Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1962 )

THEATTORNEYGENEFCAL OF XAS AUSTIN 11. TEXAS April 9, 1962 Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Opinion No. WW-1297 County Attorney Bosque County Re: Whether operating a two- Meridian, Texas wheel farm trailer, under 4000 pounds, upon the highways without a tail light and under the facts submitted, violates Article 6701d, V.C.S.; and whether said trailer is subject to Dear Mr. Borchers: registration? Your request for an opinionsets forth the follow- ing facts: "A farmer was the owner of a two- wheel farm trailer with a gross weight not exceeding 4000 pounds. Said trailer was being towed at night, between the hours of one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise, and was being used to transport two horses to a. 'horse-show' at the Meridian Riding Club facilities, from the farmer's farm, over the public highway. The trailer was only equipped with red reflectors on the rear. The farmer was stopped by a Texas highway patrolman and given a ticket for failing to have a tail light on said trailer. The horse show at Meridian was a sporting and/or an entertainment event." Section 108(c) of Article 6701d, V.C.S., makes it a misdemeanor for any person to drive or move any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in an unsafe condition as to endanger any person or is not at all times equipped with such lamps and other equipment as required by Article XIV of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways. Subsection (c) of Section 108 provides, however, as follows: "The provisions of this Article with respect to equipment on vehicles shall not apply to implements of husbandry, road machinery, raod rollers, or farm Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Page 2 Opinion No. WW-1297 tractors except as herein made applicable." Section Ill(a)(b) provides as follows: "Every motor vehicle, trailer, semi- trailer, and pole trailer, and any other vehicle which is being drawn at the end of a train of vehicles shall be equipped with at least one tall lamp mounted on the rear, which when lighted as herein- before reauired. shall emit a red light plainly visible-from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to the rear, provided that in the case of a trainof vehicles only the tail lamp on the rear-most vehicle need actually be seen from the distance specified. "(b) . . . Any tail lamp or tail lamps, together with separate lamp for illuminat- ing the rear registration plate, shall be so wired as to be lighted whenever the head lamps or auxiliary driving lamps are lighted." Section 122 of Article 6701(d), V.C.S., provides as follows: "All vehicles, including animal-drawn vehicles and including those referred to in Section 108(c) not herelnbefore speci- fically required,to be equipped with lamps, shall at the times specified in Section 109 hereof be equipped with at least one lighted lamp or lantern exhibiting a white light visible from a distance offive hun- dred (500) feet to the front of such vehicle and with a lamp or lantern exhibit- ing a rehTight visible from a distance of five hundred (500) feet to the rear." The two-wheel trailer in question, therefore, falls within the provisions of Section Ill(a) or Section 122 of Article 6701(d), Vernon's Civil Statutes. If the trailer in question is an "im lement of husbandry" as that term is used in Section 108(cP it would be exempt from the provi- sions of Section Ill(a), but would fall within the provi- sions of Section 122. Hon. Doy1e.J. Borchers Page 3 Opinion No. W!.i-1297 Your opinion request states that the two-wheel trailers in question was equipped only with red reflectors on the'rear of said trailer and, therefore, in our opinion the trailer was not equipped in conformity with Article 6701(d). Article 6675a-2, V.C.S., is the Texas Registration Law requiring the owner of a motor ,vehicle,trailer, or semi-trailer, used or to be used on the public highways of this State, to register such vehicle. The Act exempts "owners of farm tractors, farm trailers, and farm semi- trailers with,a gross weight not exceeding 4000 pounds . . . operated and moved temporarily upon the highways." Section (q) of Article 6675a-1, states as follows: "By 'operated or moved temporarily upon the highways' is meant the operation or con- veying between different farms, and the operation or conveyance from the owner's farm to the place where his farm produce is prepared for ilarketor where same is actu- ally marketed and return." Your letter states that the trailer described was being used to transport horses to a "horse-show" at the Meridian Riding Club. If this was a~sporting and/or entertainment event, as.your letter states, the trailer would not be "operated or moved temporarily upon the highways" as that term is defined by Section (q) of Article 6675a-1. House Bi.111082, Acts 57th Legislature, R.S. 1961, Chdpter 259, page 554,amended Article 6675a-2, and pro- vides in Sub-section (f) that the exemption shall not apply to any farm trailer or farm semi-trailer which is not operated and e ui ed in conformity with all other provi- sions of the fiction 2(q), as amended, reads as ~follows: "Any vehicle exempt from registration under Subsection (b) hereof or from regular fees under Subsection (c) hereof and operated and moved upon the public high- ways of this State in violation of this Section shall be deemed to be operated or moved unregistered and shall immediately be subject to the regular registration fees and penalties as prescribed by law." Hon. Doyle J. Borchers Page 4 Opinion No. WW-1297 As noted previously in this opinion, Section Ill(a) of Article 6701d requires every motor vehicle, trailer. or semi-trailer to be equipped with a red tail light. The only exceptions to this are implements of husbandry, road machinery, road rollers, and farm tractors. Section 122 of Article 6701d requires these vehicles to be equipped with a rear red lamp or lantern. It is our opinion, therefore, that the trailer de- scribed was not equipped in compliance with either Section Ill(a) or Section 122 of Article 6701d, V.C.S., and was subject to immediate registration and uenalties as nrovided by Section 2(q) of Article 6675a-2, V.C.S., as amended by the 57th Legislature. SUMMARY A two-wheel farm trailer with a gross weight not exceeding 4000 pounds, and be- ing operated at night without a tail light, and being used to transport horses to a sporting and/or entertainment event at which the animals are neither prepared for market nor marketed is in violation of Article 6701-ld, V.C.S., and was subject to immediate registration and penalties under Section 2(q) of Article 6675a-2, V.C.S. Yours very truly, WILL WILSON Attorney Genesal opxas -Marvin F. Sentell ,MFS:sh Assistant APPROVED: OPINION COMMITTEE: W.V. Geppert, Chairman John Reeves Arthur Sandlin Vernon Teofan REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: Houghton Brownlee,Jr.