MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Transportation
By: Representatives Reed, Bennett, Bondurant, DeLano, Ellington, Formby, Gardner, Guice, Ishee, Martinson, Mayo, Nowell, Puckett, Stevens, Whittington
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE OPERATION OF ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES ON STATE-MAINTAINED HIGHWAYS, ROADS AND STREETS; TO CREATE A PENALTY FOR VIOLATIONS OF THIS ACT; TO AMEND SECTIONS 63-2-1, 63-3-103 AND 63-15-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate an all-terrain vehicle on a state-maintained highway, road or street. The provisions of this subsection (1) shall not apply to law enforcement personnel or other emergency workers.
(2) Any person violating this provision, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) per offense.
(3) The provisions of this section shall not authorize any person to operate an all-terrain vehicle on any public road, street or highway constructed and designed primarily for the use of motor vehicles required to be registered and licensed under Chapter 19, Title 27, Mississippi Code of 1972, unless the governmental authority having jurisdiction over the road, street or highway has specifically authorized that use.
(4) As used in this section, "all-terrain vehicle" or "ATV," means any motorized vehicle manufactured and designed exclusively for off-road use that is fifty (50) inches or less in width, has an unladen dry weight of seven hundred fifty (750) pounds or less, travels on three (3), four (4) or more low pressure tires, has a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and uses handlebars for steering control.
SECTION 2. Section 63-2-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
63-2-1. (1) When a passenger motor vehicle is operated in forward motion on a public road, street or highway within this state, every operator, every front-seat passenger and every child under seven (7) years of age who is not required to be protected by the use of a child passenger restraint device or system or a belt positioning booster seat system under the provisions of Sections 63-7-301 through 63-7-311, regardless of the seat that the child occupies, shall wear a properly fastened safety seat belt system, required to be installed in the vehicle when manufactured pursuant to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208.
(2) "Passenger motor vehicle" for purposes of this chapter means a motor vehicle designed to carry fifteen (15) or fewer passengers, including the driver, but does not include motorcycles, mopeds, all-terrain vehicles, as defined in Section 1 of this act, or trailers.
(3) This section shall not apply to:
(a) Vehicles which may be registered for "farm" use, including "implements of husbandry" as defined in Section 63-21-5(d), and "farm tractors" as defined in Section 63-3-105(a);
(b) An operator or passenger possessing a written verification from a licensed physician that he is unable to wear a safety belt system for medical reasons;
(c) A passenger car operated by a rural letter carrier of the United States Postal Service or by a utility meter reader while on duty; or
(d) Buses.
SECTION 3. Section 63-3-103, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
63-3-103. (a) "Vehicle" means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks.
(b) "Motor vehicle" means every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails. The term "motor vehicle" shall not include electric personal assistive mobility devices or all-terrain vehicles.
(c) "Motorcycle" means every motor vehicle having a saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground but excluding a tractor.
(d) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means every vehicle of the fire department (fire patrol), every police vehicle, every 911 Emergency Communications District vehicle, every such ambulance and special use EMS vehicle as defined in Section 41-59-3, and every emergency vehicle of municipal departments or public service corporations as is designated or authorized by the commission or the chief of police of an incorporated city.
(e) "School bus" means every motor vehicle operated for the transportation of children to or from any school, provided same is plainly marked "School Bus" on the front and rear thereof and meets the requirements of the State Board of Education as authorized under Section 37-41-1.
(f) "Recreational vehicle" means a vehicular type unit primarily designed as temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, which either has its own motive power or is mounted on or drawn by another vehicle and includes travel trailers, fifth wheel trailers, camping trailers, truck campers and motor homes.
(g) "Motor home" means a motor vehicle that is designed and constructed primarily to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use.
(h) "Electric assistive mobility device" means a self-balancing two-tandem wheeled device, designed to transport only one (1) person, with an electric propulsion system that limits the maximum speed of the device to fifteen (15) miles per hour.
(i) "All-terrain vehicle" or "ATV" means any motorized vehicle manufactured and designed exclusively for off-road use that is fifty (50) inches or less in width, has an unladen dry weight of seven hundred fifty (750) pounds or less, travels on three (3), four (4) or more low pressure tires, has a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and uses handlebars for steering control.
SECTION 4. Section 63-15-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
63-15-3. The following words and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall, for the purposes of this chapter, have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section, except in those instances where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(a) "Highway" means the entire width between property lines of any road, street, way, thoroughfare or bridge in the State of Mississippi not privately owned or controlled, when any part thereof is open to the public for vehicular traffic and over which the state has legislative jurisdiction under its police power.
(b) "Judgment" means any judgment which shall have become final by expiration, without appeal, of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of any state or of the United States, upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of any motor vehicle, for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages.
(c) "Motor vehicle" means every self-propelled vehicle (other than traction engines, road rollers and graders, tractor cranes, power shovels, well drillers, implements of husbandry, all-terrain vehicles as defined in Section 1 of this act, and electric personal assistive mobility devices as defined in Section 63-3-103) which is designed for use upon a highway, including trailers and semitrailers designed for use with such vehicles, and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead wires but not operated upon rails.
For purposes of this definition, "implements of husbandry" shall not include trucks, pickup trucks, trailers and semitrailers designed for use with such trucks and pickup trucks.
(d) "License" means any driver's, operator's, commercial operator's, or chauffeur's license, temporary instruction permit or temporary license, or restricted license, issued under the laws of the State of Mississippi pertaining to the licensing of persons to operate motor vehicles.
(e) "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of the State of Mississippi.
(f) "Nonresident's operating privilege" means the privilege conferred upon a nonresident by the laws of Mississippi pertaining to the operation by him of a motor vehicle, or the use of a motor vehicle owned by him, in the State of Mississippi.
(g) "Operator" means every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle.
(h) "Owner" means a person who holds the legal title of a motor vehicle; in the event a motor vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then such conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter.
(i) "Person" means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association or corporation.
(j) "Proof of financial responsibility" means proof of ability to respond in damages for liability, on account of accidents occurring subsequent to the effective date of said proof, arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle, in the amount of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of one (1) person in any one (1) accident, and subject to said limit for one (1) person, in the amount of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) because of bodily injury to or death of two (2) or more persons in any one (1) accident, and in the amount of Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) because of injury to or destruction of property of others in any one (1) accident.
(k) "Registration" means a certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of motor vehicles.
(l) "Department" means the Department of Public Safety of the State of Mississippi, acting directly or through its authorized officers and agents, except in such sections of this chapter in which some other state department is specifically named.
(m) "State" means any state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any province of the Dominion of Canada.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.