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Land Transport Act 1998

Proceedings enforcing responsibilities - Evidence

148: Presumptions relating to axle weights and dangerous goods

You could also call this:

“Rules about guessing vehicle weight and dangerous cargo”

When you’re accused of overloading a vehicle, and the weight is measured somewhere different from where the offence supposedly happened, the law assumes the weight was the same in both places. This is unless there’s proof showing otherwise.

If you’re carrying dangerous goods, the law makes some assumptions based on what’s visible on your vehicle or its load. If there are signs, labels, or marks indicating dangerous goods, food, or other materials, the law assumes those things are actually there. It also assumes they are what the signs say they are, and in the amount the signs show (if any amount is shown).

The same goes for any paperwork about dangerous goods that the driver has, or that’s in or on the vehicle. The law assumes the goods match what the paperwork says, including the type and amount of goods.

These rules also apply to rail vehicles, not just road vehicles. When the law talks about the ‘load’ on a rail vehicle, it means the same thing as when it talks about the load on a road vehicle.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM435172.

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"Checking if special vehicle weighing tools work correctly"

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Part 10 Proceedings enforcing responsibilities
Evidence

148Presumptions relating to axle weights and dangerous goods

  1. This section applies in proceedings for an offence against section 43(1) (which relates to overloading offences) where the gross weight of the motor vehicle or the weight on an axle or group of axles or the total number of axles of the motor vehicle is measured at some place other than the place where the overloading offence is alleged to have been committed.

  2. If subsection (1) applies, it is to be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the gross weight of the motor vehicle or (as the case may be) the weight on that axle or group of axles or the total number of axles, at the time when and the place where the offence is alleged to have been committed, was the same as the gross weight or (as the case may be) the weight on that axle or group of axles or the total number of axles, as ascertained at the time when and the place where that weight was measured.

  3. In any proceedings for an offence against this Act concerning the carriage of dangerous goods, it is to be presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that,—

  4. if any marks, labels, or placards on the vehicle or rail vehicle or the load indicated the presence of dangerous goods or other material or food or food containers, then such dangerous goods or other material or food or food containers were present on the vehicle or rail vehicle or in the load, and were—
    1. of the nature indicated by the mark, label, or placard; and
      1. of the quantity (if any) indicated by the mark, label, or placard:
      2. if the vehicle or rail vehicle or load on the vehicle or rail vehicle contained any dangerous goods or other material, or food or food containers, for which documentation was carried by the driver or inside or on the vehicle or rail vehicle, then such dangerous goods or other material, or food or food containers, were of the nature indicated and were of the quantity (if any) specified in that documentation.

        1. With respect to subsection (3), the definition of load in section 2(1) must be read as if the references to a vehicle or vehicles in that definition were references to a rail vehicle or rail vehicles, as the case may be.

        Compare
        Notes
        • Section 148(3)(a): amended, on , by section 103(3) of the Railways Act 2005 (2005 No 37).
        • Section 148(3)(b): amended, on , by section 103(3) of the Railways Act 2005 (2005 No 37).
        • Section 148(4): added, on , by section 103(3) of the Railways Act 2005 (2005 No 37).