55-9-401 - Lights on vehicles other than motor vehicles Visibility distance Penalty. - Tennessee Statutes

55-9-401. Lights on vehicles other than motor vehicles Visibility distance Penalty.

(a)  Every vehicle other than a motor vehicle, when traveling upon a state highway, state aid road or other road, highway or street under the control of the state, the federal government or any political division thereof, dedicated, appropriated or open to public use or travel, shall be equipped with a light attached to and on the upper left side of the vehicle, capable of displaying a light visible five hundred feet (500¢) to the front and five hundred feet (500¢) to the rear of the vehicle under ordinary atmospheric conditions, and the light shall be displayed during the period from one half (½) hour after sunset to one half (½) hour before sunrise and at all other times when there is not sufficient light to render clearly discernible any person on the road or highway at a distance of two hundred feet (200¢) ahead of the vehicle.

(b)  Cotton wagons used exclusively to transport cotton shall not be required to display the light described in subsection (a), but shall display:

     (1)  A red tail lamp on the lower left corner of the rear of the wagon; and

     (2)  A triangle-shaped slow-moving vehicle identification emblem meeting Standard S276.8 of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers. The emblem shall be placed on the lower left corner of the rear of the wagon. The user of a cotton wagon shall be responsible for the proper function of the symbol or light, except for any malfunction resulting from the act or omission of another person.

(c)  Horse drawn vehicles that are used on the highways primarily as means of transportation shall:

     (1)  Be equipped on the top with a battery powered white strobe light of a type approved for rural mail carriers under § 55-9-413 and shall have at least one hundred (100) square inches of reflector tape placed on the rear of the vehicle; or

     (2)  Be equipped with two (2) reflective type lanterns, one (1) to be placed on the left side of the vehicle and one (1) to be placed on the right side of the vehicle with the lantern on the right side to be placed at least twelve inches (12²) higher than the lantern on the left, and shall also have a minimum of one hundred (100) square inches of reflector tape placed on the rear of the vehicle, thirty-six inches (36²) of reflector tape placed on each side of the vehicle, and twenty-four inches (24²) of reflector tape placed at the highest point of the left front of the vehicle.

(d)  During the period of time from one half (½) hour before sunset until one half (½) hour after sunrise, any implement of husbandry as defined in § 55-1-108 having a width of more than ninety six inches (96²), which is towed behind a farm tractor or other motor vehicle, and the lighting of the farm tractor or other motor vehicle is concealed by the implement of husbandry, shall be equipped with two (2) red or amber flashing lamps, one on each side, attached at the rear, or accompanied by a rear escort utilizing its emergency flashers.

(e)  A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.

[Acts 1931, ch. 82, § 15; 1937, ch. 245, § 5; 1941, ch. 121, § 1; C. Supp. 1950, § 2700.16 (Williams, § 2695); T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 59-904; Acts 1989, ch. 330, § 3; 1989, ch. 591, § 113; 1990, ch. 1006, § 1; 1993, ch. 489, § 1; 2003, ch. 290, § 1.]