Chap. 510.—An ACT to amend and reenact Section 113-a of Chapter 342 of the
Acts of the General Assembly of 1932, approved March 26, 1932 and cited as
“The Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia”, to authorize the State Highway
Commission to increase certain maximum weights permitted on certain high-
ways and to provide penalties for exceeding maximum weights permitted,

252]
Approved April 5, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

That section one hundred and thirteen-a of chapter three hundred
and forty-two, approved March twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and
thirty-two, and cited as “The Motor Vehicle Code of Virginia’, is
amended and reenacted as follows:
Section 113-a (a) The State Highway Commission may, by
general or special order, which may be amended or rescinded from time
to time, increase the maximum weight permitted on the road surface of
certain highways, or parts thereof, as in the opinion of the Conimission
are capable, from the standpoint of the design strength and condition, of
carrying such maximum weights as prescribed in paragraphs (1), (2),
(3) and (4) of this section.

(1) For the purposes of this section an axle load shall be defined
as the total load on all wheels bearing upon the road surface whose
axle centers are not more than forty-eight inches apart.

(2) For the purpose of determining gross weight, no axle shall be
considered unless the wheels thereof are equipped with brakes in con-
formity with section ninety-nine of this chapter.

(3) Subject to the foregoing limitations, the gross weight of any
vehicle, or combination of vehicles, having three axles, six wheels or
more, shall not exceed forty thousand (40,000) pounds, nor shall the
axle weight of any such vehicle, or combination, exceed eighteen
thousand (18,000) pounds.

(4) Subject to the foregoing limitations, the gross weight of any
vehicle, or combination of vehicles, having four axles, eight wheels
or more, shall not exceed fifty thousand (50,000) pounds, nor shall the
axle weight of any such vehicle, or combination, exceed eighteen thousand
(18,000) pounds.

(b) The State Highway Commission shall cause every highway
or part thereof on which the maximum weight per axle and the maximum
gross weight have been increased as provided in subsection (a) of this
section, to be marked with appropriate signs indicating the respective
weight limits permitted. On every highway or part thereof so marked it
shall be lawful to operate a vehicle, or combination of vehicles, con-
forming with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, and in
conformity with other applicable provisions of law and so loaded as not
to exceed the respective weight limits thus indicated notwithstanding
that the weight transmitted through any axle of such vehicle or combina-
tion, or the gross weight thereof, or both, exceed the weight limits
prescribed by section one hundred and thirteen; provided, however, that
in the event a valid regulation of interstate commerce, recognized by
the Virginia State Highway Commission, permits the use in interstate
commerce over the highways in Virginia, or any of them of a greater
size, weight or load limit than may be prescribed as hereinabove provided,
then the State Highway Commission may prescribe a similar size, weight
and load limit for vehicles operated in intrastate commerce over the
same highways.

(5) Upon final conviction of any person, firm, or corporation for
operating or causing to be operated over the highways of this State
a motor vehicle or vehicles exceeding the maximum. load limits as pro-
vided in this act, such person, firm or corporation shall, in addition to
penalties provided for such convictions, pay or cause to be paid to the
Division of Motor Vehicles for the benefit of the Literary Fund the sum
of two dollars ($2.00) per hundred pounds or fraction thereof for each
and every hundred pounds of weight in excess of the maximum weight
provided in this act, said payment to be made without demand on the
part of the Division of Motor Vehicles within thirty days from the
entry of the final conviction. Upon the failure of such person, firm, or
corporation to comply with the penalty provisions of this act as provided
above, the Division of Motor Vehicles and the Department of State
Police may thereafter deny to the offending person, firm, or corporation
the right to operate a motor vehicle or vehicles upon the highways of
this State until the penalty provisions herein have been fully complied
with.