it is not designed or used for the carrying of cargo, freight, or equipment. Semitrailers and trailers shall be measured from the front vertical plane of the foremost transverse load supporting structure to the rearmost transverse load supporting structure. Vehicle components not excluded by law shall be included in the measurement of the length, height, and width of the vehicle.

(c) "Stinger-steered combinations" means a truck tractor and semitrailer combination in which the fifth wheel is located on a drop frame located behind and below the rearmost axle of the power unit.

Sec. 724. (1) A police officer or a duly authorized agent of the state transportation department or a county road commission having reason to believe that the weight of a vehicle and load is unlawful may require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the vehicle by either portable or stationary scales approved and sealed by the department of agriculture as a legal weighing device, and may require that the vehicle be driven to the nearest weighing station of the state transportation department for the purpose of allowing an officer or agent of the state transportation department or county road commission to determine whether the conveyance is loaded in conformity with this chapter.

(2) When the officer or agent, upon weighing a vehicle and load, determines that the weight is unlawful, the officer or agent may require the driver to stop the vehicle in a suitable place and remain standing until that portion of the load is shifted or removed as necessary to reduce the gross axle load weight of the vehicle to the limit permitted under this chapter. All material unloaded as provided under this subsection shall be cared for by the owner or operator of the vehicle at the risk of the owner or operator. A judge or magistrate imposing a civil fine and costs under this section which are not paid in full immediately or for which a bond is not immediately posted in double the amount of the civil fine and costs shall order the driver or owner to move the vehicle at the driver's own risk to a place of safekeeping within the jurisdiction of the judge or magistrate, inform the judge or magistrate in writing of the place of safekeeping, and keep the vehicle until the fine and costs are paid or sufficient bond is furnished or until the judge or magistrate is satisfied that the fine and costs will be paid. The officer or agent who has determined, after weighing a vehicle and load, that the weight is unlawful, may require the driver to proceed to a judge or magistrate within the county. If the judge or magistrate is satisfied that the probable civil fine and costs will be paid by the owner or lessee, the judge or magistrate may allow the driver to proceed, after the load is made legal. If the judge or magistrate is not satisfied that the owner or lessee, after a notice and a right to be heard on the merits is given, will pay the amount of the probable civil fine and costs, the judge or magistrate may order the vehicle to be impounded until trial on the merits is completed under conditions set forth in this section for the impounding of vehicles after the civil fine and costs have been imposed. Removal of the vehicle, and forwarding, care, or preservation of the load shall be under the control of and at the risk of the owner or driver. Vehicles impounded shall be subject to a lien, subject to a prior valid bona fide lien of prior record, in the amount of the civil fine and costs and if the civil fine and costs are not paid within 90 days after the seizure, the judge or magistrate shall certify the unpaid judgment to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the violation occurred, who shall proceed to enforce the lien by foreclosure sale in accordance with procedure authorized in the case of chattel mortgage foreclosures. When the duly authorized agent of the state transportation department or county road commission is performing duties under this chapter, the agent shall have all the powers conferred upon peace officers by the general laws of this state.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), an owner of a vehicle or a lessee of the vehicle of an owner-operator, or other person, who causes or allows a vehicle to be loaded and driven or moved on a highway, when the weight of that vehicle violates section 722 is responsible for a civil infraction and shall pay a civil fine in an amount equal to 3 cents per pound for each pound of excess load over 1,000 pounds when the excess is 2,000 pounds or less; 6 cents per pound of excess load when the excess is over 2,000 pounds but not over 3,000 pounds; 9 cents per pound for each pound of excess load when the excess is over 3,000 pounds but not over 4,000 pounds; 12 cents per pound for each pound of excess load when the excess is over 4,000 pounds but not over 5,000 pounds; 15 cents per pound for each pound of excess load when the excess is over 5,000 pounds but not over 10,000 pounds; and 20 cents per pound for each pound of excess load when the excess is over 10,000 pounds.

(4) If the court determines that the motor vehicle or the combination of vehicles was operated in violation of this section, the court shall impose a fine as follows:

(a) If the court determines that the motor vehicle or the combination of vehicles was operated in such a manner that the gross weight of the vehicle or the combination of vehicles would not be lawful by a proper distribution of the load upon all the axles of the vehicle or the combination of vehicles, the court shall impose a fine for the violation according to the schedule provided for in subsection (3).

(b) If the court determines that the motor vehicle or the combination of vehicles would be lawful by a proper distribution of the load upon all of the axles of the vehicle or the combination of vehicles, but that 1 or more axles of the vehicle exceeded the maximum allowable axle weight by 4,000 pounds or less, the court shall impose a misload fine of $200.00 per axle. Not more than 3 axles shall be used in calculating the fine to be imposed under this subdivision. This subdivision does not apply to a vehicle subject to the maximum loading provisions of section 722(11) or to a vehicle found to be in violation of a special permit issued under section 725.

(c) If the court determines that the motor vehicle or the combination of vehicles would be lawful by a proper distribution of the load upon all of the axles of the vehicle or the combination of vehicles, but that 1 or more axles of the vehicle exceeded the maximum allowable axle weight by more than 4,000 pounds, the court shall impose a fine for the violation according to the schedule provided for in subsection (3).

(5) A driver or owner of a vehicle, truck or truck tractor, truck or truck tractor with other vehicles in combination, or special mobile equipment who knowingly fails to stop at or who knowingly bypasses any scales or weighing station is guilty of a misdemeanor.

(6) An agent or authorized representative of the state transportation department or a county road commission shall not stop a truck or vehicle in movement upon a road or highway within the state for any purpose, unless the agent or authorized representative is driving a duly marked vehicle, clearly showing and denoting the branch of government represented.

(7) A driver or owner of a vehicle who knowingly fails to stop when requested or ordered to do so by a police officer, or a duly authorized agent of the state transportation department, or a representative or agent of a county road commission, authorized to require the driver to stop and submit to a weighing of the vehicle and load by means of a portable scale, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Sec. 724a. (1) The axle weight requirements of this chapter do not apply to a vehicle equipped with lift axles during the period in which axles are raised to negotiate an intersection, driveway, or other turn and until the lift axles are fully engaged after the period of time or the distance necessary to negotiate that intersection, driveway, or other turn.

(2) If a vehicle is to be weighed to determine whether the vehicle is being operated in violation of this act or a rule promulgated under this act or of a local ordinance substantially corresponding to this act or a rule promulgated under this act and the vehicle is equipped with lift axles that have been raised to allow the vehicle to negotiate an intersection, driveway, or other turn, the vehicle shall be weighed only after the lift axles have been fully lowered and are under operational pressure as provided in subsection (1).

(3) As used in this section, "lift axle" means an axle on a vehicle that can be raised or lowered by mechanical means.

Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect January 1, 2006.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Secretary of the Senate

Approved

Governor