BILL REQ. #: H-3755.1
State of Washington | 58th Legislature | 2004 Regular Session |
Prefiled 1/9/2004. Read first time 01/12/2004. Referred to Committee on Fisheries, Ecology & Parks.
AN ACT Relating to the operation of off-road vehicles on roadways; amending RCW 46.09.120; reenacting and amending RCW 46.16.010; adding a new section to chapter 46.09 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that off-road
recreational vehicles (ORVs) provide opportunities for a wide variety
of outdoor recreation activities. The legislature further finds that
the growing popularity of ORV use and the limited amount of ORV trails
presents a challenge for ORV recreational users, natural resource land
managers, and private landowners. The legislature further finds that
many nonhighway and unpaved roads provide opportunities for ORV use.
However, restrictions intended for motor vehicles may prevent ORV use
on certain roads, including forest service roads. Therefore, the
legislature finds that local, state, and federal jurisdictions should
be given the flexibility to allow ORV use on roads that are not
intended primarily for passenger motor vehicle use.
Sec. 2 RCW 46.09.120 and 2003 c 377 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) It is a traffic infraction for any person to operate any
nonhighway vehicle:
(a) In such a manner as to endanger the property of another;
(b) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle without a lighted headlight and taillight between the hours of
dusk and dawn, or when otherwise required for the safety of others
regardless of ownership;
(c) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle without an adequate braking device or when otherwise required
for the safety of others regardless of ownership;
(d) Without a spark arrester approved by the department of natural
resources;
(e) Without an adequate, and operating, muffling device which
effectively limits vehicle noise to no more than eighty-six decibels on
the "A" scale at fifty feet as measured by the Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE) test procedure J 331a, except that a maximum noise
level of one hundred and five decibels on the "A" scale at a distance
of twenty inches from the exhaust outlet shall be an acceptable
substitute in lieu of the Society of Automotive Engineers test
procedure J 331a when measured:
(i) At a forty-five degree angle at a distance of twenty inches
from the exhaust outlet;
(ii) With the vehicle stationary and the engine running at a steady
speed equal to one-half of the manufacturer's maximum allowable ("red
line") engine speed or where the manufacturer's maximum allowable
engine speed is not known the test speed in revolutions per minute
calculated as sixty percent of the speed at which maximum horsepower is
developed; and
(iii) With the microphone placed ten inches from the side of the
vehicle, one-half way between the lowest part of the vehicle body and
the ground plane, and in the same lateral plane as the rearmost exhaust
outlet where the outlet of the exhaust pipe is under the vehicle;
(f) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle on any highway, upon the shoulder or inside bank or slope of
any nonhighway road or highway, or upon the median of any divided
highway;
(g) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle in any area or in such a manner so as to unreasonably expose
the underlying soil, or to create an erosion condition, or to injure,
damage, or destroy trees, growing crops, or other vegetation;
(h) On lands not owned by the operator or owner of the nonhighway
vehicle or on any nonhighway road or trail, when these are restricted
to pedestrian or animal travel; and
(i) On any public lands in violation of rules and regulations of
the agency administering such lands.
(2) It is a misdemeanor for any person to operate any nonhighway
vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a
controlled substance.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 46.09 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) It is lawful to operate an off-road vehicle upon a nonhighway
road and in paved parking areas serving designated off-road vehicle
areas unless the responsible governing body, including state, federal,
or local authorities, prohibits the use of off-road vehicles, if:
(a) Any person operating an off-road vehicle is in compliance with
RCW 46.09.120; and
(b) The nonhighway road is not intended and maintained primarily
for passenger motor vehicle use.
(2) An off-road vehicle operated on a nonhighway road under this
section is exempt from licensing requirements of RCW 46.16.010 and
vehicle lighting and equipment requirements of chapter 46.37 RCW.
Sec. 4 RCW 46.16.010 and 2003 c 353 s 8 and 2003 c 53 s 238 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(1) It is unlawful for a person to operate any vehicle over and
along a public highway of this state without first having obtained and
having in full force and effect a current and proper vehicle license
and display vehicle license number plates therefor as by this chapter
provided.
(2) Failure to make initial registration before operation on the
highways of this state is a misdemeanor, and any person convicted
thereof must be punished by a fine of no less than three hundred thirty
dollars, no part of which may be suspended or deferred.
(3) Failure to renew an expired registration before operation on
the highways of this state is a traffic infraction.
(4) The licensing of a vehicle in another state by a resident of
this state, as defined in RCW 46.16.028, evading the payment of any tax
or license fee imposed in connection with registration, is a gross
misdemeanor punishable as follows:
(a) For a first offense, up to one year in the county jail and a
fine equal to twice the amount of delinquent taxes and fees, no part of
which may be suspended or deferred;
(b) For a second or subsequent offense, up to one year in the
county jail and a fine equal to four times the amount of delinquent
taxes and fees, no part of which may be suspended or deferred;
(c) For fines levied under (b) of this subsection, an amount equal
to the avoided taxes and fees owed will be deposited in the vehicle
licensing fraud account created in the state treasury;
(d) The avoided taxes and fees shall be deposited and distributed
in the same manner as if the taxes and fees were properly paid in a
timely fashion.
(5) These provisions shall not apply to the following vehicles:
(a) Motorized foot scooters;
(b) Electric-assisted bicycles;
(c) Off-road vehicles operating on nonhighway roads under section
3 of this act;
(d) Farm vehicles if operated within a radius of fifteen miles of
the farm where principally used or garaged, farm tractors and farm
implements including trailers designed as cook or bunk houses used
exclusively for animal herding temporarily operating or drawn upon the
public highways, and trailers used exclusively to transport farm
implements from one farm to another during the daylight hours or at
night when such equipment has lights that comply with the law;
(((d))) (e) Spray or fertilizer applicator rigs designed and used
exclusively for spraying or fertilization in the conduct of
agricultural operations and not primarily for the purpose of
transportation, and nurse rigs or equipment auxiliary to the use of and
designed or modified for the fueling, repairing, or loading of spray
and fertilizer applicator rigs and not used, designed, or modified
primarily for the purpose of transportation;
(((e))) (f) Fork lifts operated during daylight hours on public
highways adjacent to and within five hundred feet of the warehouses
which they serve: PROVIDED FURTHER, That these provisions shall not
apply to vehicles used by the state parks and recreation commission
exclusively for park maintenance and operations upon public highways
within state parks;
(((f))) (g) "Special highway construction equipment" defined as
follows: Any vehicle which is designed and used primarily for grading
of highways, paving of highways, earth moving, and other construction
work on highways and which is not designed or used primarily for the
transportation of persons or property on a public highway and which is
only incidentally operated or moved over the highway. It includes, but
is not limited to, road construction and maintenance machinery so
designed and used such as portable air compressors, air drills, asphalt
spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, track laying tractors,
ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, paving
mixers, road rollers, scarifiers, earth moving scrapers and carryalls,
lighting plants, welders, pumps, power shovels and draglines, self-propelled and tractor-drawn earth moving equipment and machinery,
including dump trucks and tractor-dump trailer combinations which
either (i) are in excess of the legal width, or (ii) which, because of
their length, height, or unladen weight, may not be moved on a public
highway without the permit specified in RCW 46.44.090 and which are not
operated laden except within the boundaries of the project limits as
defined by the contract, and other similar types of construction
equipment, or (iii) which are driven or moved upon a public highway
only for the purpose of crossing such highway from one property to
another, provided such movement does not exceed five hundred feet and
the vehicle is equipped with wheels or pads which will not damage the
roadway surface.
Exclusions:
"Special highway construction equipment" does not include any of
the following:
Dump trucks originally designed to comply with the legal size and
weight provisions of this code notwithstanding any subsequent
modification which would require a permit, as specified in RCW
46.44.090, to operate such vehicles on a public highway, including
trailers, truck-mounted transit mixers, cranes and shovels, or other
vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to
which machinery has been attached.
(6) The following vehicles, whether operated solo or in
combination, are exempt from license registration and displaying
license plates as required by this chapter:
(a) A converter gear used to convert a semitrailer into a trailer
or a two-axle truck or tractor into a three or more axle truck or
tractor or used in any other manner to increase the number of axles of
a vehicle. Converter gear includes an auxiliary axle, booster axle,
dolly, and jeep axle.
(b) A tow dolly that is used for towing a motor vehicle behind
another motor vehicle. The front or rear wheels of the towed vehicle
are secured to and rest on the tow dolly that is attached to the towing
vehicle by a tow bar.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5 This act takes effect July 1, 2004.