Section 19 Weight rules and regulations; enforcement; defense of claims arising from weighing of vehicles; penalties for violations of provisions of this section
Section 19. No motor vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer or semi-trailer unit, hereinafter in this section called a motor vehicle, shall be operated on the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system nor shall the owner or bailee thereof require or permit such operation when the gross weight of such motor vehicle exceeds the weight provided in the rules and regulations adopted by the authority pursuant to paragraph (k) of section four or that specified in a special hauling permit issued by the authority for such motor vehicle pursuant to said rules and regulations, whichever is greater, nor shall any person load or cause to be loaded such motor vehicle in excess of such weights; provided, however, that the authority shall not adopt or enforce any rule or regulation which prohibits a motor vehicle from traveling on the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system without a permit if such motor vehicle may travel on a public way of the commonwealth without a permit under the provisions of section nineteen A of chapter ninety or which prohibits the issuance of a permit by the authority for travel on the turnpike or the metropolitan highway system by a motor vehicle if such motor vehicle may travel on a public way of the commonwealth with a permit under the provisions of section thirty A of chapter eighty-five.
Enforcement of this section shall be by members of the department of state police assigned to the authority who have been appointed as weighers and measurers of motor vehicles and of the loads of such motor vehicles pursuant to section eighty-seven A of chapter forty-one. In any prosecution for a violation of this section, a signed certificate on oath of a member of the department of state police assigned and appointed as a weigher and measurer of motor vehicles in accordance with this paragraph shall be admissible in evidence without further proof and shall constitute prima facie evidence of the weight of the motor vehicle described in such certificate. Such certificate shall be in such form as the registrar of motor vehicles shall prescribe pursuant to section nineteen A of chapter ninety and shall be signed and sworn to by a member of the department of state police assigned and appointed as a weigher and measurer of motor vehicles in accordance with this paragraph and present at the weighing of such motor vehicle and the court shall take judicial notice of the signature of such person and that he is so assigned and appointed.
In any claim for bodily injuries including death or damage to property arising out of such weighing, a member of the department of state police, assigned and appointed as a weigher and measurer of motor vehicles in accordance with the preceding paragraph, to enforce the provisions of this section may file a written request with the authority that it defend him against such claim and the authority shall indemnify such member of the department of state police from personal expenses or damages incurred and arising out of such claim; provided, however, that the defense or settlement of such claim shall have been made by the general counsel of the authority, by an attorney retained for such purpose by the authority or by an attorney provided by an insurer obligated under the terms of a policy of insurance to defend against such claims.
A person convicted of a violation of the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than thirty dollars for each one thousand pounds of weight or fraction thereof by which the gross weight of the motor vehicle as operated exceeds the weight provided in the rules and regulations adopted by the authority pursuant to paragraph (k) of section four or that specified in a special hauling permit issued by the authority for such motor vehicle pursuant to said rules and regulations, whichever is greater; provided, however, that if the total of such excess weight is greater than ten thousand pounds, the fine shall be not less than sixty dollars for each one thousand pounds or fraction thereof over such ten thousand pounds.
Any person convicted of a violation of the provisions of the first sentence of section seventeen of chapter ninety while operating a vehicle which is also in violation of the first paragraph of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars for a first offense nor less than fifty nor more than seventy-five dollars for a second offense committed in any twelve month period and not less than seventy-five nor more than one hundred and fifty dollars for subsequent offenses committed in any twelve month period and complaints for such violations shall not be placed on file by the court.