State v. Sweat

• Decision Date: 25 January 2010
• Docket Number: No. 26763.,26763.
• Citation: 688 S.E.2d 569,386 S.C. 339
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: The STATE, Petitioner, v. Reginald Craig SWEAT, Respondent. and The State, Petitioner, v. Arthur Bryant, III, Respondent.

688 S.E.2d 569

386 S.C. 339

The STATE, Petitioner, v.Reginald Craig SWEAT, Respondent. andThe State, Petitioner, v.Arthur Bryant, III, Respondent.

No. 26763.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Heard November 4, 2009.

Decided January 25, 2010.

General Counsel Robert E. Bogan and Assistant General Counsel Rachel D. Erwin, both of Blythewood, for petitioner.

Richard Pearce and Benjamin Moore, both of Aiken, for respondents.

R. Hawthorne Barrett and Danny C. Crowe, both of Turner, Padget, Graham & Laney, of Columbia, for Amicus Curiae Municipal Association of South Carolina.

Justice BEATTY.

This Court granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Court of Appeals in State v. Sweat,379 S.C. 367, 665 S.E.2d 645(Ct.App.2008), in which the Court of Appeals interpreted section 56-5-4140 of the South Carolina Code,¹a statute regulating the maximum gross weight of vehicles driven on South Carolina roads.We affirm as modified.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The parties agreed to the relevant facts underlying this case.On February 14, 2006, Reginald Craig Sweat, a sanitation truck driver for the City of Aiken, was stopped and cited by a State Transport Police(STP) officer for exceeding the allowable gross weight for the three-axle sanitation truck he was driving.According to the citation, the vehicle weighed 57,100 pounds, which the officer claimed exceeded the allowable gross weight of 50,600 pounds.The 50,600 pound amount was calculated based on an initial three-axle amount of 46,000 pounds plus a ten percent scale tolerance of 4,600.

On April 10, 2006, a different STP officer stopped and cited Arthur Bryant, III, another driver for the City of Aiken, for driving the same sanitation truck in excess of the allowable gross vehicle weight.The citation indicates the vehicle weighed 56,900 pounds, which exceeded the allowable gross weight of 50,600.

At the time the STP issued the citations, section 56-5-4140 provided in relevant part:

(1)(a) The gross weight of a vehicle or combination of vehicles, operated or moved upon any interstate, highway or section of highway shall not exceed:

     (1) Single-unit vehicle with two axles
                     ................. 35,000 lbs
                     (2) Single-unit vehicle with three axles
                     .................. 46,000 lbs
                     (3) Single-unit vehicle with four axles
                     ................... 63,500 lbs
                

Except, on the interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 63,500 lbs., in accordance with the table in (b) plus tolerances.

     (4) Single unit vehicle with five or more
                     axles ....... 65,000 lbs
                

Except, on the interstate, vehicles must meet axle spacing requirements and corresponding maximum overall gross weights, not to exceed 65,000 lbs., in accordance with the table in (b) plus tolerances.

     (5) Combination of vehicles with three axles
                     ......... 50,000 lbs
                     (6) Combination of vehicles with four axles
                     .......... 65,000 lbs
                     (7) Combination of vehicles with five or
                     more axles ... 73,280 lbs.
                

The gross weight imposed upon any highway or section of highway other than the interstate by two or more consecutive axles in tandem articulated from a common attachment to the vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than ninety-six inches apart shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds, and no one axle of any such group of two or more consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted for a single axle.The load imposed on the highway by two consecutive axles, individually attached to the vehicle and spaced not less than forty inches nor more than ninety-six inches apart, shall not exceed thirty-six thousand pounds and no one axle of any such group of two consecutive axles shall exceed the load permitted for a single axle.

The ten percent enforcement tolerance specified in Section 56-5-4160 applies to the vehicle weight limits specified in this section except, the gross weight on a single axle operated on the interstate may not exceed 20,000 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances; the gross weight on a tandem axle operated on the interstate may not exceed 35,200 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances; and the overall gross weight for vehicles operated on the interstate may not exceed 75,185 pounds, including all enforcement tolerances except as provided in (b).

(b) Vehicles with an overall maximum gross weight in excess of 75,185 pounds may operate upon any highway or section of highway in the Interstate System up to an overall maximum of 80,000 pounds in accordance with the following:

The weight imposed upon the highway by any group of two or more consecutive axles may not, unless specially permitted by the Department of Public Safety exceed an overall gross weight produced by the application of the following formula:

W = 500 (LN/N-1 + 12N + 36)
                

In the formula W equals overall gross weight on any group of two or more consecutive axles to the nearest 500 pounds, L equals distance in feet between the extreme of any group of two or more consecutive axles, and N equals number of axles in the group under consideration.

As an exception, two consecutive sets of tandem axles may carry a gross load of 68,000 pounds if the overall distance between the first and last axles of the consecutive sets of tandem axles is 36 feet or more.The formula is expressed by the following table:

       Distance in feet                    Maximum load in pounds carried on any
                         between the                        group of 2 or more consecutive axles
                       extremes of any
                      group of 2 or more
                      consecutive axles
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    2 axles     3 axles     4 axles     5 axles     6 axles    7 axles
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  4                 35,200
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  5                 35,200
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  6                 35,200
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                

  7                 35,200
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  8 and less        35,200      35,200
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  more than 8       38,000      42,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  9                 39,000      42,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  10                40,000      43,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  11                            44,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  12                            45,000      50,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  13                            45,500      50,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  14                            46,500      51,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  15                            47,500      52,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  16                            48,000      52,500      58,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  17                            48,500      53,500      58,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  18                            49,500      54,000      59,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  19                            50,500      54,500      60,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  20                            51,000      55,500      60,500      66,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  21                            51,500      56,000      61,000      66,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  22                            52,500      56,500      61,500      67,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  23                            53,000      57,500      62,500      68,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  24                            54,000      58,000      63,000      68,500     74,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  25                            54,500      58,500      63,500      69,000     74,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  26                            55,500      59,500      64,000      69,500     75,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  27                            56,000      60,000      65,000      70,000     75,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  28                            57,000      60,500      65,500      71,000     76,500
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  29                            57,500      61,500      66,000      71,500     77,000
                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  30                            58,500      62,000      66,500      72,000     77,500

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