BILL REQ. #:  Z-0838.1 

Read first time 01/16/2004.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to studded tires; amending RCW 46.37.420; reenacting and amending RCW 47.36.250; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 47.36.250 and 2003 c 356 s 1 and 2003 c 53 s 259 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     (1) If the department or its delegate determines at any time for any part of the public highway system that the unsafe conditions of the roadway require particular tires, tire chains, or traction equipment in addition to or beyond the ordinary pneumatic rubber tires, the department may establish the following recommendations or requirements with respect to the use of such equipment for all persons using such public highway:
     (a) Traction advisory - oversize vehicles prohibited.
     (b) Traction advisory - oversize vehicles prohibited. Vehicles over 10,000 GVW - chains required.
     (c) Traction advisory - oversize vehicles prohibited. All vehicles - chains required, except all wheel drive.
     (2) Any equipment that may be required by this section shall be approved by the state patrol as authorized under RCW 46.37.420.
     (3) The department shall place and maintain signs and other traffic control devices on the public highways that indicate the tire, tire chain, or traction equipment recommendation or requirement determined under this section. ((Such signs or traffic control devices shall in no event prohibit the use of studded tires from November 1st to April 1st, but when the department determines that chains are required and that no other traction equipment will suffice, the requirement is applicable to all types of tires including studded tires.)) The Washington state patrol or the department may specify different recommendations or requirements for four wheel drive vehicles in gear.
     (4) Failure to obey a requirement indicated under this section is a traffic infraction under chapter 46.63 RCW subject to a penalty of five hundred dollars including all statutory assessments.

Sec. 2   RCW 46.37.420 and 1999 c 208 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) It is unlawful to operate a vehicle upon the public highways of this state unless it is completely equipped with pneumatic rubber tires except vehicles equipped with temporary-use spare tires that meet federal standards that are installed and used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
     (2) No tire on a vehicle moved on a highway may have on its periphery any block, flange, cleat, or spike or any other protuberance of any material other than rubber which projects beyond the tread of the traction surface of the tire, except that it is permissible (a) to use farm machinery equipped with pneumatic tires or solid rubber tracks having protuberances that will not injure the highway, and ((except also that it is permissible)) (b) to use tire chains ((or metal studs imbedded within the tire of reasonable proportions and of a type conforming to rules adopted by the state patrol, upon any vehicle when required for safety because of snow, ice, or other conditions tending to cause a vehicle to skid. It is unlawful to use metal studs imbedded within the tire between April 1st and November 1st. The state department of transportation may, from time to time, determine additional periods in which the use of tires with metal studs imbedded therein is lawful)).
     (3) The state department of transportation and local authorities in their respective jurisdictions may issue special permits authorizing the operation upon a highway of traction engines or tractors having movable tracks with transverse corrugations upon the periphery of the movable tracks or farm tractors or other farm machinery, the operation of which upon a highway would otherwise be prohibited under this section.
     (((4) Tires with metal studs imbedded therein may be used between November 1st and April 1st upon school buses and fire department vehicles, any law or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding.))

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   This act takes effect July 1, 2004.