Request By:
Major L.E. Fentress
Legal Officer
Kentucky State Police
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You request the opinion of this office on the following question:
"May a county judge/executive grant permission to the owner of a motor truck or semi-trailer truck to exceed the basic weight limits prescribed by KRS 189.221, if the road to be operated on is a county road and not part of the state-maintained highway system?"
The issue has arisen in several Eastern Kentucky counties involving the state police enforcement of the 18,000 pound weight limit, established in KRS 189.221 for any highway, except for certain designated state roads under KRS 189.222, on county roads. Enforcement efforts have been met by trucking companies who claim authority to exceed the weight limit, such authority having ostensibly been granted by the county judge/executive under the provisions of KRS 189.210.
KRS 189.221(4) reads:
" No person shall operate on any highway, except such highways as may be designated by the secretary of transportation under the provisions of subsection (1) of KRS 189.222, any of the following trucks, trailers or vehicles:
* * *
"(4) Any truck, semitrailer truck or truck and trailer unit which exceeds eighteen thousand (18,000) pounds gross-weight, including the load; * * * *" (Emphasis added).
KRS 189.222 empowers the Secretary of Transportation to increase weight limits of trucks, tractor semitrailers, on highways which are a part of the state-maintained system.
KRS 189.210 reads:
"(1) No person shall operate on a highway any vehicle, object or contrivance, other than a motor truck or semitrailer truck, which weighs more than fifteen (15) tons, including the weight of the vehicle, object or contrivance and load, except as provided by subsection (2). This shall not apply to vehicles run upon tracks or fire apparatus belonging to any municipal or volunteer fire department or used by such a department in the discharge of its functions.
"(2) The county judge/executive or the county road engineer of any county upon an application in writing by the owner or person having charge of, may grant permission for the movement of vehicles, objects or structures limited by subsection (1), over the highways within that county and located outside of a city. The permission shall be in writing and the county judge/executive or the county road engineer may grant it subject to such conditions and restrictions as in his judgment are necessary for the preservation and protection of the highways. The city engineer or mayor of any city may in like manner grant permission as to the highways within the city."
KRS 189.221 establishes a weight limit for trucks, semitrailer trucks or tractor trailer units operating on any highway in Kentucky. The central legislative purpose was to provide the state with a rule to prevent the wear and hazards due to excessive size of vehicles and weight of load.
Ashland Transfer Co. v. State Tax Commission, 274 Ky. 144, 56 S.W.2d 691 (1932) 693. In short, the statute is for the benefit of the road, and ultimately the people.
Magness' Adm'x v. Hutchison, Ky., 117 S.W.2d 1041 (1938).
Under certain conditions outlined in KRS 189.230(1), the county judge/executive may lower the weight limit of KRS 189.221 on a particular county road in his county. The lowering may be effected whenever in the county judge/executive's judgment the particular road may, by reason of its design, deterioration, rain or other natural causes, be damaged or destroyed by motor trucks or semitrailer trucks, if their gross weight exceeds certain limits.
However, the answer to your question is that KRS 189.210 does not cover maximum weight as relates to trucks, semitrailer trucks or truck and trailer units. In fact, the first sentence of the statute expressly excepts from its operative effect "a motor truck or semitrailer truck. " (Emphasis added). The county judge/executive may, under that statute, grant permission for the movement of vehicles over county roads within the unincorporated portion of the county which exceed the stated maximum, but such vehicles do not include, under the express exception, motor trucks or semitrailer trucks. Here we are bound by the literal wording of the exception to KRS 189.210: "Other than a motor truck or semitrailer truck. " (Emphasis added). In so doing the obvious grammatical structure is observed.
Gilbert v. Greene, 185 Ky. 817, 216 S.W. 105 (1919).
In addition, as you say, the contrary interpretation would subvert the clear intent of KRS 189.221. These weight statutes mentioned herein must be considered in pari materia and harmonized, which we have done.