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Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 23 Sec. 1391

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Motor truck: means any motor vehicle designed primarily for the transportation of property and shall be construed to include truck tractor-semitrailer and truck tractor-semitrailer-trailer combinations. See
  • Motor vehicle: includes all vehicles propelled or drawn by power other than muscular power, except farm tractors, vehicles running only upon stationary rails or tracks, motorized highway building equipment, road making appliances, snowmobiles, tracked vehicles, motor-assisted bicycles, electric bicycles, or electric personal assistive mobility devices. See
  • Person: includes any natural person, corporation, association, co-partnership, company, firm, or other aggregation of individuals. See
  • Tractor: shall include a motor vehicle designed or used primarily as a traveling power plant or for drawing other vehicles, and not so constructed as to carry any load other than a part of the weight of the vehicles and load so drawn, excepting, however, motorized highway building equipment. See
  • Trailer: is a vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle, and so constructed that no part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle excepting, however, road making appliances and transportation dollies, and "semi-trailer" is a vehicle without motive power, designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle, and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by the towing vehicle, excepting, however, pole dinkeys, transportation dollies, and road making appliances. See

§ 1391. Tire and axle limits

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a person or corporation shall not operate or cause to be operated a tractor, trailer, semi-trailer, motor truck, or any other motor vehicle without sufficient weight maintained upon the front axle of such vehicle to make such vehicle safe in operation, nor shall the maximum load on any axle of such vehicle exceed a gross weight of more than 600 pounds per inch of tire width computed in conformity with the manufacturer’s designated width.

(b) No single axle load shall be in excess of 22,400 pounds and a 10 percent tolerance shall be allowed on each single axle load, nor shall any tandem axle load be in excess of 36,000 pounds, with a 10 percent tolerance allowed, except in the case of such vehicles owned by persons to whom special permits shall be issued in accordance with the provisions of section 1400 of this title.

(c) Unless federal law authorizes the axle load limits, tolerances, or both, provided for in subsection (b) of this section to apply on those highways designated as the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, no single axle load on those highways shall be in excess of 20,000 pounds with no tolerance allowed, nor shall any tandem axle load be in excess of 34,000 pounds, with no tolerance allowed, except in the case of vehicles owned by persons to whom special permits have been issued in accordance with section 1400 of this title. (Amended 1963, No. 206, § 4; 1964, No. 4 (Sp. Sess.), eff. Feb. 27, 1964; 1971, No. 226 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 1977, No. 41, § 1, eff. April 19, 1977; 1983, No. 86, § 1; 1991, No. 72, § 4; 2009, No. 63 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 13, 2010; 2009, No. 63 (Adj. Sess.), § 3, see effective date note; 2011, No. 23, § 1, eff. May 11, 2011; 2021, No. 20, § 245.)