1815. Highway use and fuel use taxes. - (a) Violations. (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(A) (i) Use or cause or permit to be used, any public highway in this state for the operation of a motor vehicle subject to the provisions of article twenty-one of this chapter without first applying for and obtaining the certificate of registration required under such article or a decal that has been suspended or revoked or that was issued for a motor vehicle other than the one on which affixed. The operation of any motor vehicle on any public highway of this state without a decal required under such article shall be presumptive evidence that a certificate of registration or decal has not been obtained for such motor vehicle;
(ii) Use or cause or permit to be used, any public highway in this state for the operation of a qualified motor vehicle subject to the provisions of article twenty-one-A of this chapter without first obtaining the license and decal required pursuant to such article or to carry or cause or permit to be carried upon any qualified motor vehicle a license or decal which has been suspended or revoked or which was issued for a qualified motor vehicle other than the one on which carried. The operation of any qualified motor vehicle on any public highway of this state without carrying thereon the license or decal required under such article shall be presumptive evidence that a license or decal has not been obtained for such qualified motor vehicle;
(B) Operate, or cause or permit to be operated, on any public highway any motor vehicle subject to the provisions of article twenty-one of this chapter having an actual gross or unloaded weight in excess of the gross or unloaded weight set forth on the certificate of registration issued for such motor vehicle;
(C) Fail to deliver or surrender, pursuant to the provisions of article twenty-one or twenty-one-A of this chapter or any rule or regulation promulgated by the commissioner, a certificate of registration or license or decal to such commissioner, or any person directed by such commissioner to take possession thereof;
(D) Fail to keep records of operations of motor vehicles or qualified motor vehicles as the commissioner shall prescribe;
(E) Violate any other provision of article twenty-one or twenty-one-A of this chapter or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder.
(2) Any person who violates any provision of this subdivision, upon a first conviction shall be subject to a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or more than two hundred fifty dollars; and upon a second or subsequent conviction to a fine of not less than two hundred fifty dollars or more than five hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than ten days. Except as otherwise provided by law such a violation shall not be a crime and the penalty or punishment imposed therefor shall not be deemed for any purpose a penal or criminal penalty or punishment and shall not impose any disability upon or affect or impair the credibility as a witness, or otherwise, of any person convicted thereof.
(3) For the purposes of conferring jurisdiction upon courts and police officers, and on the officers specified in subdivision four of section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law and on judicial officers generally, such violations shall be deemed traffic infractions and for such purpose only all provisions of law relating to traffic infractions shall apply to such violations; provided, however, that the commissioner of motor vehicles, any hearing officer appointed by him, or any administrative tribunal authorized to hear and determine any charges or offenses which are traffic infractions shall not have jurisdiction of such infractions.
(4) Upon the conviction of any person for a violation of any of the provisions of this subdivision, the trial court or the clerk thereof shall within forty-eight hours certify the facts of the case to the commissioner and such certificate shall be presumptive evidence of the facts recited therein. If any such conviction shall be reversed upon appeal therefrom, the person whose conviction has been so reversed may serve upon the commissioner a certified copy of the order of reversal and the commissioner shall thereupon record the same.
(b) An official weigh slip or ticket issued and certified by any truck weigher in the employ of the department of transportation or by any duly licensed weight master shall constitute prima facie evidence of the information therein set forth and of the operation of the vehicle therein described upon a public highway and shall be admissible before any court in any violation proceeding or criminal proceeding.
Last modified: February 3, 2019