South Dakota Supreme Court rules harvesting weight exemptions do not apply to bridges

Are bridges included in South Dakota’s overweight harvesting truck exemptions? On Sept. 26, the South Dakota Supreme Court said that they are not. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by a trucker who received criminal and civil fines for driving on a bridge over weight despite meeting the harvesting exemption requirements.

The South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that South Dakota trucker Shane Edward Johnsen illegally operated an overweight truck on a bridge. The circuit court rejected Johnsen’s claim that his truck was exempt and denied his request for a jury trial.

On Oct. 1, 2016, Johnsen was hauling soybeans from a harvester to a grain elevator less than 50 miles away in a truck weighing in at 87,000 pounds. According to South Dakota Codified Law 32-22-42.2, vehicles hauling from harvesting combine to point of first unloading are given extra weight allowance of up to 10 percent. The exemption applies to trips within a range of 50 miles and does not apply to the interstate highway system.

During the short trip, Johnsen drove the truck over a bridge with signs indicating a weight limit of 66,000 pounds. When a police officer noticed the crossing and weighed the truck, Johnsen was handed both a criminal fine of $150 and a civil penalty of $15,750.

According to the South Dakota Supreme Court’s published opinion, Johnsen’s argument was based on the state legislature’s failure to include language in SDCL 32-22-42.2 that explicitly indicates that the harvesting exemption does not apply to bridges. To prove his point, Johnsen cited SDCL 32-22-16.3, which allows weight exemptions for agriculture products or livestock.

The South Dakota Supreme Court agreed with the state’s assessment of the statutes.

“We acknowledge that the harvesting exemption applies to public highways and bridges are part of a public highway,” the court opined. “But in the more specific statutes governing weight limits for bridges, the Legislature mandated government entities to post signs limiting the maximum weight the bridge may ‘accommodate,’ and the Legislature made violations of the posted weight limit a Class 2 misdemeanor.” LL