Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has issued an opinion on the 7.5 percent weight tolerance for vehicles hauling aggregate on Ohio’s public highways and streets. In part it states:

“The term ’surface mining truck,’ as used in R.C. 5577.043(A)(1), means a ’vehicle’ as defined in R.C. 4501.01(A), used to haul minerals upon Ohio’s improved public highways and streets.”

This definition is important as several local law enforcement agencies had claimed that a “surface mining truck” was a larger truck that hauled aggregate within a plant property such as an articulated haul truck or a 100 ton (91 t) ore truck.

Much of these claims were based on images obtained from “Wikipedia” or “Google” searches online. The simple clarification that a “surface mining truck” is indeed a “vehicle” should eliminate any future issues.

For more information, visit www.oaima.org.