Overweight Violations For Commercial Vehicles In Texas – Important Laws To Know

Overweight violations in Texas have become a bit of a quagmire.  The reason being that many counties across the State of Texas do not understand the laws that apply to overweight violations.  This includes the officers writing the citations for overweight vehicles.  Once the case gets assigned to a either a justice of the peace court or municipal court, the issues can be compounded by a judge that does not understand the application of the law to overweight commercial vehicles.  Although this area of law can be complex, our hope is that this article and future articles will assist lawyers and commercial drivers alike in defending overweight violations.  This is just the first of many articles you will find our website related to overweight vehicles.  We highly suggest you search our blog page for other helpful articles related to overweight violations as one article does not come close to scratching the surface of this area of law.  If you would like to discuss your overweight commercial vehicle citation with an experienced attorney after reading this article, feel free to contact our office at 214-321-4105.

Important Chapters and Titles

As an introduction to overweight violations in Texas, it is important to know where some of the most commonly used statutes in Texas are located.  This list is by no means exhaustive, but will give a general practitioner a head start on the legal research it will take to become competent in defending overweight violations in Texas.  The general list of applicable laws is as follows:

• Chapter 621.  General Provisions Relating To Vehicle Size and Weight
• Chapter 644 – Conflicts of Interest Between Federal and State laws
• Texas Administrative Code, Title 37, Part 1, Chapter 4, Subchapter D – Commercial Vehicle, Weight, Length and Size Enforcement
• Chapter 622 Special Provisions and Exceptions for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles
• Chapter 623 Permits for Oversize and Overweight Vehicles
• Texas Penal Code 6.02 and 12.23 – Mental Culpability Argument

Again, these statutes will help guide you through the complex area of overweight vehicle violations in Texas and lay the ground work for understanding the content and arguments made in this article.

Weight Restriction Statutes

There are two main weight restriction statutes that are vehicle specific.  That means the weight restriction is tied to the vehicle, not the roadway.  This can be a complex distinction, but one that has to be grasped to be able to defend overweight violations in Texas.  The statutes and their formulas are for violations related to a vehicle being overweight compared to it’s registered or legal allowable weight.  those statutes are as follows:

Sec. 621.101. MAXIMUM WEIGHT OF VEHICLE OR COMBINATION.

(a) A vehicle or combination of vehicles may not be operated over or on a public highway or at a port-of-entry between Texas and the United Mexican States if the vehicle or combination has:

(1) a single axle weight heavier than 20,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances;

(2) a tandem axle weight heavier than 34,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances;

(3) an overall gross weight on a group of two or more consecutive axles heavier than the weight computed using the following formula and rounding the result to the nearest 500 pounds:

W = 500((LN/(N – 1)) + 12N + 36)

Sec. 621.102. AUTHORITY TO SET MAXIMUM WEIGHTS.

(a) The executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation may set the maximum single axle weight, tandem axle weight, or gross weight of a vehicle, or maximum single axle weight, tandem axle weight, or gross weight of a combination of vehicles and loads, that may be moved over a state highway or a farm or ranch road if the executive director finds that heavier maximum weight would rapidly deteriorate or destroy the road or a bridge or culvert along the road. A maximum weight set under this subsection may not exceed the maximum set by statute for that weight.

As a general rule, your typical 18 wheeler tractor trailer is going to max out at a gross weight of about 80,000 pounds.  Depending on the type of commercial vehicle, the gross weight and tandem axle weight can vary greatly, so it is important to refer to the specific statute that your commercial vehicle is governed by in order to evaluate specific weight applied.