Chapter 17C, Chapter 17C

(a) No person driving a vehicle shall refuse to submit such vehicle to an inspection and test when required to do so by the department of public safety. (b) Every owner or driver, upon receiving a notice as provided in section two of this article shall comply therewith and shall …

(a) The Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police shall require that every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer registered in this state be inspected once every two years; and that an official certificate of inspection and approval be obtained for each veh…

(a) The Superintendent of the State Police is responsible for the inspection as provided in this article and shall prescribe requirements and qualifications for official inspection stations. He or she shall select and designate the stations and shall issue permits for official in…

(a) No permit for an official inspection station shall be assigned or transferred or used at any location other than designated in the permit and every permit shall be posted in a conspicuous place at the station location designated in the permit. (b) The person operating the sta…

(a) No person shall in any manner represent any place as an official inspection station unless such station is operating under a valid permit issued by the department. (b) No person shall issue a certificate of inspection and approval unless then holding a valid permit hereunder.…

(a) No person shall make, issue, or knowingly use any imitation or counterfeit of an official certificate of inspection. (b) No person shall display or cause or permit to be displayed upon a vehicle any certificate of inspection and approval knowing the same to be fictitious or i…

It is a misdemeanor for any owner or operator, or both owner and operator, of any vehicle required to be inspected under subsection (a), section four of this article, to operate or permit to be operated such vehicle without having displayed thereon a current and valid certificate…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any owner, lessee or borrower of a vehicle or combination of vehicles to operate on any highway such vehicle or combination of vehicles, whether driven by such owner, lessee or borrower, or by some person on behalf of such owner, lessee or borrower, o…

(a) The Legislature finds that: (1) Enforcement officers of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia are, as part of their enforcement of chapters twenty-four and twenty-four-a of this code with respect to common and contract carriers by motor vehicle, other for-hire carrie…

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that: (1) No other economic undertaking in the history of West Virginia has had a greater impact upon the citizens of this state, providing such an economic force and affecting the social construct and day-to-day life and environment of the …

(a) Any police officer or employee of the Division of Highways or the Public Service Commission designated as a commercial vehicle enforcement officer or member of an official weighing crew by his or her representative agency may require the driver of any vehicle or combination o…

(a) Any owner, lessee or borrower of a commercial motor vehicle or combination of vehicles transporting coal who operates or permits to be operated on any highway the vehicle or combination of vehicles with a total gross weight load imposed upon the highway by any one group of tw…

(a) The Commissioner of the Division of Highways may, in his or her discretion, upon application in writing and good cause shown, issue a special permit in writing authorizing: (1) The applicant, in crossing any highway of this state, to operate or move a vehicle or combination o…

Criminal and administrative penalties imposed by this article take effect on October 1, 2003.

If, in the opinion of the commissioner of the department of highways, the design, construction and safety of any highway, or portion thereof, are such that the gross weight limitations prescribed in section nine of this article can be increased without undue damage to any such hi…

If, in the opinion of the commissioner of the department of highways, the design, construction and safety of any highway, or portion thereof, are such that the length limitations prescribed in section four (c) of this article can be increased without undue risk of damage to other…

(a) The commissioner of the Division of Highways shall determine if the design, construction and safety specifications of a portion of state route 61 and County route 72, located in Kanawha County, which is eighty-five hundredths of a mile in length, and its extension to state ro…

Effective July 1, 2004, the maximum gross vehicle weight on existing state-maintained roads and public highways designated for gross weight vehicle load of sixty-five thousand pounds, seventy-three thousand five hundred pounds and eighty thousand pounds shall have a tolerance of …

(a) From those counties and districts described in subsection (a), section three of this article, the Commissioner of the Division of Highways shall identify those public roads, highways and bridges used during the previous twelve-month period for transportation of quantities of …

(a) Local authorities with respect to highways under their jurisdiction may by ordinance or resolution prohibit the operation of vehicles upon any such highway or impose restrictions as to the weight of vehicles to be operated upon any such highway, for a total period of not to e…

(a) The owner, lessee or borrower of any vehicle, object, or contrivance driven or moved upon any highway or highway structure shall be liable for all damage which said highway or structure may sustain as a result of any illegal operation, driving, or moving of such vehicle, obje…

(a) In addition to all other powers provided by law to the commissioner of highways, he or she may enter into agreements with coal shippers, motor vehicle operators or owners holding or applying for permits issued pursuant to this article, or with any other persons, for the purpo…

Notwithstanding any other provisions of state law to the contrary, the provisions of this article shall not apply to coal hauling vehicles operating off-road or vehicles designed for off-road.

Any owner, lessee or borrower of a vehicle or combination of vehicles who operates or permits to be operated on any highway such vehicle or combination of vehicles with any axle load in excess of that permitted by sections eight and eight-a of this article, or with a total gross …

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the contrary, the provisions of this article shall not apply to the interstate highways in this state.

It is unlawful for any person to intentionally assist an owner or operator of a commercial motor vehicle engaged in the transportation of coal to avoid a road, safety or other lawful inspection or enforcement activity by any law or weight enforcement officer through electronic co…

(a) The total outside width, exclusive of safety equipment authorized by the United States Department of Transportation, of any vehicle or the load thereon may not exceed ninety-six inches except as otherwise provided in this article: Provided, That any vehicle with a total outsi…

(a) Effective July 1, 2003, the jurisdiction over the enforcement of state statutes and rules, including, but not limited to, applicable provisions of article seventeen of this chapter relating to vehicular weight, shall be transferred from the Department of Transportation to the…

For purposes of this article: (a) A "coal resource transportation road" means a road designated by the Department of Transportation as safe and sufficient to allow vehicles hauling coal to carry a greater gross and axle weight of up to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, with…

(a) The Division of Highways shall establish all legal vehicle weight limits for all public highways including roads within the coal resource transportation road system. Public highways shall be designated as coal resource transportation roads by the Commissioner of the Division …

(a) No passenger-type vehicle shall be operated on any highway with any load carried thereon extending beyond the line of the fenders of the left side of such vehicle nor extending more than six inches beyond the line of the fenders on the right side thereof. (b) A motor home, tr…

Effective July 1, 2003, employees of the Department of Transportation whose primary governmental duties as of June 30, 2003, included the administration and enforcement of this code and rules promulgated under this code relating to vehicular weight or the issuance of permits for …

(a) The commission may issue permits to authorize the hauling of coal of a greater gross and axle weight than otherwise authorized by state law on roads designated by the commissioner of highways as coal resource transportation roads. (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of section…

(a) On and after July 1, 2003, the cost of enforcement of this code and rules promulgated under this code, relating to vehicular weight, including inspections of vehicles and loads, training of enforcement officers, administrative proceedings, personal services, employees benefit…

(a) A vehicle, including any load thereon, may not exceed a height of thirteen feet six inches, but the owner or owners of such vehicles shall be responsible for damage to any bridge or highway structure and to municipalities for any damage to traffic control devices or other hig…

(a) Nothing in this article reduces or eliminates the authority of any police officer to enforce the provisions of article seventeen of this chapter. (b) Nothing in this article reduces or eliminates the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation to administer and enforce s…

(a) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this article limiting the length of vehicles and loads, the load upon any vehicle operated alone or the load upon the front vehicle of a combination of vehicles shall not extend more than three feet beyond the foremost part of the vehicl…

(a) Any vehicle, when transporting coal over certain public highways, designated as coal resource transportation roads by the commissioner of the department of highways, may be operated at the weights as set forth in this section in excess of the maximum gross weight prescribed i…

(a) Every shipper of coal for transport on a coal resource transportation road in this state that loads vehicles shall be required to report to the commission weight and other transport-related data as required in this article. The commission shall by rule establish special recor…

(a) No vehicle or combination of vehicles shall be operated on any highway unless such vehicle or combination of vehicles is so constructed or loaded as to prevent any of its load from dropping, sifting, leaking, or otherwise escaping therefrom, except that sand may be dropped fo…

It is unlawful for any person operating a vehicle transporting any container of compressed gas as a cargo or part of a cargo upon a highway in an open motor vehicle unless it is securely braced, equipped with an individual shutoff valve that must be tightly closed while in transi…

The commission shall propose in accordance with provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code by emergency and legislative rules, filed no later than October 1, 2003, a permit application procedure for the issuance of permits pursuant to the authority contained …

(a) When one vehicle is towing another the drawbar or other connection shall be of sufficient strength to pull all weight towed thereby and said drawbar or other connection shall not exceed fifteen feet from one vehicle to the other except the connection between any two vehicles …

(a) The gross weight imposed on the highway by the wheels of any one axle of a vehicle shall not exceed twenty thousand pounds. (b) For the purpose of this article an axle load shall be defined as the total load transmitted to the road by all wheels whose centers are included bet…

In addition to all other powers, duties, responsibilities and authority granted and assigned to the commission in this code and elsewhere prescribed by law, notwithstanding any provision of the code to the contrary: (1) The commission shall promulgate rules in accordance with the…

(a) The gross weight imposed on the national system of interstate and defense highways by the wheels of a tandem-axle of a vehicle shall not exceed thirty-four thousand pounds. (b) For the purpose of this article a tandem-axle load shall be defined as the total load transmitted t…

(a) It shall be unlawful for any owner, lessee or borrower of a vehicle or combination of vehicles to operate on any national system of interstate and defense highways such vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross weight in excess of the gross weight for which such vehicle…

(a) This section imposes administrative sanctions for violations occurring on the coal resource transportation road system. It is the intent of the Legislature to impose administrative sanctions in addition and separate from any criminal or civil penalties upon any person violati…

(a) It is unlawful for any owner, lessee or borrower of a vehicle or combination of vehicles to operate on any highway other than the national system of interstate and defense highways that vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross weight in excess of the gross weight for w…

(a) It is a misdemeanor for any person to violate any of the provisions of this chapter unless such violation is by this chapter or other law of this state declared to be a felony. (b) Every person convicted of a misdemeanor for a violation of any of the provisions of this chapte…