§ 20-381. Specific powers and duties of Department of Crime Control and Public Safety applicable to motor carriers; agricultural exemption.
§ 20‑381. Specificpowers and duties of Department of Crime Control and Public Safety applicableto motor carriers; agricultural exemption.
(a) The Department ofCrime Control and Public Safety has the following powers and duties concerningmotor carriers:
(1) To prescribequalifications and maximum hours of service of drivers and their helpers.
(1a) To set safetystandards for vehicles of motor carriers engaged in foreign, interstate, orintrastate commerce over the highways of this State and for the safe operationof these vehicles. The Department of Crime Control and Public Safety may stop,enter upon, and perform inspections of motor carriers' vehicles in operation todetermine compliance with these standards and may conduct any investigationsand tests it finds necessary to promote the safety of equipment and the safeoperation on the highway of these vehicles.
(1b) To enforce thisArticle, rules adopted under this Article, and the federal safety and hazardousmaterials regulations.
(2) To enter the premisesof a motor carrier to inspect a motor vehicle or any equipment used by themotor carrier in transporting passengers or property.
(2a) To prohibit the useby a motor carrier of any motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment theDepartment of Crime Control and Public Safety finds, by reason of itsmechanical condition or loading, would be likely to cause a crash or breakdownin the transportation of passengers or property on a highway. If an agent ofthe Department of Crime Control and Public Safety finds a motor vehicle of amotor carrier in actual use upon the highways in the transportation ofpassengers or property that, by reason of its mechanical condition or loading,would be likely to cause a crash or breakdown, the agent shall declare thevehicle "Out of Service." The agent shall require the operatorthereof to discontinue its use and to substitute therefor a safe vehicle, partsor equipment at the earliest possible time and place, having regard for boththe convenience and the safety of the passengers or property. When an inspectoror agent stops a motor vehicle on the highway, under authority of this section,and the motor vehicle is declared "Out of Service," no motor carrieroperator shall require, or permit, any person to operate, nor shall any personoperate, any motor vehicle equipment declared "Out of Service" untilall repairs required by the "Out of Service" notice have beensatisfactorily completed. Such agents or inspectors shall also have the rightto stop any motor vehicle which is being used upon the public highways for thetransportation of passengers or property by a motor carrier subject to theprovisions of this Article and to eject therefrom any driver or operator whoshall be operating or be in charge of such motor vehicle while under theinfluence of alcoholic beverages or impairing substances. It shall be the dutyof all inspectors and agents of the Department of Crime Control and PublicSafety to make a written report, upon a form prescribed by the Department ofCrime Control and Public Safety, of inspections of all motor equipment and acopy of each such written report, disclosing defects in such equipment, shallbe served promptly upon the motor carrier operating the same, either in personby the inspector or agent or by mail. Such agents and inspectors shall alsomake and serve a similar written report in cases where a motor vehicle isoperated in violation of this Chapter or, if the motor vehicle is subject toregulation by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, of Chapter 62 of theGeneral Statutes.
(3) To relieve thehighways of all undue burdens and safeguard traffic thereon by adopting andenforcing rules and orders designed and calculated to minimize the dangersattending transportation on the highways of all hazardous materials and othercommodities.
(4) To determine thesafety fitness of intrastate motor carriers, to assign safety ratings tointrastate motor carriers as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 385.3, to direct intrastatemotor carriers to take remedial action when required, to prohibit the operationof intrastate motor carriers rated unsatisfactory, to determine whether thecontinued operations of intrastate motor carriers pose an "imminenthazard" as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 386.72(b)(1), and to prohibit the operationof an intrastate motor carrier found to be an "imminent hazard" asdefined in 49 C.F.R. § 386.72(b)(1).
(5) To prohibit theintrastate operation of a motor carrier subject to an order issued by theFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to cease all operations based on afinding that the continued operations of the motor carrier pose an"imminent hazard" as defined in 49 C.F.R. § 386.72(b)(1).
(b) The definitions setout in 49 Code of Federal Regulations § 171.8 apply to this subsection. Thetransportation of an agricultural product, other than a Class 2 material, overlocal roads between fields of the same farm by a farmer operating as anintrastate private motor carrier is exempt from the requirements of Parts 171through 180 of 49 CFR as provided in 49 CFR § 173.5(a). The transportation ofan agricultural product to or from a farm within 150 miles of the farm by afarmer operating as an intrastate private motor carrier is exempt from therequirements of Subparts G and H of Part 172 of 49 CFR as provided in 49 CFR §173.5(b). (1985,c. 454, s. 1; 1995 (Reg. Sess., 1996), c. 756, s. 24; 1997‑456, ss. 37,38; 1998‑149, s. 12; 1998‑165, s. 1; 1999‑452, s. 22; 2002‑152,ss. 4, 5; 2002‑159, s. 31.5(b); 2002‑190, s. 2; 2009‑376, s.9.)