Shippers May Face Increased Penalties for Overweight Vehicles

In a move that is seen as a leveling of the playing field in the trucking industry across Texas, legislation has been passed by the state that dramatically increases the penalties for overweight vehicles. Previous to this, the law on overweight trucks was barely a deterrent and many companies worked on the premise that it was cheaper to pay the penalties than to comply with the law and pay for a permit. Before the introduction of the new vehicle licensing bill, the average fine incurred by an overloaded truck was around $150, less than the average speeding ticket. The new legislation introduces a sliding scale of penalties, with first offenders liable for fines of up to $10,000 and fines for third-time offenders being doubled. The new law also includes heavy fines for trucking companies that have a history of repeatedly offending, and even shippers can be held liable, if they demand that heavy loads be carried without obtaining the proper permits. Truckers will be able to utilize the shipper’s certificate of weight as a defense against prosecution for carrying overweight loads that have been loaded by the shippers. Because of this potential liability, shippers are being advised to ensure that the trucking companies they employ have all of the correct permits in hand, before assigning them heavy loads. A large part of the motivation for the introduction of the laws into the Texas legislature is the damage that overweight trucks are doing to the state’s roadways. In some places, roads that have been designed and built to last for thirty years have been reduced to ruins in only ten. The extra cost of maintaining these roads has been funded by the public purse, and the new laws puts the financial onus back on the trucks that are doing the damage. The damaged roads have also raised serious safety concerns, causing damage to the vehicles of other road users as well as serious accidents, many of which have resulted in avoidable fatalities. Another serious issue that is being addressed is the high incidence of drivers not being able to control their overloaded trucks in emergency situations on these degraded roadways, which has contributed significantly to the rising number of highway deaths. Getting the bill through the legislature has been a long and involved process. A large number of interested parties from various industries, like the oil companies, loggers and even garbage trucks, all have their own concerns. All that remains now is for Governor Perry to sign the bill into law.