A. No person shall operate or permit the operation of any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer for which the fee for registration is prescribed by § 46.2-697 on any highway in the Commonwealth, under any of the following circumstances:

1. Without first having paid the registration fee hereinabove prescribed.

2. If, at the time of the operation, the gross weight of the vehicle or of the combination of vehicles of which it is a part, is in excess of the gross weight on the basis of which it is registered. In any case where a pickup truck is used in combination with another vehicle, operation shall be unlawful only if the combined gross weight exceeds the combined gross weight on the basis of which each vehicle is registered.

B. Any officer authorized to enforce the motor vehicle laws, having reason to believe that the gross weight of any motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer being operated on any highway in the Commonwealth exceeds that on the basis of which the vehicle is registered, may weigh the vehicle by whatever means the Superintendent may prescribe and the operator, or other person in possession of the vehicle, shall permit this weighing whenever requested by the officer.

C. Any person who violates any provision of this section or who operates or permits the operation of a trailer or semitrailer designed for the use of human beings as living quarters, on the highways in the Commonwealth without having first paid to the Commissioner the fee prescribed in subdivision 5 of subsection A of § 46.2-694 is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

Code 1950, § 46-167; 1958, c. 541, § 46.1-159; 1962, c. 92; 1975, c. 18; 1982, c. 681; 1989, c. 727.